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Understanding Transitions in Early Years – Open a Nursery in the UK

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Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

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Activities Guide: Enhancing & Practicing Executive Function Skills

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Download free guides of executive functioning activities to support and strengthen skills, available for children ages six months through adolescence.

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Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

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A Guide to Executive Function - Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

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Executive function skills help us plan, focus attention, switch gears, and juggle tasks. Learn how to enhance and develop these core skills for lifelong health and well-being.

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Art. Play. Children. Learning. – Cultivating children’s creativity through art

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Hello, I am Dr. Louisa Penfold! I started Art Play Children Learning back in 2016 as a way to help parents do fun and meaningful art activities with kids. I…

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Educational Journeys - Miriam Beloglovsky

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We all have a journey and a story to tell. We are all on a journey to grow and find our purpose in life. Each journey is unique and special, and it belongs to

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Learn from 15 education experts how to engage, support and elevate your students' development with a powerful variety of play materials that comes easy to you AND your students.

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You have reached the meat (or hummus, if you'd rather) inside the sandwich that is Cult of Pedagogy. This is where most of this site's accumulated wisdom lives.

To help you find what you need, I've chunked all the posts into three big buckets. Start there, or scroll down to see an index of topics. If you want to get more specific, use the search bar at the top of this page. Still can't find what you're looking for? Contact our support staff. If they can't help you find it, they'll add your topic to our list of future blog posts.

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You have reached the meat (or hummus, if you'd rather) inside the sandwich that is Cult of Pedagogy. This is where most of this site's accumulated wisdom lives. To help you find what you need, I've chunked all the posts into three big buckets. Start there, or scroll down to see an index of topics.

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Risky play is always a hot topic in Facebook groups, forums and PD sessions. While many of these discussions focus around sharp tools, climbing to great heights and engaging with heavy loose parts, the common garden stick rarely rates a mention.

The dangers of running with sticks and eyes being poked out are never far from the minds of adults in busy playgrounds and parks. After reading a news article about stick play being banned from a primary school playground recently, it seemed like a topic that needed exploration.

We asked author and award-winning teacher Renee Irving Lee to investigate how stick play can be done safely.

The outdoors is an open, and constantly changing environment. It is a place where children can experience freedom, engage in gross motor movements, be boisterous and play with natural materials such as sticks, rocks, leaves and dirt.

The benefits of playing in the natural environment have long been documented, so why do adults have such apprehension and sometimes immense aversion to children playing with sticks in these places?

Can children get hurt from playing with sticks? Yes, of course!

Children can also get hurt from scissors, and the other numerous amount of pointy objects found around homes and classrooms, if they are not used in the way they were intended to be used.

Children have access to scissors in early childhood centres from a young age, and educators have successfully scaffolded their learning for decades to ensure they know how to safely hold them, store them, walk with them and cut with them.

So, why can't we do the same for sticks?

I believe that as adults, we can have difficulty with this concept because unlike scissors, sticks are irregular objects that have multiple uses and are found in changing environments.

For children, sticks provide an open-ended source of play and can be used as tools, wands, swords, broomsticks, paintbrushes, craft objects and musical instruments. Scissors, on the other hand, are intended to be used for one purpose only, so it has been easier for us to support, facilitate and guide their use within the closed environment of the classroom.

How can we teach children to play respectfully and safely without taking away their right to play in the environment?

The answer is simple, really - the same way that we have taught them how to use scissors.

Select a good stick

Just like scissors, sticks come in a variety of sizes; so it is important that children select sticks that are suitable for their hands and for what they want to use them for. Some questions regarding stick selection could include:

Is the stick the right size for my hands and body?

Is the stick smooth or will it give me splinters?

Does the stick have any sharp or pointy edges?

Will this stick break easily?

How do I want to use this stick?

Make a risk assessment

Just like using scissors, playing with sticks comes with associated risks. Children will need support in understanding and managing these risks. Many forest schools tend to follow these guidelines:

The biggest stick you choose to play with should be no bigger than the length of your arm. This is because young children haven't fully developed their peripheral vision, so they don't have the awareness of how far their stick will reach if they swing it behind them.

Be aware of your bubble. Children will need help understanding that there is a bubble created around them that extends to the end of the stick they are holding. When they stretch out their arm, the end of the stick is where their imaginary bubble starts. Children should choose to play in a space where their friends can stand safely outside their bubble.

Walk with sticks pointing down and thumb over the pointy end of the stick.

Use positive language

Anxious words make children feel anxious. When sticks are involved, they often hear from adults, " Put that down. No weapons. No fighting. Be careful."

Positive words make children feel empowered. We can change our language around stick play to ensure they are confident, responsible, and safe citizens of the playground. Just as we did with scissors, we can tell them what they CAN do instead of what they CAN'T do.

