RISKY PLAY FOR CHILDREN? Risk play is defined by thrilling and exciting forms of free play that involve uncertainty of outcome and a possibility of physical injury. (Beaulieu & Beno, 2024) NOW PAST PLANNED, STRUCTURAL ACTIVITIES UNSCHEDULED FREE PLAY CATEGORIES OF RISKY PLAY Play Involving potentially dangerous elements Playing at Height Playing at Speed Play with risk for disappearing or getting lost Play Involving Tools Rough and Tumble Play Play Involving Impacts Vicarious Play BENEFITS OF RISKY PLAY Promote physical health Promote problem solving skills Enhance resilience and conflict-resolution skills Facilitate exposure to fear-provoking situation Enhance self-esteem and concentration (Beaulieu & Beno, 2024) BALANCING THE BENEFITS OF RISK-TAKING WITH POSSIBILITY OF INJURY Research showed that children are less likely to be injured while engaging in unstructured activities than when playing an organized sport. The injury rate from climbing trees was between 5-22 times lower than for other popular activities, such as indoor and outdoor soccer, falls from playground equipment, cycling, and skateboarding. (Beaulieu & Beno, 2024) ADULTS’ PERCEPTIONS (ON TODDLER RISKY PLAY) play is comprised of (1) the psychology as the caregiver, (­2) knowing the child, 1: Risky and (3) cultural influences play includes that it happens outdoors, away from adults, and encompasses 2: Risky developmental b­enefits 3: The development of perceptions of risky play is situated and dynamic. There’s a need for adults to think ab­out their own experiences of risky play, how they perceive and understand risky play, and how these knowledges transfer to their practices. (Kybartas et al., 2024) HOW TO PROMOTE RISKY PLAY? THROUGH “SCIPPS” ! S: Through sustained shared thinking C: Through challenges I: Through inviting participation P: Through praises and celebration P: Through peer collaboration S: Through support and guide (Higginbottom et al., 2023) MORE RECOMMENDATIONS 1) “Risk Benefit Assessment Toolkit” by The Child Nature Alliance of Canada 2) Online workshop “Outside and Risky Play” 3) Interactive learning experience from Outsideplay.org 4) “7Cs: An informational guide to young children’s outdoor play spaces” (Beaulieu & Beno, 2024) PERSONAL REFLECTIONS The 3 articles provide background of risky play, as well as providing different perspectives and approaches for adults (especially early childhood educators and caregivers) to review themselves, and find appropriate ways to provide risky play for chlidren. The 3 things that I learnt from the articles are 1) background and some statistics about risky play, 2) how to adopt intentional teaching to encourage risky play, 3) what are the concerns and considerations as educators and parents, and how could we, as an adult, adjust our internal fear of injuries to provide risk play to young generations. However, I am wondering whether the experience of educators will affect the effectiveness of encouraging risky play. As a new educator in the field, I will try to review more online materials to better equip myself for providing more risky play opportunities for children. REFERENCES Kybartas. M, Moran. M & Kybartas. T (2024). An investigation of toddler risky play informed by the voices of parents and teachers of toddlers in one school setting. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14729679.2024.2409859 Higginbottom. K, Newman. L, West-Sooby. K, Wood. A (2023). Intentional Teaching for Risky Play: Practitioner ResearchersMove Beyond Their Comfort Zones. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/18369391221112740 Beaulieu. E, Beno. S (2024). Healthy childhood development through outdoor risky play: Navigating the balance with injury prevention. Paediatrics & Child Health. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39045477/ By KA MAN CHAN