Parents’ perspectives on their children’s outdoor risky play (ORP) can influence their engagement in it and the risk-navigation strategies they adopt. Until now, the perspectives of parents who regularly navigate threats to their safety, such as military members in combat arms occupations (CAOs) in the Canadian Armed Forces, and who have second-hand information on war and combat, such as female partners of members in CAOs, have been excluded from research. Conducting research with members in CAOs and their female partners can provide important understanding for experiences with risk, danger, injury, traditional gender roles, and ORP perspectives. I thus recruited and conducted semi-structured interviews with military members in CAOs (female = 1, male = 6) in the Canadian Armed Forces and 16 female partners of members actively serving in CAOs. Individuals could participate if they had a child in the 4-12 age range. I selected this age range for the study due to it being important for children’s adoption of safety strategies. I addressed three questions in stand-alone papers in my thesis: 1) “Do experiences in the military influence members’ in CAOs perspectives on their children’s ORP?”; 2) “What are military mothers’ perspectives on their children’s outdoor risky play and how may these perspectives be shaped by their military experiences?”; and 3) “How do gender expectations for female partners of members in CAOs influence their perspectives on children’s ORP?” I used risk and sociocultural theory to inform my approach to research questions 1 and 2 and conducted a reflexive thematic analysis. The results of my study addressing research question 1 were twofold: 1) Members in CAOs believe ORP provides children with opportunities that challenge excessive safety restrictions promoted in Canadian society; and (2) the work experiences of members in CAOs in the Canadian Armed Forces influenced their distinction between children’s ORP and dangerous play-related injuries. In response to research question 2, I found that female partners believed (1) ORP in close physical proximity to strangers and cars is dangerous for children; (2) ORP should not result in children experiencing serious injuries; and (3) outdoor risky play can teach children to assess and manage risks. I employed poststructural feminist theory, feminist methodologies, and critical discourse analysis to address question 3. My results were twofold: (1) Military mothers resist discursively produced pressures to subscribe to overprotective parenting during their children’s ORP; and (2) traditional gender discourses in Canadian society shape military mothers’ feelings of responsibility for their children’s ORP safety. The results from my research suggest that exposure to information on war and combat can influence parents’ perspectives on their children’s ORP. Further, they suggest that societal values, such as gender role expectations and pressure on mothers to engage in overprotective parenting, can influence parents’ fears for their children’s safety and the ORP they encourage and restrict.

Master of Science / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Deborah Norris / Risk and challenge in children’s play have steadily declined over the last 30 years due to adult fears about injuries and litigation, among other factors. This societal trend is important to remedy because not only do children miss out on the numerous crucial benefits in every domain that play, and specifically risk and challenge in play, provides, but research suggests it also can lead to a host of other problems like childhood obesity, more injuries as children create their own risk and challenge in inappropriate ways, and childhood psychopathology. Data on children in care demonstrate a large number of children enrolled in pre-kindergarten programs today, therefore it is important to understand young children’s risky play in the education context and the role that early childhood practitioners play in either supporting or hindering that play. The present study used an original survey derived from the literature to examine early childhood practitioners’ beliefs and perceptions about preschool children’s risky play, practitioner’s risky play practices, and the factors that influence those beliefs and practices. The results showed that practitioners generally had more positive than negative beliefs about risky play, but only rarely or occasionally allowed risky play to occur in their classrooms or centers. A variety of both global and situational factors influenced practitioners’ decisions to allow risky play or not. Participants’ beliefs and practices were positively correlated, and beliefs and practices were both negatively correlated with influences. Numbers of years of experience in the field and education level were not found to be significant predictors of participants’ risky play beliefs and practices. These results have implications for professional development trainings as well as teacher education programs.

Studiens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om vilka förutsättningar som finns för förskollärare att bedriva utomhuspedagogik i förskolan, samt vilket lärande barnen därmed erbjuds. Studien utgick från två forskningsfrågor. För att få svar på dessa frågor användes kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer där sex förskollärare på två förskolor deltog. Intervjuerna analyserades genom att vi kopplade svaren till den utvidgade didaktiska triangeln för att få en förståelse för vad som påverkar förskollärarnas arbete med utomhuspedagogik. Resultatet som framkom visar på att förskollärarna anser att utomhusvistelse är viktigt för barnens motoriska utveckling samt att den friska luften gynnar barnens hälsa. Att bedriva utomhuspedagogik anses vara att lära med hela kroppen och alla sinnen där naturmaterial används i stor utsträckning. Dock framkom det att de yngre barnen begränsas gällande utomhusvistelse på grund av sin ålder då förskollärarna ansåg det vara för riskabelt att gå till skogen eller vistas ute när förskolegården var täckt av is.