Encourage Independent stick play

Once a child can hold and manipulate scissors, we encourage them to cut independently. We can do this with stick play too. Once they know how to select a good stick, and can understand and manage the risks - they then have the skills to play with sticks independently. I have always found children to be more responsible when they have been empowered to manage their play on their own.

Encourage skill development

Just as a child develops their cutting skills from straight lines to more complex shapes, there are also unlimited opportunities for extension on stick play. Children can build bigger forts with more rooms, create more intricate pieces of artwork, invent different sounding musical instruments, utilise other natural materials or teach family and younger siblings about playing with sticks safely.

By supporting children to play with sticks safely, we are ultimately giving them extra opportunities to be responsible, independent, creative, critical, and perceptive -which are all important attributes of our future global citizens.

Further reading

Risky play is not a category, it's what children do - Marc Armitage

T he importance of risky play - Anne Rodgers

Car park transformed into Anji Play inspired play space - CELA

Rethinking risk - Dr Mariana Brussoni

About Renee Irving Lee

Renee Irving Lee is passionate about writing children's books that promote life-long learning, social inclusion and improve self-esteem. She has always loved working with children, so writing for children has been a natural progression from her work as a teacher and educational freelance writer.

Her diverse background in education extends to teaching primary school-aged children, young adults, and children with special needs. Renee was awarded the Young Achiever of the Year Award by TAFE Queensland for her work as a dynamic, student-focused teacher who is highly respected for her skills, intellect and dedication. Renee was also inducted into the International Golden Key Honour Society while studying for her Bachelor of Education (Special Education) where she graduated with a Distinction.

Find out more about Renee's latest book Rosie Leads the Way and how we can help young children to build self-confidence and value what's really important in our recent Amplify article​.

Have you seen our new live webinar training calendar?

Many sessions to choose from including new sessions specifically related to the current pandemic environment, and many of our most popular training topics redesigned for webinar format.

Topics are delivered in a variety of 2- 3 hour sessions or 2 part series. Every course provides a practical, hands-on approach to professional development.

CELA has been supporting the professional needs of the early and middle childhood sector for over 40 years. We trained over 4,500 sector professionals in 2019.

About CELA

Community Early Learning Australia is a not for profit organisation with a focus on amplifying the value of early learning for every child across Australia - representing our members and uniting our sector as a force for quality education and care.

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Risky play is always a hot topic in Facebook groups, forums and PD sessions. While many of these discussions focus around sharp tools, climbing to great heights and engaging with heavy loose parts, the common garden stick rarely rates a mention.

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Why kids need thrill and adventure in play

What is Risky Play?
"A risky situation is where the outcome might be unknown. Your child might tackle it in a number of different ways; they might succeed, they might not; they might have a minor injury of some sort ... but they'll learn something along the way"[1]
Dr Anthea Rhodes, Paediatrician. Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne
Risky play is defined as thrilling and exciting forms of play that involve uncertainty of outcome and a possibility of physical injury. The Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) describes categories of risky play, including playing at heights, at speed, with tools, near dangerous elements, rough-and-tumble play, and play with a risk of getting lost. [2]

It's crucial to distinguish between hazards and risks.

A risk is a situation where a child can recognize and evaluate the challenge and decide on a course of action based on their skills and preferences. For example, deciding how high to climb on a structure

In contrast, a hazard is a potential danger that a child might not recognize or cannot manage, such as a broken piece of equipment.

Risky play involves eliminating hazards while supporting child-controlled risk-taking.

"Children should be kept as safe as necessary during play, not as safe as possible. Risky play might involve some minor scratches and bruises, but that is not something we should be worried about. Keeping our children active and mentally healthy is also a very important aspect to consider." [3]

Risky Play allows children to test their limits and experience the thrill of managing risk, which is crucial for their development. What constitutes "risky" will differ widely depending on a child's developmental stage (rather than age), past experience, and personality. For example, a toddler climbing and jumping from a chair, an older child climbing a tree several branches high, and another child cautiously navigating a small tree are all "playing at height" and all engaging in risky play because they feel excited, thrilled, and challenged by their chosen activity. [4]

"Children need to be given the mental and physical space to figure out appropriate risk levels for themselves: far enough that it feels exhilarating, but not so far that it becomes too scary." [5]
Mariana Brussoni Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia

Children need to learn how to gauge and manage risks independently. This process involves providing a safe yet challenging environment and allowing children the freedom to explore their boundaries.

