Risky playgrounds ‘build resilient kids’
Fear may have led New Zealand down a path of cotton-wooling children’s playgrounds but it’s a trend that is starting to buck, as more childcare centres recognise the value of some good ol’ fashioned risk taking.
According to childhood experts, many children are not being challenged enough in playgrounds because of adults’ safety concerns which they claim can have a crippling effect on crucial life lessons, such as resilience and respect.
East Harbour Kindergarten in Eastbourne, near Wellington, has embraced an ethos around using nature’s resources for learning – children use real tools at a carpentry table, climb trees, and build obstacle courses.
In recent years, the centre ripped up its safety matting and replaced it with chip-bark, head teacher Gemma Bunning said.
Small groups of children aged between two and six embark on adventures to the beach each week.
They’re encouraged to turn over logs in the garden to reveal an unknown world of creepy crawlies.
‘‘They’re curious about the natural world,’’ Bunning said.
The playground has ladders, planks, hoops and tyres and is used in all weather conditions.
Bunning said it wasn’t so long ago children of her parents’ age would have roamed farm-lands and explored the world.
‘‘I think there was a big movement of cotton-wooling. People are trying to shift it back.
‘‘Things like trees where they can be challenged and learn is an important part of our programme.
‘‘It supports children to become more resilient.
‘‘Risk is just such an important part of children’s learning through trial and error and problem solving.’’
‘‘There’s a difference between hazards and risks,’’ Bunning said, and the majority of parents were aware that scrapes, bumps and bruises were a part of learning.
‘‘We generally have minor incidences. It’s very rare we have an accident.’’
In Dunedin, Russell Ballentyne’s early childhood centre has a strong focus on outdoor play and encourages risk-taking.
Children from Daisies Early Education and Care Centre in Johnsonville also explore the bush and play in streams each week. Lower Hutt’s Avalon Park hosts a plethora of risk-associated items.
The playground opened in 2016, welcoming the public’s children to a 6 hectare block with a sand-pit, a sloping hill with protruding rocks, climbing walls and even a flying fox.
A year earlier, parents and schools were concerned outdoor school activities would be threatened by changes to the health and safety laws, but politicians rejected the need for those fears.
The same year Scottish outdoor play and playground education consultant Juliet Robertson told a Christchurch audience modern playgrounds were too ‘‘sanitised’’ and children unable to take real risks or use their imagination.
She said then, children learnt more from a collection of old tyres and tin cans.
ACC revealed the same year that thousands of injuries costing hundreds of thousands of dollars were a result of the humble monkey bars. Flying foxes, jungle gyms and climbing frames also caused a large number of injuries.
The sentence: ‘‘Don’t! You might hurt yourself,’’ has hindered the development of children’s motor skills, Christchurch educational consultant Gill Connell said.
Kids aren’t climbing high fences and trees because we’re concerned they might fall, but those actions help prepare them for classroom activities as simple as holding a pen and sitting up straight, Connell added.
‘‘Children aren’t learning about depth-perception and all the things that are associated with that, like consequence.
‘‘If kids are told they can’t do that, what that instils in them is a fear to try.’’