Childrens Risky Play

Creativity in adults is highly valued in our society. Personal creativity contributes to inventiveness, innovation, social and cultural change as well as political development and economic progression. The creator is an innovator, a problem solver, an entrepreneur, an artist. Creative people have rapid and effective responses that help them to achieve their life goals and allow them to enjoy the journey. Creativity is both a skill set and a unique and individual personality structure that is developed throughout childhood and fine tuned in adolescence and adulthood. Education has a key role to play in its development. Positive creativity inspiring experiences at every stage of the educational journey are needed. This is especially true in both early childhood and the infant primary classes. Educators who rise to the creativity challenge will be well rewarded in rich teaching experiences and the joy of seeing children reach their creative potential in supportive and integrated learning systems.

Çocukların oyunlarında heyecan aramak için yaptıkları ve fiziksel olarak yaralanma riski olan oyunlar riskli oyun kavramı altında tartışılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, okul öncesi eğitim kurumlarında görev yapan ğretmenlerin çocukların riskli oyunlarına yönelik görüş ve algılarının incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu araştırma nitel araştırma yaklaşımıyla açımlayıcı bir araştırma olarak yürütülmüştür. 2015-2016 eğitim ve öğretim yılında Ankara ilindeki altı farklı okul öncesi eğitim kurumunda görev yapan toplam 25 öğretmen çalışma grubunu oluşturmuştur. Veriler araştırmacılar tarafından geliştirilen bir görüşme formu kullanılarak ve birebir görüşmeler yoluyla toplanmıştır. Görüşmelerin dökümü ile elde edilen dokümanlar üzerinde belge tarama yapılmış ve öğretmen görüşlerinin sıklık dağılımları üzerinden analizler gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda, çalışma grubunda bulunan öğretmenlerin riskli oyunlara karşı temkinli yaklaştıkları belirlenmiştir. Çocukların fiziksel sağlıklarına verilen önem onların risk almalarının önünde bir engel olarak görülmektedir. Bunun, risk kavramının tehlikeli ve zarar verici olarak algılanmasından kaynaklanabileceği gözlemlenmiştir. Diğer taraftan velilerin ve idarecilerin öğretmenler ve oyunlara yönelik tutumlarının, ayrıca fiziksel altyapı sorunlarının da riskli oyunları engelleyen diğer etkenler arasında olabileceği görülmüştür.

Children show a universal propensity to perform thrilling and exciting play activities that involve some kind of risk: climbing or jumping at great heights, swinging, playing or engaging in rough and tumble play. Free risky play, which can be observed also in several mammalian species, has an evolutionary function, as it offers the opportunity to learn life skills, to master age-adequate challenges, to manage fears. Reasonable risk taking in play is a fundamental factor in gross motor, cognitive and emotional development (Sandseter, 2011). Adults' concerns about children safety as well as social and environmental factors may severely limit children's opportunities to engage in free risky play, compromising their overall health and wellbeing. For children with disabilities, free risky play is even more crucial than for their peers without disabilities, but they often face major barriers (e.g. lack of accessible playgrounds, overprotec-tive attitude of caregivers) that can prevent them from fully benefiting from the opportunities afforded by this kind of play experience. The aim of this paper is to investigate the state of the art as regards studies on children with dis-abilities' participation in free risky play, and to identify areas for further research.

Nature-based learning is an increasingly popular type of early childhood education. Despite this, children’s experiences—in particular, their form and function within different settings and how they are viewed by practitioners—are relatively unknown. Accordingly, the use of nature as a setting and a resource for learning was researched. A description and an emerging understanding of nature-based learning were obtained through the use of a group discussion and case studies. Practitioners’ views demonstrated their eagerness to share experience that ranged from positive examples to challenges encountered within practice. Case studies recorded in a Scottish nature kindergarten and two Nordic counterparts take a situated view of nature-based learning. Findings indicate that nature is utilised as setting, as resource and as educator within children’s learning and this holds true within different countries. Local, social and cultural contexts exert influence on pedagogical practice and implications for practice based upon these are given.

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Objectives
1. To show how child consumerism has changed over the last two generations to the extent that modern childhoods have become commercialised.
2. To show how the commercialisation of childhood has influenced play patterns
3. To Discuss the implications of this from the perspective of creative development


Method
THE METHODOLOGY UPON WHICH THIS PAPER IS FOUNDED IS LIFE HISTORY RESEARCH.

