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What risks did you take and what challenges did you face today? Perhaps you took a risk and drove a little too fast, or perhaps you felt challenged by a new software program. Every day we face risks and challenges in our lives. The critical point is how you assessed the risk you were taking and how you overcame the challenge. These are skills that are developed through play in childhood.
A number of authors (Gill, 2007; Lester & Maudsley, 2006; Palmer, 2006; Wilson, 2008) are concerned with children's increasing lack of access to risk and challenge through play, particularly outdoor play, and are speculating on the longer-term implications. A combination of factors are reducing children's opportunities for outdoor play, including media popularisation of adverse events involving children, a fear-culture based on perceived rather than actual litigation, busy family schedules, the lure of sedentary technology experiences and increasingly urbanised environments.
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Problematic playspaces
Unfortunately, some early childhood educators and managers have responded to these factors by urbanising early childhood centres, with prefabricated, pre-built playspaces. Underlying this trend is a relinquishing of the responsibility for creating safe and engaging natural outdoor playspaces for children.
For example, a major piece of equipment including softfall can be purchased and installed as compliant and no further consideration of standards is needed, the playspace is done.
Yet such urbanised playspaces have many shortcomings, including minimal connections with both the natural landscape and sociocultural context, inflexibility in catering for diverse play needs, a lack of identity with the centre community, and limited opportunities for children to experience risk and challenge.
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Danish playspace designer Helle Nebelong (cited in Gill, 2007, p. 35) reminds us that little concentration is needed to climb standardised equipment; challenge and risk are minimal compared to the possibilities in natural, garden-like playspaces.
Wilson (2008, p. 19) notes that, 'on playgrounds that offer only simple, fixed play units, children have a tendency to add risk and challenge in order to cope with the limited choices afforded by the equipment'. When children, most probably motivated by boredom, add their own risks and challenges, such as sliding down headfirst or jumping from the highest accessible railing, safety is compromised.
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Creating a natural playspace
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There is potential to create 'gardens for children', akin to Froebel's original vision of kindergartens – even in Australian drought conditions. Lester and Maudsley (2006) assert that children's affinity with nature and their innate predisposition to play leads to the obvious proposition that natural playspaces are the most appropriate and engaging playspaces for children.
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While natural playspaces have recently been advocated by an increasing number of authors (Arbor Day Foundation & Dimensions Educational Research Foundation, 2007; Elliott, 2008; Lester & Maudsley, 2006; Louv, 2005; Wilson, 2008), many early childhood educators question how the needs for safety can be balanced with risk and challenge in such playspaces. There is no doubt that natural playspaces – with many manipulable materials or loose parts, a diversity of permeable ground surfaces and significant plantings – create unique opportunities for experiencing both risk and challenge. But they can also be a safe place for children to explore.
When planning a natural playspace, make sure:
- it complies with the Australian Playground Standards which are applicable to any equipment (in particular, note fall zones and maximum free height of fall)
- it has clear pathways and defined smaller areas to minimise intrusions
- you select plants with reference to poisonous plant lists and allergy potential
- manipulable materials or loose parts such as small logs, leaves, seed pods etc. are readily available for children to take ownership of and incorporate in their play
- all rocks – e.g. sand pit edges, dry creek beds or trickle streams – have rounded edges and are non-slippery even when wet.
To maintain the safety of a natural playspace, ensure:
- there are regular checks of natural softfall and tree health, followed by rectifying any concerns
- the creatures that share the natural playspace are respected and acknowledged as a stimulus for learning not fear
- children are actively supervised.
Balancing risk and challenge
These points remind us that risk and challenge are relative. The context and the individuals involved (both children and adults) will ultimately determine whether or not a risk or challenge is perceived, and individuals will respond accordingly.
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The words of Tom Mullarkey (cited in Guldberg, 2007), chief executive of the UK's Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, very simply sums up the balancing of risk, challenge and safety, by stating that things should be 'as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible'.
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Sue Elliott
Lecturer
Education, RMIT University
References
Arbor Day Foundation & Dimensions Educational Research Foundation (2007). Learning with nature idea book: Creating nurturing outdoor spaces for children. Lincoln, NE: The National Arbor Day Foundation.
Elliott, S. (Ed.) (2008). The outdoor playspace naturally: For children birth to five years. Sydney: Pademelon Press.
Gill, T. (2007). No fear: Growing up in a risk-averse society. London: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Guldberg, H. (2007). 'A playground tumble can do you good'. Spiked. Retrieved 10 December 2007, www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/printable/4077/
Lester, S., & Maudsley, M. (2006). Play, naturally: A review of children's natural play. Report commissioned for Playday by the UK's Children's Play Council. Retrieved 12 June 2007, www.playday.org.uk/PDF/play-naturally-a-review-of-childrens-natural%20play.pdf
Louv, R. (2005). The last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.
Palmer, S. (2006). Toxic childhood: How the modern world is damaging our children and what we can do about it. London: Orion.
Wilson, R. (2008). Nature and young children: Encouraging creative play and learning in natural environments. New York: Routledge.
Image courtesy of Sue Elliott.
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Sue Elliott is the author of The outdoor playspace naturally: For children birth to five years, an inspiring, easy-to-read book that guides early childhood practitioners, teachers and caregivers to encourage engagement with the outside world. It is available from Early Childhood Australia – to order or find out more please visit www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/sund293 or freecall 1800 356 900.
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Every Child magazine – vol. 14 no. 2, 2008, p. 12–13
Don't forget, Every Child is tax deductible for early childhood professionals
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