Articulating outdoor risky play in early childhood education: voices of forest and nature school practitioners

ABSTRACT

Outdoor risky play provides developmental and health benefits for children, such as risk-assessment skills, increased physical activity and well-being and promoting social competencies and resilience. Modern Western society is highly risk-averse and many children are protected from risks more commonly experienced by previous generations. Forest and nature schools (FS) are one approach encouraging unstructured outdoor play in natural environments including the inherent risks; falling, cuts and bruises, sun exposure, etc. Ten early childhood education FS practitioners were interviewed to explore their articulation of outdoor risky play, pedagogical practices pertaining to risk and how they navigate tensions between regulatory policies and idealized practice. This research serves to bring practitioners’ voices to the literature on how the risk associated with outdoor play is being defined, rationalized, and enacted in FS programs. Findings from this study inform recommendations for practice and further inquiry into risky play and its benefits.

KEYWORDS:

• Risky play
• early childhood education
• forest schools
• practitioners
• child development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Victoria.

Notes on contributors

Nevin J. Harper

Nevin J. Harper, PhD, is an associate professor of Child & Youth Care at the University of Victoria and a long-time outdoor adventure educator interested in human-environmental relationships.

Patricia Obee

Patricia Obee, MA, RCC, is an interdisciplinary PhD student at the University of Victoria and a registered clinical counsellor. Her research has explored outdoor risky play and now centers on adolescent mental health.