How to Introduce More Risky Play in the Early Years

And why those risks matter so much.

By Matt Arnerich June 20, 2018

What is risky play in the early years?

Risky play is thrilling and exciting. It’s got a risk of physical injury. It’s challenging, it tests
limits and it helps children to establish boundaries. It could be climbing, sliding, balancing
jumping and hanging, rolling or using potentially dangerous tools.

Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter, an expert in the area of risky play, breaks it down into six
main areas:

• Rapid speeds – This could be swinging or sliding, or riding on something with wheels.
Anything to get that thrill of speed.
• Dangerous tools – This might be knives and saws, drills and hammers or bigger tools. It’s
all about the control of something dangerous and the excitement they feel in being trusted.
• Dangerous elements – This covers things like fire or deep bodies of water. The danger is
fun!
• Rough and tumble – Children tend to prefer being chased or in a vulnerable position
when they play rough and tumble – all the better because it’s harder to overcome and
involves the most risk.
• Great heights – Going up high trees or buildings gives a huge feeling of achievement and
some pretty good views.
• Disappearing or getting lost – Hide and seek gives children the temporary feeling of
separation without any real danger of being forgotten.

Where does this all come from? Well, there’s some suggestion that it’s evolutionary, helping
young children to explore and learn, and there’s been proof that it’s found in many other
young mammals too.

And your role as an early educator? To find the right balance. To ensure that children are
able to enjoy all the benefits of risky play in the early years without any serious injuries
really taking place.

Why risky play matters

So that’s what risky play is. But why is it important to
children’s development?

Most simply, it’s because they enjoy it. Any activity that
a child is engaged in and focused on is likely to be a
great learning opportunity, and that’s the case with
risky play in the early years.
What’s more, it’s where children learn about risk. If they’re not exposed to risk in their
lives, they have no chance to learn how to assess it and manage different situations. Even
the Health and Safety Executive agree…

“The goal is not to eliminate risk, but to weigh up the risks and benefits. No child will learn

about risk if they are wrapped in cotton wool”

Children’s Play and Leisure – Promoting A Balance Approach, HSE

So risky play is natural and invaluable for children in how they understand the world
around them. But it also allows them to experience crucial emotions, such as:

Hesitation Excitement Fear Pleasure Mastery

And if that all wasn’t enough, the kind of physical, outdoors activity normally associated
with risky play in the early years is great for a whole bunch of skills such as motor control,
balance, coordination, body awareness and risk assessment.

A quick note on gender

Whenever you’re working on risky play, be watchful of your unconscious biases. Whether
we mean to or not, many people tend to encourage messy, risky little boy adventurers and
don’t do quite as well with the girls. Just watch that you’re encouraging all children equally
and that you’re not complimenting the boys on pushing their boundaries more than you are
with the girls.

1. Trust the children

One of the most important things to remember when it
comes to risky play in the early years is to trust the children.
They may be motivated to explore their boundaries but they
also know their capacities, often a lot better than you will.
They know what they’re ready for.

What might be thrilling for one child could be traumatic for another, and that’s why you
have to let children decide their own level of risk. For example, being one foot up from a
tree might be incredibly thrilling for one child and boring for another.
This is why you can’t push risk-taking, but instead, ensure that you have an environment
that is ripe for little explorers to take their own. By pushing a child too far, you’ll leave
them with trauma and shame, making them turn away from fun adventures in the future.

But by hitting that sweet spot, and allowing children to find their own ‘discomfort zone’,
you’ll provide a thrilling learning environment for your little ones.
2. Assess the risk
Of course, there will be some risks that are too great, and occasionally you’ll have a few
learners who need a helping hand to find their boundaries.

You don’t want children’s lives to be in danger, or any serious injury to be likely. That’s why
with any new piece of equipment we do risk-benefit assessments, working out whether the
risk of a resource or activity far outweighs the benefit.

Is something guaranteed to be seriously dangerous? Well, then it’s probably not OK. But is
there a low chance of bumps, grazes, or cuts? Maybe that’s alright. These marks help
children to manage their own bodies and it’s simply a part of growing up. More
importantly, by not giving access to risky resources, the children are missing out on an
important piece of the development puzzle.

You need to think about the hazards of course, but don’t focus on the worst-case scenario. If
the potential injuries are minor or unlikely then the benefits probably outweigh the risks.

3. Don’t always help

It’s difficult to resist the urge to help a child when they’re struggling, but by interfering,
you’re stopping a potentially valuable learning experience.

Falling, failing, hurting yourself a little – that’s all part of the process of managing your
body and understanding risk. Getting your intervention right as a practitioner or leader is
the key to getting risky play in the early years right.

If you want to see how this works in the real world, this article from Teacher Tom is great
on getting the intervention right and why it’s invaluable in building a child’s resilience. But
if direct intervention isn’t the answer, what can you do to support a child’s risky play? Well,
one thing you can do is…

4. Ask the right questions

We all know the power of open-ended questions in the early years, but nowhere are they
more important than in risky play.

Your language is very important when it

comes to risky play in the early years. You
don’t want to say no (unless it really is life-
threatening) and you need to be careful not to
pass over your own fears in the way you
speak. ‘It’s too high’ and ‘Come down from
there’ are sentences that need to be shelved.
 Instead, you can use language that encourages children to more carefully consider what
they’re doing. Try questions like:

• Where should your foot go next?

• Do you feel safe?
• Does that feel wobbly?
• Show me how you can be careful!
You can also consider asking them to talk you through their decisions to make sure they
really are thinking about their own next steps. If you want to encourage more risky play,
instructions are not the way. Try prompts instead, like leaving a plank over some tires or
placing certain things out of reach with nearby resources that they can use to stand on.

5. Make the time

Often, problems with risky play in the early years come when an activity is rushed, not
because the activity is unsafe. This can be particularly problematic when you need to
transition to another part of the nursery day.

This is why you need to be a bit flexible with your schedule when you’re doing risky play.
Moving a child on when they’re close to a result, or when they’re engrossed in something
risky can be damaging to their confidence and cause behavioural problems.

You need to make proper time for outdoor and physical play too, and ensure you have
enough staff to properly supervise. This can be difficult in a busy setting but once you
understand the crucial role that risky play performs in a child’s development, it’s clear that
the payoff is worth it.

6. Getting parents on board

If you really want risky play to work at your
setting, you can’t afford to skip this step.

Without parent approval, you’re going to face an

uphill battle for every little cut or scrape. What’s
more, the education won’t be consistent if the same
principles and attitudes aren’t being followed at
home too.

You need to educate parents on the benefits of risky play in the early years. Start with
articles like this one that can help parents with ideas on how to encourage more outdoor
risks.

Source: Arnerich, M. (2020, July 9). How To Introduce More Risky Play in the Early Years.
https://famly.co/blog/management/risky-play-early-years/.
Links to articles in this document:
6 areas of risky play
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/147470491100900212
Teacher tom https://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/there-was-not-single-
moment-of-failure.html
Process of risk http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-process-of-risk.html
Busy setting https://famly.co/blog/management/how-to-get-things-done-hectic-nursery-
setting/
Risky play article https://www.treehugger.com/how-introduce-risky-play-your-kids-life-
4850520
This piece is the perfect primer on risky play, and great for educating your staff and parents
on why risky play is valuable:
Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-
learn/201404/risky-play-why-children-love-it-and-need-it