Background: Risky play is defined as thrilling and challenging forms of play that have the potential for physical injury and has been linked to development and health benefits for children in the early years such as risk-assessment skills, increased physical activity (PA) and well-being, and promoting social competencies and resilience. Currently, in a Western context, children’s opportunities for risky play is decreasing. At the same time, childhood inactivity and coinciding health concerns, as well as adolescent mental health issues such as anxiety, are on the rise. Risky play may serve as an antidote to some current health problems for children. Purpose: This research aimed to increase understanding of affordances (environmental factors that intersect with and influence human behaviors) for risky play. Social and physical environmental factors have been found to influence children’s affordances for risky play. The study was designed to identify some of the social factors and environmental features that may provide children with greater opportunity for risky play. Alongside researching affordances for children’s risky play, this research also inquired into children’s emotional and behavioural expressions during risky play, and how children’s engagement in risky play impacts PA. Methodology: Research was conducted with children ages 3 to 4 years, at a kindergarten in Levanger Norway. A mixed-methods approach was employed. Methods of data collection and analysis consisted of coding and statistical analysis of focused-video observations, as well as thematic analysis of field notes and semi-structured interviews. Findings/conclusions: Findings include the identification of themes pertaining to social factors that may influence children’s opportunity for risky play, including childhood assumptions, practitioner and parent attitudes towards risk, and pedagogical practice. This research generated a taxonomy of environmental features affording risky play, as well as findings that suggest risky play is positively correlated with levels of PA and outdoor settings. / Graduate

There is a concern that children are deprived of opportunities for responding to challenges and exploring risky situations in outdoor play. Children are not afforded the chance to be challenged by risky, yet safe situations. Exposing children to risky activities is valuable but one should be conscious about children’s safety and therefore find the balance between hazardous situations and healthy risky experiences (Eager & Little, 2011:s.p.). Discouraging risky play has detrimental effects on children’s development which may hinder their functioning in school and later in life. Risky play opportunities are therefore essential to develop children’s confidence, self-esteem, autonomy and independence, as well as their problem solving and risk management skills. Therefore, parents and teachers in this study must empower children to engage in risky play. For caregivers to create opportunities to develop such skills at early learning centres, they must know and be conscious of the advantages of risky play for children’s development. Positive attitudes towards the implementation of risky outdoor play and adequate support are required from parents. Hence, the purpose of this study was to gain knowledge of parents and teachers’ experiences and views about risky outdoor play; what prevents or supports teachers and parents from permitting risky outdoor play; and how the outdoor learning environment provides opportunities for risky play. This study was underpinned by Barbara Rogoff’s sociocultural theory, which lays emphasis on how children cultivate knowledge by interacting with the social environment (Rogoff, 2008). The primary research question that guided this study is: How do parents and teachers experience and view risky outdoor play in early learning centres? This study employed a qualitative approach and is positioned within the interpretivist paradigm. A multiple case study design was utilised and aligned with the researcher’s goal of exploring and describing the views of parents and teachers on risky outdoor play. The study consisted of eight preschool teachers and seven parents from three different early learning centres, who shared their experiences and views of risky play. Data were generated from teachers by means of semi-structured group interviews, observations of teachers and children during outdoor play and document analysis entailing teachers’ daily planning of outdoor activities. Online semi-structured individual interview schedules were utilised to generate data from parents. The findings of the study show that both parents and teachers perceive risky play as imperative for children’s development. Furthermore, the constraints affecting children’s opportunities to participate in risky activities and the concerns thereof were outlined. Finally, the study identifies challenges that parents and teachers experience when implementing risky play, although both parents and teachers support and permit risky outdoor play at the early learning centres, as well as in the home environment. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Early Childhood Education / MEd / Unrestricted

