50 loose parts-inspired play investigations and activities linked to the Early Years Learning Framework.
Year Level: Early Years
Subject Area: Loose Parts
Positive risk-taking in outdoor physical play is important for children’s optimal health and development. Despite this, there is mounting concern that many developmentally beneficial activities are now seen as dangerous and something to be avoided. Perceptions of risk are very much subject to cultural interpretation, and the growing risk aversion evident in some developed Western countries, namely Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, is less obvious in other developed countries, notably some of the European and Scandinavian countries. To explore some of these cultural differences, early childhood practitioners from Australia and Norway were asked about the outdoor play experiences they provide for children and their attitude towards risk-taking in play. Results showed that practitioners from both countries recognised the importance of risky play for children’s development and well-being. However, differences in the extent to which children’s risky play was supported were evident. Factors associated with the quality of the outdoor play space, regulations, and threat of litigation were identified as constraints for the Australian practitioners. These findings have implications for the development of policy supporting teachers’ pedagogical decision to provide developmentally challenging play environments for children.
Year Level: Early Years
Subject Area: Risk
Italian childhood advocate Professor Carla Rinaldi, president of the global Reggio Children movement, presented this report during her Adelaide Thinker in Residency. In it, she encourages educators and the wider community to rethink notions of childhood learning, recognising that children learn from birth. Professor Rinaldi urges South Australia to divide early education into two distinct learning groups, from birth to three and from age three to six, and introduce recognised degree qualifications for everyone working with children in these age brackets.
This study looks at the influence of outdoor time on preschool aged children’s physical, social and emotional development. The researchers’ aim was to examine preschoolers’ physical, social and emotional development in the setting of their interactions with various environmental affordances and their peers over a one year period. The children’s activities were observed in two natural outdoor environments: a creek next to the preschool and a trail along the river in a nearby national park. The study assessed sustained and complex interactions in the children’s immediate environment, over time, and included a number of developmental outcomes. Results showed confidence of children in this study increased with accrued experience and shifted from focus on their own abilities to a greater awareness of others and increasing social collaboration. The findings also illuminate the importance of varied and challenging environmental affordances for children’s free play and movement. This research suggests that early childhood educators should be encouraged to provide a diverse range of outdoor environments for children’s play, with shifting degrees of risk, to increase children’s developmental opportunities not only in the physical domain but also in a social context supporting resilience and emotional wellbeing.
Year Level: Early Years
Risky play is necessary for children to develop risk-taking skills and learn how to cope with risky situations. In this way, children obtain risk competence. Age adequate risk deprivation can hinder normal child development and is linked to an increase in anxieties and disconnection to environment. Risky play can be put into six categories: play at great heights, play with high speed, play with harmful tools, play near dangerous elements, rough-and-tumble play and play where children can ‘disappear’/get lost. This study demonstrated that risk perception and competence in young children can be improved with an intensive offer of risky play activities in their outdoor learning environments.
Subject Area: Risk
A short clip with inspiring imagery of Bush School students in Centennial Parklands, Sydney.
Length: 1m : 40s
The Mclaren Vale township is home to Madge Sexton Kindergarten, one of the first five sites to be built as part of the Preschool Outdoor Learning Project, during 2014/15. Teachers and community liaison officers share how this has enriched their local area and enabled unexpected variations in their children’s’ play.
Length: 10m : 05s
Study of a Danish forest kindergarten from the perspective of the educator (pedagogue) and parents of children in his care. Includes discussion around school readiness, risk and trust in an outdoor learning environment. Comments by author Jane Williams-Siegfredsen (author of Understanding the Danish Forest School Approach).
Length: 11m : 33s
World renowned childhood consultant Claire Warden discusses nature pedagogy and curriculum, barriers to change and overcoming obstacles when taking inside learning outside and beyond into the wildness of nature.
Length: 37m : 27s
Six early childhood teachers inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach collaborate on this blog full of beautiful images and ideas for incorporating the beauty and wonder of the Reggio approach in early childhood settings. These educators believe their job is to support the wonder and magic of early childhood and that children have the right to play, to be collaborators in learning, and to dream. Includes free quality resources for teachers.