The study is based on four life histories of Irish Parents who together span the last fifty years of living in Ireland. The age breakdown is as follows; Mother aged 26, Mother aged 36, Mother aged 42, Father aged 52.
Life history research involves the story of a person’s life. It can be set in a particular context and can be analysed in conjunction with other documents that relate to the time period or experience in question. Bloor & Wood (2006) define Life history research as the collection and analysis of past events from eyewitness participants for the purposes of historical reconstruction. The main method of data collection was depth interviews with participants concerning their lives supported with information from documents such as letters and diaries. Other documents were also used to stimulate memory or discourse (Plummer 2001). Examples include photographs, videos, toys and newspapers.
I believe that life history research offers an in depth and detailed method of including socially contextualised qualitative living experiences within a study.

This view of the importance of including living experiences within any study of human situations is underpinned by venerable and highly respected and established social research concepts such as Phenomenology, Ethnography, Hermeneutic Sociology (Dilthey 1998) and Interpretivism (Gubrium & Holstein 1997). It also echoes Weber’s sociologically foundational material on Verstehen or Understanding.

Life history research is a powerful medium of recording a person’s experiences and thereby enriching social understanding of our collective systems. As a process, it sets the person and their story at the centre of the research and as such is a participant empowering methodology. Collecting data on how cultures, systems and policies impact on the lives of people is a very important pillar of social research. It has also proved to be a fascinating journey of discovery, opening up lived experiences in a unique and fascinating way. The insight it affords into the human experience of such cultures, systems and policies is both important and truly rewarding research.

Results
The focus of the original  life history research was creative development through the Irish Education System from 1950’s Ireland to the present day. All participant’s however, spoke richly about their childhood play experiences and how they differ from that of their children’s. The common theme was that the growing influence of consumerism and marketing has impacted massively on children’s play patterns. These stories formed the basis of a thematic analysis on changing play patterns influenced by the increase of direct marketing to young children through a variety of mediums including television, cinema, branding, toys, songs and product lines.

Discussion
The commercialisation of Childhood has now become an internationally recognised phrase (Calvert, 2008). It refers to how the modern child is exposed to pressure from an early age to see themselves as consumers. It is the result of the evolution of childhood into a marketing opportunity. Children are now directly targeted not merely though advertising but also through television programmes such as Fireman Sam, Peppa Pig and Bob the Builder. These shows carry product lines that include not only normative merchandising such as cups, plates, cutlery, bedding, clothing, lunchboxes and so on but also play based merchandising such as dress up clothes, soft toys, character toys, imaginary play equipment and more. A phenomenon that started with Barbie has become increasingly pervasive to the extent that the television story lines are now being recreated during early childhood play sessions where children of previous generations created their own story lines for imaginary play. Where once they played the things they experienced such as house, doctors, school, problem solving and conflict resolution, they are now more likely to play ‘Bella Lasagne’s cat got stuck up a tree’ – A popular Fireman Sam storyline. The issue for creative development is clear. In traditional or real play, a child is using a recreation of a popular story or regular life experience to create a new learning, a new outcome, to problem solve or resolve an emotional or social issue. When recreating a marketed story the learning is inevitably more controlled. The pictures in their head are not their own. The ending of the story is strongly imprinted upon them through the visual nature of its consumption and their freedom to ‘play’ with it to achieve their own innate learning goals is compromised. This is no accident; the ‘story’ as presented is designed to sell to the infant viewer. Its patterns of emotional attachment between the child and the character are a key component in convincing the child that it ‘needs’ the associated product lines. When viewed from the perspective of the real role of play as a learning and processing vehicle for children, the commercialisation of modern play is of grave concern. The right of children to play is enshrined in the Article 44 of the UN Convention on the rights of the child. It is recognised as a learning vehicle for children; a space where they are empowered to work through the problems in their life and creatively solve those problems. Piaget highlighted the centrality of emotional processing within children’s play. Vygotsky laid emphasis on the importance of the child’s imagination in early play where they possess the ability to make a sheet a cape or a stick a doll simply by saying it is so. This intrinsic and important capacity to imagine is a central platform of creative development. It does not, however, suit toy manufacturers. How can one make money from such a concept? Educational Philosophers and play pedagogics may have united in their view of the centrality of the imagination within childhood play but the concept that a good toy is 90% child and 10% toy is the antithesis of toy manufacturing and marketing. Television, electronic games, music videos, social networking sites, the internet, magazines and mobile phones have all provided child marketing companies with the means to infiltrate children’s play. Their motivation is to maximise their opportunities to create consumers with an emotional product attachment. Their real achievement, however, could well be the alteration of thousands of years of human developmental processing with unknown results for adult capacities within creativity and related skills such as problem solving, conflict resolution, emotional processing and interpersonal capacity.
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""Rich stories of learning journeys that arose from a Life History Research Project resulted in the development of a growing awareness on the part of the author in the role that freedom can productively play within the primary school classroom.  The stories that adults told of their most memorable learning experiences almost exclusively occurred outside of the classroom within play and social situations where they were free to engage in a meaningful and personalised learning experience. Learning stories involving risk and even danger, conflict and resolution, freedom from supervision and responsibility as a self-regulated mantle of growing maturity were common themes within the stories. The learning, when scrutinised, revealed deep learning within the domains of problem solving, inventiveness, innovation, creativity, coping skills, processing skills, emotional intelligence, personal happiness, belonging, identity, confidence, political ideology, ethical formation, interpersonal communication and many others. These domains are highly valued within the adult population. However, social change within modern childhood has resulted in many societies espousing social norms that result in children growing up within highly controlled environments with high levels of adult input, supervision, watchfulness, involvement and interference. The level of time spent indoors as opposed to outdoors has also increased dramatically between the last two generations. The consequences of this social change is largely unknown as of yet, however, it is surmissable that the impact on the development of skills that require freedom within childhood to flourish is at least a strong possibility. What will this mean for future generations? Who will lead? Who will innovate? Who will be happy?
The role of primary school is more than the development of academic skills such as numeracy and literacy; it is also preparation for life. The broader skillset that can be developed within child led activities has a role within the primary classroom. Educators who embrace a pedagogy of freedom will be well rewarded in many ways. They will enjoy rich integrated teaching experiences and will also experience the joy of seeing children reach their true potential in a supportive learning environment which the children and their teacher have created together within a partnership approach to childhood education that is based on mutual respect for the innate wisdom of all learners.
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This theoretical article views children's risky play from an evolutionary perspective, addressing specific evolutionary functions and especially the anti-phobic effects of risky play. According to the non-associative theory, a contemporary approach to the etiology of anxiety, children develop fears of certain stimuli (e.g., heights and strangers) that protect them from situations they are not mature enough to cope with, naturally through infancy. Risky play is a set of motivated behaviors that both provide the child with an exhilarating positive emotion and expose the child to the stimuli they previously have feared. As the child's coping skills improve, these situations and stimuli may be mastered and no longer be feared. Thus fear caused by maturational and age relevant natural inhibition is reduced as the child experiences a motivating thrilling activation, while learning to master age adequate challenges. It is concluded that risky play may have evolved due to this anti-...

