Risky Play Flashcards
What is free play?
Work of children - intrinsically motivation, goal in and of itself, lacks external rules and structure
3 types:
locomotor play
object play
pretend play
Why is free play important?
Right to play is enshrined in Article 31 of the UN
Children report being happiest when at play
It is a major agent in young children’s development and learning - helps them develop skills, fun, develop interests
What is the history of free play?
1950s - outside, playing together, no supervision
Has changed from being outdoors, to more indoors
Play has shifted from being child led and unstructured, to adult led and heavily structured
Has independent mobility declined?
Almost 50% of US preschool children do not play outside on a daily basis
Generational change - 70% of mothers reported daily outdoor play compared to 31% of their own children
Children’s leisure time increasingly moving indoors - increased screen time, less independent time, less walk to school on their own now compared to past
Has locomotor play been studied much?
Not widely studied despite children spending around 20% of their time engaged in physical play
Play observed in non-human primates and range of other animals - involves energy expenditure and risk of injury
What is the purpose of locomotor play?
From an evolutionary perspective it must serve a purpose that influences survival and reproduction - using up energy and putting ourselves at risk so must have some purpose
May facilitate development or may learn and practise skills which will be useful for later life
What is the training for the unexpected hypothesis?
Spinka et al
Proposes that during locomotor play animals actively seek and create unexpected, moderately fear-provoking and arousing situations
Achieve this by intentionally switching between being in and temporarily out of control by:
relaxing control over movements
adopting disadvantageous positions and situations
What is the function of locomotor play according to the training for the unexpected hypothesis?
Learn increased versatility of movements and enhances ability to cope emotionally with unexpected stressful or threatening stimuli and situations
Recover from situations
Cope emotionally - gives children a feeling of being on edge, feel like they are overcoming fears
What do children believe in terms of their own risky play?
It is a fundamental part of young children’s play
Children prefer play that involves physical risk taking and play where fighting and physical strength are tested
There are individual differences in appetite for risk taking during play - some more likely to do it
Children are very aware of own skill level and competence
What did Little and Eager find in terms of play preferences?
38 children
interviewed children using pic prompts of playground equipment to explore play preferences and use of equipment (zip line, slide)
Observed 12 children play behaviour in community playgrounds to assess engagement in risk taking behaviour
Results:
79% of children nominated outdoor play as their preferred play activity
70-90% indicated desire to play on challenging equipment (zipline)
When asked to choose from traditional equipment (slides etc) around 50% preferred to play on most difficult structure
but observations showed 37% of play time spent on no risk play and 45% on very low risk behaviours
How should risky play be categorised? Sandseter
Qualitative observations of children aged 3-5 from outdoor Norwegian preschool for severall days - semi structured interviews with children and staff to identity types of play they thought were scary and why
Identified and categorised play where: probability of harm, opportunity for testing boundaries, borderline out of control, involves overcoming fear, attempting something never done before
Identified 6 types of risky play: heights high speeds adult tools near dangerous elements rough and tumble play disappear / get lost
How should risky play be categorised? Kleppe, Mulhuish and Sandseter
Observations of 1 year olds
definitions of risky play appropriate for 2-3 year olds but less so for 1 year olds
play with dangerous elements, at high speed and rough and tumble most frequent risky play observed at this age group
1 year olds spend less time engaging in risky play (25% of observations) compared to 2-3 year olds (75%)
Subjective risk - individual expressions of thrill and fear through body language, facial expressions, sounds or words - harder to observe in 1 year olds
What additional categories did Kleppe, Mulhuish and Sandseter add for 1 year olds?
Additional categories for 1 year olds:
playing with dangerous elements - including exploration of objects and surroundings
playing with impact - crashing either themselves or an object into somerhing
vicarious risk - observing others in risk situations (same type of arousal as though they were takin part themselves)
What is the experience of risky play?
Ambiguous highly arousing situation involving rapid switching back and forth between contrasting emotional states (playful, to anxious)
Simultaneously experience fear or exhilaration in risky play
Goal is to be on the dangerous edge where arousal is high throughout and exhilaration is balanced on the edge of switching to fear - fun and scary at the same time
How is risky play measured?
Often measured using behavioural observations:
ethnographic approaches
momentary scan sampling
Or
Parent-report measures - e.g. tolerance of risk in play scale
31 item checklist of risky play activities, respond yes or no
higher score = more tolerance for risky play
What are ethnographic approaches?
In a pre school, -observing for a few weeks e.g. 5 weeks
What is momentary scan sampling?
Children play for a certain amount of time, researcher codes over a 30 minute period. Scans around the room every 3 minutes for example and codes what every child is doing at this time
What are the problems with the tolerance of risk in play scale and what could be better?
Use of closed questions problematic – won’t get much variability
Doesn’t cover each element of risky play equally
Unclear if it is about parents’ feelings of discomfort or actual disapproval
Quite a blunt instrument
Most items map onto established risky play categories but also some items seem less relevant
Better measures:
Physiological measures - measure of heart rate when talking about activities
Use of hidden cameras
Using a scale instead of yes/no
What is the frequency of risky play? Jelleyman et al
Survey of 2003 parents of children aged 5-12 in New Zealand
measured parent perceptions of RP and frequency of participation in RP categories
Results:
parents had positive perceptions about their children engaging with risks
parents agreed that greater exposure - positive benefits for development
children should find own ability
parents associated significant risks with children’s independent mobility - see road accidents, stranger danger
older child - more freedom
parents make important decisions for children - not let them play
- 4% climb trees, 60.9% engage in rough and tumble play and 54.1 ride non motorised vehicles
- 3 roam neighbourhood unsupervised with friends at 13, 64.9 alone at age 15
- 9 use adult tools at age 9
- 4 engage in messy play at age 3
What are the developmental outcomes of risky play?
It is important for development, learning, mental and physical health but also negative outcomes (injury, death)
approx 40,000 injuries to children each year which result in a hospital visit - 40% related to playground equipment, 80% results in a fall to the surface
over 10 year period in US, 2.1m playground related injuries treated in emergency departments, 75% involved falls, 6000 children admitted to hospital each year, 92% for fractures
majority of risky play related injuries are minor
