Providing for risky play in the outdoor environment

This seminar will outline the importance of risky play in the outdoor environment for children’s developmental growth. The discussion will include information on how a range of early childhood education teachers and settings provide for risky play. The seminar is informed by research Athene undertook to write a chapter on risky play in the book Outside Voices: Conversations with early childhood educators about playing outdoors in Aotearoa New Zealand. The research explored areas of play that Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter identified as opportunities for risky taking. To situate it in a New Zealand context Athene interviewed New Zealand early childhood education teachers about how they provided for risky play in their own settings