I lecture in early childhood care and education at the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (ITB), where I teach the concept of risky play. I ran a Montessori school for 15 years prior to that, and, I have to confess, risky play was not part of my outdoor curriculum. I brought the children outside each day but didn’t take full advantage of the amazing learning opportunities the outdoors offers.
There’s now a greater awareness of the benefit of risky play in the early years but young children are still put in their car seat at 6.30am, taken to the creche and back at 6pm without having been outdoors. It’s almost criminal.
For babies, being outside is therapeutic as there’s more to learn: colours, textures, smells, counting, matching leaves to the trees. It’s important children experience risky play — trying things out and challenging themselves.
Advertisement
In Ireland we’re beginning to move away from letting kids out to play in a yard full of plastic toys while watched by an adult. The focus is now on how we can use natural materials to encourage risky play, which includes climbing, jumping from heights and hanging upside down.
As part of our degree course this year, we’re introducing outdoor learning and risky play for students in their second year. A lot of the students I teach are 18-25, and last month we ran two weeks of workshops, partly in forested areas, to prepare those going on work placements.
The workshops involve a lot of games, and it’s hard for the students at first — they’re embarrassed and it takes a while to warm up — but they have great fun. We put them in pairs and blindfold one person who is spun around by their partner and led to a tree. They feel the tree and are brought back to where they were. The blindfold is taken off and they have to identify the tree.
In another, 10 students in a line are blindfolded and guided by others using a repeated click. The students then sit in a field, remove their blindfolds and are asked to imagine they were seeing the world for the first time.
Finally, we ask them to build a fairy house. They spend 20 minutes gathering leaves and moss, and make fairies from clay and petals. They love that part — it takes them back to their childhood.
Advertisement
The more children are free to engage in risky play, the better they will be at managing risk, judging what they are capable of, and keeping safe. There will be accidents but the role of the early childhood practitioner is to assess the risk and reduce it without removing the learning element. We must train people to realise outdoor play and its risks can be managed, but there’s some way to go before we can let children do what they need to do rather than intervening with “Do you want a hand down from there?”
Interview by Kate Butler