Barns lek kan innehålla riskfyllda moment då individens förmåga utmanas och ibland överstigs. Den riskfyllda leken fyller en viktig funktion för barnets utveckling men kan även vara problematisk för vuxna i barnets närhet. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur riskfylld lek upplevs av personal i svensk förskola samt vilka erfarenheter som finns av barns risktagande. Kvalitativa, semi-strukturerade intervjuer har genomförts i denna studie. Sex förskollärare och två rektorer har intervjuats kring sina upplevelser, erfarenheter och tankar kring barns risktagande i lek. Resultatet visar att förskolepersonal har en positiv attityd till barns riskfyllda lek och bland annat menar att utveckling kräver utmaning. Trygghet ses som en förutsättning för utforskande och i förlängningen risktagande samt att utmana sig och att våga. Pedagogens och förskolans förhållningssätt samt förutsättningar inom organisationen ses lägga grund för vilka valmöjligheter som barn ges i leken. Situationer som av vuxna upplevs vara allt för farliga kan uppstå i leken och strategier som pedagoger använder för att reglera risker i barns lek har identifierats i studien.

From previous experiences, different perceptions of risky play have been noticed. This study therefore aims to shed light on the early childhood education center (ECEC) teachers’ approach to and perceptions of risky play in ECEC outdoor environment. In order to make approaches and perceptions visible, nine semistructured interviews have been conducted with ECEC teachers. The semistructured interviews and the study are based on the socio-cultural perspectivewhere the concepts of proximal development zone, scaffolding and mediating tools are of importance.The result shows that risky play is seen from two different perspectives: risk of injury or as a chance for challenging the children. The risky plays occur in the ECEC’s outdoor environment; however, the possibility of scaffolding varies, though on the other hand, the children encourage each other to participation.Caregivers and the outdoor environment are the external factors that influence the children’s opportunities for risky play, though they do not influence the ECEC teachers’ attitude. Throughout the result, the risk of the play is an underlying focus, though despite this, several advantages are described.The conclusion is that risky play is significant for children’s development. The lack of risky play inhibits the children and can lead to negative consequences in the long term. / Från tidigare erfarenheter har olika uppfattningar om riskfylld lek uppmärksammats. Denna studie har därför som syfte att belysa förskollärares förhållningssätt till och uppfattning av riskfylld lek i förskolans utomhusmiljö. För att kunna synliggöra förhållningssättet och uppfattningarna har nio semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med förskollärare. De semistrukturerade intervjuerna och studien i helhet utgår från det sociokulturella perspektivet där begreppen proximal utvecklingszon, stöttning och medierande redskap är av betydelse.I resultatet framkommer att riskfylld lek ses från två olika perspektiv; risk för skador eller chans till utmaning. De riskfyllda lekarna sker i förskolans utomhusmiljö, men möjligheten till stöttning varierar, däremot uppmuntrar barnen varandra till deltagande. Vårdnadshavare och utomhusmiljön är de yttre faktorer som påverkar barnens möjligheter till riskfylld lek, men de påverkar inte förskollärarnas inställning. Genom hela resultatet ligger lekens risk som ett underliggande fokus, men trots detta beskrivs flera fördelar. Den slutsats som kunde dras är hur betydelsefull den riskfyllda leken är för barnens utveckling då bristen av riskfylld lek hämmar barnen och kan leda till negativa konsekvenser på lång sikt.