Language and reframing perceptions of risk

Mariana Brussoni suggests that parents and caregivers can support children to figure out their own individual risk levels by observing and intervening only when necessary. Instead of constantly cautioning children with phrases like "Be careful" or "Not too high," which can instill fear and doubt, adults should help children become aware of their surroundings and actions. Questions like "Do you feel stable on that log?" or "What's your plan if you jump on that boulder?" can help children assess risks and make informed decisions. [6]

When caring adults use cautions like 'Be careful', 'Slow down', and 'Not too high' they usually mean 'I love you', 'I care about you', or 'I worry about you',

Children who are cautioned repeatedly, however, may learn to hear: 'You don't trust me' or 'You don't think I can do it'.

Also, such 'watchwords' do not offer guidance for managing play in a risky situation, which can (again, used repeatedly over time) negatively influence children's confidence in their own skills and decrease the appeal of active play.
Some experts have suggested that parents practice pausing for 15 to 30 seconds to observe children's 'state of play' before intervening. The length of this pause depends on the individual child, situation, and activity being observed.
When parents do intervene, their first focus can be on raising a child's awareness of a situation or behaviour, then helping the child to manage a predicament or problem-solve. The Canadian Paediatric Society provide the following examples of phrases to use to enhance a "teaching moment" during risky play -

Do you feel ... stable on that log of wood / the heat of that fire?

Do you see ... your friends nearby / how high you are?

Notice how ... these rocks are slippery / sharp this tool is.

Are you feeling ... scared / excited / safe?

What's your plan ... if you jump on that boulder / dig that hole?

How will you ... get down / go up / get across? [7]

Recent Research on the Benefits of Risky Play

A comprehensive literature search on the effects of risky play on children's health, undertaken by the Canadian Paediatric Society in 2022 found extensive evidence of benefits for children's physical, mental, and social-emotional development. [8]

Some of the benefits identified were:
Physical Benefits

Risky play promotes physical health by encouraging children to be active, improving their motor skills, and fostering physical literacy.

Environments enriched with loose parts and natural elements lead to increased physical activity and decreased sedentary time. For instance, adding loose parts and natural materials to play environments has been linked to higher levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity and decreased sedentary behaviour.

Outdoor play with loose parts helps children develop risk assessment and fundamental movement skills through repeated activities.

Mental and Social-Emotional Benefits

Risky play helps facilitate children's exposure to fear-provoking situations, providing them with opportunities to experiment with uncertainty, associated physiological arousal, and coping strategies, which can significantly reduce children's risk for elevated anxiety.

Allowing for rough-and-tumble play at school led to more reports of pushing and shoving but fewer related to bullying. Rough-and-tumble play may help build resilience and conflict resolution skills in children. Studies have also associated rough-and-tumble play with better problem-solving scores in boys.

Following a 3-month school-based intervention providing risky play opportunities, teachers reported lower conflict sensitivity and higher self-esteem and concentration among children in Grade 4

Children engaging in risky play will increase their socio-emotional skills and sense of belonging. Also, the ability to communicate, cooperate, and compromise with others improves in situations where children can test and push their own limits.

The Risk of No Risk
"Kids need friends and a loving and reliable attachment figure. Children raised with high levels of fear in unpredictable or violent environments experience elevated levels of stress hormones for extended periods of time. Such long-term exposure can permanently alter brain development and increase stress reactivity, with lifelong ramifications for mental and physical health ...
.... But brief periods of normal stress are not harmful; they are essential. "Stress inoculation is a form of immunity against later stressors, much in the same way that vaccines induce immunity against disease." What, then, would happen if we suddenly stopped immunising children with this kind of stress?" [9]

According to Sanne Mestrom, writing about playground sculptures in public spaces, play-safety standards introduced in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s saw a standardising of playground design into the "boring" versions that still dominate most of our play spaces, where the potential movement of children is scripted: up, across and down. Over the past 30 years, interpretations of these safety standards continue to regularly confuse the meanings of "risk" and "hazard" (see above). Conflating these meanings has resulted in a cultural attitude toward play that is highly risk-averse.

Risk-aversion can have long-term health implications on adolescence and into adulthood, potentially impacting the development of anxiety, depression, obesity and diabetes.[9]

The negative effects of risk-aversion is also supported by the work of Tim Gill who found that children who are not exposed to manageable risks may develop an exaggerated fear of the unknown and become overly cautious. This can result in heightened anxiety levels and a reluctance to try new things​. [10]
Further reading
If your community is thinking about establishing an adventure playground that supports risky play, here's some further reading and resources: [12]
Talking about practice: Adventurous play- Developing a culture of risky play
acecqa.gov.au
Planning For Safe Outdoor Play In Children's Services
Play Australia
Creating effective outdoor learning spaces
Queensland Government
Taking a planned and supported approach to risky play
NSW Government
Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play
Tremblay et. al. "Cross-sectorial group of experts"
Position Paper: Healthy childhood development through outdoor risky play: Navigating the balance with injury prevention
Canadian Paediatric Society
Risk-Benefit Assessment For Outdoor Play: A Canadian Toolkit
Outdoor Play Canada

Risky Play Outdoors: Embracing the possibilities to support active play

Early Childhood Australia
Outside Play Toolkit
Outside Play Lab. University of British Columbia

Disclaimer
The information in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical care and advice.
Movement is Serious Fun!
Play is an important part of children's development.