Preschool children spend a large part of their everyday life in kindergartens, so it is necessary to include visits to the forest, which is the most extensive natural environment in Slovenia, in preschool childcare programs. Based on surveys with preschool teachers of public kindergartens in Slovenia (N = 133), we analysed the habits, purposes, barriers and concerns associated with visiting the forest. The frequency and duration of forest visits largely depend on the distance of the forest from the kindergarten. The habits of forest visits among forest kindergartens which are included in the Network of Forest Kindergartens organized by the Institute of Forest Pedagogy do not differ significantly from that of general public kindergartens. They differ mainly with respect to the frequency of visitation in bad weather and the purpose of visitation. The main concerns when visiting the forest are ticks, fear of injury, and the children having inappropriate equipment. The reasons for less frequent forest visitation include different pedagogical priorities of the kindergartens and lack of support from the management and parents, which highlight the need for the strategic promotion and implementation of forest visitation in preschool education.

Predšolski otroci preživijo velik del vsakdanjika v vrtcih, zato je treba umestiti obisk gozda, kot najobsežnejšega naravnega okolja v Sloveniji, v programe predšolskega varstva otrok. Na podlagi anket vzgojiteljev javnih vrtcev v Sloveniji (N = 133) smo analizirali navade, namene, ovire in skrbi pri obiskovanju gozda. V največji meri sta pogostost in dolžina obiska gozda odvisni od njegove oddaljenosti. Navade obiska gozda med gozdnimi vrtci, vključeni mi v Mrežo gozdnih vrtcev, ki jo organizira Inštitut za gozdno pedagogiko, se večinoma ne razlikujejo značilno od splošnih javnih vrtcev. Najpomembnejša razlika med njimi je pogostejši obisk v slabšem vremenu in sam namen obiska gozda. Glavne skrbi pri obisku gozda so klopi, strah pred poškodbami in neprimerna oprema otrok. Za manj pogostejši obisk gozda vzgojitelji navajajo med drugim tudi druge vzgojne prioritete vrtcev in premalo podpore s strani vodstva ter staršev, kar nakazuje potrebo po strateški promociji, izobraževanju in implementaciji preživljanja časa v gozdu v okviru predšolske vzgoje.