Playing is the dominant activity in children's daily life, but is the playground still the place where children have their first encounter with societal roles, norms and values of today’s society, through the act of playing? The playground functions as the place where children are forced to educate themselves, in learning to develop, to make decisions, to solve problems, and to regulate emotions. They look for risks in order to test and explore their physical limits. In this research, I will be focusing on the existing playground in the street of my childhood home aiming to gain understanding as to whether or not the playground still fits the needs of children. Is there still space to discover the basic guidelines of social behaviour and finding out one's personal limits? Looking at today’s playground, I see an over-designed, completely protected, safe-in-the-grid play area which leaves no space for one’s own interpretation and imagination and is not at all a suitable space for testing out your own limits. The play objects are already placed in a concrete form and can only be used in one specific way, eliminating any space for personal initiative. I am curious about how these playground designs arose, and whether there is any kind of communication with children about their needs and desires in the context of play. Which parties decide where and how playgrounds are built in the urban landscape, and why playgrounds are not connected with their urban surroundings, but instead form separated and isolated entities. This detached space often does not meet the demands of the children, resulting in them abandoning the designated playing area, and finding play areas of their own, including streets and abandoned buildings or wastelands, sometimes close to traffic, where they chose to play instead. Making the playground as safe as possible by placing the different kind of play equipment behind a fence is actually resulting in its opposite safety in that the children are looking for a different kind of place to play freely. Aiming to answer these questions, I studied the work of Aldo van Eyck and Bruno Munari, both architects who worked on playgrounds and used primary shapes in urban architecture. I am also focussing on the work of Mariana Brussoni, who writes about the importance of the element of risk in playing, and how this affects a child’s development and social behaviour. For this research, I am working closely together with the municipality and NIJHA Playground Equipment Factory to get a better understanding of the origins of playgrounds. Adding to this research, I conducted many conversations with children from different cities and neighbourhoods, with the aim to find out what the perfect play area is for children and how that fits in the urban landscape, or more specifically, in my own street.

This thesis aims to introduce a design proposal providing a special light-colour-space experience for preschool aged children. At this age, the basic aspects of visual perception are well-developed. However, unlike adults, children do not possess the experience and memories that enable complete visual perception. My goal was to create a space where children can play and, in the meantime, meet various stimuli that they are not used to, broadening their visual sensitivity by utilizing the rhythm of light and colour combinations. Based on earlier studies, I investigate three main areas: children’s perspective, their relationship with colours, and the learning process itself that takes place in their brain while embracing knew knowledge. Conclusions drawn from the literature review are complemented by studies of forms, shadows, and materials. The design of the installation itself is presented through conceptual sketches and models. As the main motive of the installation I chose a circular labyrinth where, during wandering, new experiences, colours, forms, atmospheres, and emotions reveal themselves as one progresses towards the centre. Darkness too plays an important role in the design. The changes in light level follow the steps of this external and internal journey, until in the last layer of the labyrinth children can experience almost complete darkness in a relatively safe environment.

Barns motoriska utveckling är en viktig del av arbetet i förskolan. I Läroplan för förskolan, Lpfö 18 (Skolverket 2018, s. 9) står det att förskolans uppdrag är att utmana och främja barns motoriska utveckling och lärande i varierande miljöer. Den forskning som undersökt barns motoriska utveckling i utomhusmiljöer och vid riskfylld lek är bristfällig, vilket innebär att mer forskning inom området behövs. Därav är syftet med denna studie att undersöka hur förskollärare arbetar i utomhusmiljöer och hur riskfylld lek används för att främja barns motoriska utveckling. Studien har genomförts med den kvalitativa metoden self-report, där förskollärare besvarat nio frågor via e-post. I studiens resultat framkommer det att förskollärarna anser utomhusmiljön som betydelsefull för barns motoriska utveckling. Det framgår dessutom att när barn får möta varierande miljöer och leka med olika material främjas deras motorik. Förskollärarna lyfter fram vikten av närvarande, medforskande och stöttande pedagoger när barn utvecklas motoriskt i utomhusmiljöer. Resultatet visar även att förskollärarna anser att riskfylld lek är gynnsamt för barns motoriska utveckling, då de utmanas i olika rörelseaktiviteter vilket främjar deras motorik. / Children's motor development is an important part of the work in preschool. In the Swedish Curriculum for the preschool, Lpfö 18 (Skolverket 2018, p. 9) it is stated that the preschool's mission is to challenge and promote children's motor development and learning in varying environments. Previous research that has studied children's motor development in outdoor environments and at risky play is inadequate, which means that more research in the area is needed. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate how preschool teachers work in outdoor environments and how risky play is used to promote children's motor development. The study has been conducted using the qualitative method self-report, where preschool teachers answered nine questions via e-mail. The results of the study show that preschool teachers consider the outdoor environment to be important for children's motor development. It also appears that when children encounter varying environments and play with different materials, their motor skills are promoted. The preschool teachers highlight the importance of present, co-researching and supportive teachers when children develop motor skills in outdoor environments. The results also show that preschool teachers consider risky play to be beneficial for children's motor development, as they are challenged in various activities which promotes their motor skills.