The Learning Connections Early Years and School Programs build children's motor skills, physical confidence and social-emotional skills, enhancing communication and cooperation as children experiment with uncertainty and test their limits ...

Are the children in your care moving enough?

Talk to us about training for the Early Years or School Program and experience the benefits in your classroom.

M. 0403 582 669
E. info@learningconnections.com.au
Footnotes
[1] (Canadian Paediatric Society, 2024b)

[2] (ABC News, 2024)

[3] (Canadian Paediatric Society, 2024a)

[4] (Canadian Paediatric Society, 2024b)

[5] (Brussoni, M. 2017)

[6] (Brussoni, 2017)

[7] (Canadian Paediatric Society, 2024b)

[8] (Canadian Paediatric Society, 2024b)

[9] (Jonathan Haidt and Pamela Paresky, 2019)

[10] (Mestrom, S. 2022)

[11] (Tim Gill, 2007) (Gill et al., 2019)

[12] (ACECQA, n.d.; Canadian Paediatric Society, 2024b; Gill et al., 2019; Helen Little, 2017; NSW Government, n.d.; Outside Play, n.d.; Play Australia, n.d.; Queensland Government, n.d.; Tremblay et al., 2015)
References
ABC News. (2024). It sounds deceptively simple - but "risky play" could be one of the fixes to the teen mental health crisis. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-09/risky-play-teen-mental-health-crisis/103939412

ACECQA. (n.d.). Talking about practice: Adventurous play-Developing a culture of risky play. NQS Professional Learning Program.

Brussoni, M. (2017). Why kids need risk, fear and excitement in play. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/why-kids-need-risk-fear-and-excitement-in-play-81450

Canadian Paediatric Society. (2024a). As safe as necessary: A new approach to play. Canadian Paediatric Society. https://cps.ca/en/blog-blogue/as-safe-as-necessary

Canadian Paediatric Society. (2024b). Healthy childhood development through outdoor risky play: Navigating the balance with injury prevention. Canadian Paediatric Society. https://cps.ca/en/documents/position/outdoor-risky-play

Gill, T. , Power, M. , & Brussoni, M. (2019). Risk-Benefit Assessment for Outdoor Play: A Canadian Toolkit. https://indd.adobe.com/view/44ed054b-917b-4e02-a1e3-e6c4cbfe0360

Gill, T. (2007). Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. No Fear: Growing Up in a Risk-averse Society

Little, H. (2017). Risky Play Outdoors: Embracing the possibilities to support active play. Early Childhood Australia; Early Childhood Australia.

Haidt, J and Paresky, P. (2019). By mollycoddling our children, we're fuelling mental illness in teenagers. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/10/by-mollycoddling-our-children-were-fuelling-mental-illness-in-teenagers

Mestrom, S. (2022). This new 'risky' playground is a work of art - and a place for kids to escape their mollycoddling parents. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/this-new-risky-playground-is-a-work-of-art-and-a-place-for-kids-to-escape-their-mollycoddling-parents-193218

NSW Government. (n.d.). Taking a planned and supported approach to risky play. Retrieved July 23, 2024, from https://education.nsw.gov.au/early-childhood-education/leadership/news/planned-and-supported-approach-to-risky-play

Outside Play. (n.d.). Outside Play Toolkit. Retrieved July 23, 2024, from https://www.outsideplay.org/#tool-kit

Play Australia. (n.d.). Planning for Safe Outdoor Play in Children's Services.

Queensland Government. (n.d.). Creating effective outdoor learning spaces. Retrieved July 23, 2024, from https://earlychildhood.qld.gov.au/sector-news-and-resources/news-for-educators-and-service-providers/creating-effective-outdoor-learning-spaces

Tremblay, M. S., Gray, C., Babcock, S., Barnes, J., Bradstreet, C. C., Carr, D., Chabot, G., Choquette, L., Chorney, D., Collyer, C., Herrington, S., Janson, K., Janssen, I., Larouche, R., Pickett, W., Power, M., Sandseter, E. B. H., Simon, B., & Brussoni, M. (2015). Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(6), 6475. https://doi.org/10.3390/IJERPH120606475

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Why kids need thrill and adventure in play What is Risky Play?"A risky situation is where the outcome might be unknown. Your child might tackle it in a number of different ways; they might succeed, they might not; they might have a minor injury of some sort ...