The current research aims to investigate 60-66-month-old preschool children's preferences for risky play. Qualitative research method was utilized and 100 preschool children enrolled in five different early childhood centers in Mersin were included in this research. For the purpose of gathering data, semi-structured interview questions were used by the researcher. The interview questions were accompanied a series of drawings, which are created by an illustrator with regard to the six categories of risky play. As data analysis process, children's risky play preferences were calculated descriptively and the obtained frequency distributions were represented. Also, the reasons for children's risky play preferences were examined by the content analysis method. The findings of the research showed that children are not willing to engage in risky play. The most obvious reason why children do not prefer risky play was determined as children's possibility of physical injury or harm. Children also indicated that they do not prefer to engage in risky play because of parental reactions. These findings were discussed with similar research findings; in particular, focusing on the effect of culture on individuals' preferences for risky play. It is suggested that children's risky play should be supported by preparing outdoor environments with optimum safety standards. Children should be encouraged to engage in risky play to get maximum benefit from this kind of play opportunities. Lastly, the finding of the research suggested that in order to increase risky play opportunities for children, parents' knowledge and awareness about the importance of risky play on their children's learning and development should be increased.

The aim of the study is to evaluate the relationship between early childhood teachers' risky play experiences, their injury histories in their childhood and risky play management strategies they used as a teacher. 190 early childhood teachers participated in this study. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview form. Only play with great heights (climbing up a tree) and play with high speed (swinging on playground swings) were included in the semi-structured interview form. Scenario-based, black and white drawings were used as a data collection tool. Results showed that teachers' risky play histories, injury histories and their management strategies at play with great heights are independent of each other. However, a different pattern was identified for play with high speed (swinging on playground swings). This result provides an opportunity to discuss whether teachers' injury histories at specific risky play categories, may affect their risky play management strategies.
Öz: Bu çalışmanın amacı okul öncesi öğretmenlerinin, çocukluk çağlarında riskli oyuna dahil olma durumlarının, yaralanma geçmişlerinin ve sınıflarına devam eden çocukların riskli oyunlarını yönetirken kullandıkları stratejilerin incelenmesidir. Araştırma, öğretmenlerin çocukluk yıllarına ait riskli oyun geçmişleri, yaralanma geçmişleri ve çocukların riskli oyunlarında kullandıkları stratejiler ile sınırlandırılmıştır. Bu çalışmaya 190 öğretmen katılmıştır. Veriler yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu ile toplanmıştır. Yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formuna sadece büyük yüksekliklerde (ağaca tırmanmak) ve yüksek hızda oyun (oyun parkı salıncağında sallanmak) kategorileri dahil edilmiştir. Veri toplama aracı olarak senaryoya dayalı, siyah beyaz çizimlerin olduğu durum kartları kullanılmıştır. Bulgular, öğretmenlerin riskli oyun geçmişlerinin, yaralanma geçmişlerinin ve büyük yükseklikteki riskli oyunları yönetim stratejilerinin birbirinden bağımsız olduğunu göstermiştir. Bununla birlikte, yüksek hızda riskli oyun (salıncakta sallanma) için farklı bir desen tanımlanmıştır. Bu sonuç, öğretmenlerin belirli riskli oyun kategorilerindeki yaralanma geçmişi durumlarının riskli oyun yönetimi stratejilerini etkileyip etkilemeyeceğini tartışma fırsatı sunmuştur.

La cuestión del juego arriesgado en niños y niñas está tomando gran importancia tanto en el ámbito académico como en el de las políticas públicas dentro del entorno europeo. Debido a que gran parte de la actividad física que realizan los pequeños/as se desarrollan en áreas de juego tales como los parques infantiles, es necesaria una investigación sobre el juego arriesgado que acontece en tales espacios. El presente artículo propone una investigación sobre la percepción por parte de madres y padres sobre el juego arriesgado que sus hijos e hijas de 5 y 6 años de edad desarrollan en parques infantiles. Trata además de enmarcar desde una perspectiva elisiana dicha percepción dentro de procesos socio-históricos más amplios, poniendo el foco en nuestro país como representante del área europea mediterránea. Se optó por el análisis cualitativo de veinte entrevistas semiestructuradas a padres y madres. La principal conclusión del estudio es la constatación de la existencia de contradicciones y tensiones psíquicas en los progenitores respecto al juego arriesgado de los hijos e hijas. Tales contradicciones y tensiones estaban asociadas al difícil equilibrio que demandaba un control flexible de los niños y niñas en el que se requería la necesidad de dar más libertad a la vez que estar más presentes/pendientes en la vida de sus hijos.

