Nurseries should allow children to take risks and learn

‘Nervous nurseries’ should make a return to outdoor learning and allow their children to learn how to approach risk-taking.

Anglia Ruskin University lecturer Sara Knight, is warning nursery schools that they may be harming their children’s development by becoming too risk-adverse.

Sara has recently explored the topic of the importance of creating exciting outdoor experiences for early years children in her book – Risk and Adventure in Early Years Outdoor Play.

She says: “A concrete square has few visible risks, and yet children fall or push each other over and accidents happen.  It may even be that some of the ‘accidents’ are the result of the limitations of the space, a direct correlation with the sterile safety being offered to the children. 

“Perhaps if they had the challenge of a pile of logs to scramble over, the risks would be focused, could be discussed and managed, and learning could take place.  There is a thought that if children have exciting reasonable risks to undertake they will be less likely to find unreasonable ones for themselves.”

Sara believes to avoid the lumps and bumps collected through childhood accidents means children will fail to learn how to manage themselves and their environment throughout life.

Her new book, Risk and Adventure in Early Years Outdoor Play: Learning from Forest Schools, is suitable for all students and practitioners working with young children from birth to eight years old.

For more information, visit: http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book234719