This paper aimed to present a literature review, examine relevant studies and present their common aims and findings. Based on this review, the study also intended to discuss and evaluate the current status of risky play in Turkish early childhood education. The literature was chosen through online sources, including several books, reports and many articles in the journals. A comprehensive research was conducted through data bases including ERIC, SCOPUS, ULAKBIM and Complementary Index using the key words such as; risk, risk taking, risky play, risk perception. Sources were evaluated for eligibility based on predetermined categories such as the definition and categories of risky play, the value of risky play, and the effect of teacher interactions and school structure on risky play. The relevant studies were summarized using a template based on the predetermined categories and additional categories that emerged in the review process. In reviewed studies, it was frequently stated that over protective parenting style and a rise in risk anxiety related to children's safety are common characteristics in modern society during the 19 th and the 20 th century. At that point, the key role of early childhood institutions in provision of risky play for children comes into question. However, there should be some regulations in schools in order to balance risk and safety. For instance, the staff-child ratio should be decreased to ensure active and appropriate supervision. Similarly, outdoor playgrounds should be improved to eliminate possibilities for negative risk-taking behaviors because of insufficient challenges or boredom. More natural elements could be included to increase the opportunities for risky play or the teacher might carry out outdoor play sessions in natural surroundings such as forests or woodland.

This theoretical article views children's risky play from an evolutionary perspective, addressing specific evolutionary functions and especially the anti-phobic effects of risky play. According to the non-associative theory, a contemporary approach to the etiology of anxiety, children develop fears of certain stimuli (e.g., heights and strangers) that protect them from situations they are not mature enough to cope with, naturally through infancy. Risky play is a set of motivated behaviors that both provide the child with an exhilarating positive emotion and expose the child to the stimuli they previously have feared. As the child's coping skills improve, these situations and stimuli may be mastered and no longer be feared. Thus fear caused by maturational and age relevant natural inhibition is reduced as the child experiences a motivating thrilling activation, while learning to master age adequate challenges. It is concluded that risky play may have evolved due to this anti-...

ÖZ Bu çalışmada okul öncesi öğretmenleri için Erken Çocukluk Riskli Oyun Değerlendirme Aracı-Öğretmen Formu'nun (EÇRODA-ÖF) geliştirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu amaç çerçevesinde 2019-2020 eğitim-öğretim yılında Türkiye'de Afyonkarahisar il merkezinde bulunan Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı'na bağlı ilkokulların anasınıfları ve bağımsız anaokullarında görev yapan 381 okul öncesi öğretmeni çalışmaya dahil edilmiştir. EÇRODA-ÖF geliştirilebilmesi için öncelikle literatür taraması yapılmış beşli likert tipine sahip 44 maddeden oluşan madde havuzu oluşturulmuştur. Maddelerin yer aldığı form okul öncesi eğitimi ve çocuk gelişimi alanında uzman beş akademisyen, bir ölçme ve değerlendirme uzmanı ve beş öğretmen olmak üzere on bir uzmanın görüşüne sunulmuş ve ölçeğe son hali verilmiştir. Verilerin analizinde SPSS ve AMOS programları kullanılmış, doğrulayıcı ve açımlayıcı faktör analizi ve ölçeğin tamamı ve alt boyutları için iç tutarlılık katsayısı belirlenmiştir. Yapılan analizler sonucu elde edilen değerler ölçme aracının güvenilir olduğu ve kabul edilebilir psikometrik özelliklere sahip olduğunu göstermiştir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Riskli oyun, erken çocukluk, oyun, erken çocukluk döneminde oyun, ölçek geliştirme ABSTRACT In this study, the aim was to develop "Scale for the Attitudes towards Risky Play at Early Childhood (SATRPEC)-Teacher Form" for early childhood educators. For this purpose, 381 preschool teachers were included in the study among in-service preschool teachers working in nursery schools or kindergartens located in Afyonkarahisar/Turkey in 2019-2020 academic year. In order to develop SATRPEC-TF, a pool consisting of 44 items with five-point Likert type was initially created. The form containing the items was presented to the opinions of eleven experts, five academicians who are experts in preschool education and child development, a measurement and evaluation specialist, and five teachers, and the scale was finalized according to the views of the experts. SPSS and AMOS programs were used in the analysis of the data, confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency coefficient were determined for the entire scale and sub-dimensions. The values obtained as a result of the analyzes showed that the scale was reliable and had acceptable psychometric properties.