Adventurous play goes by many names—messy play, nature-based play, big body play. It is exciting to children, meeting important development needs, but facilitating this type of play can be a challenge to the staff of regulated early care programs. This module presents the research behind and strategies for supporting young children as they make choices and assess risks during highly physical, sensory-rich play. It presents examples of rigorous, big body play in a variety of care settings. (3 hours)
Ready? View for free in On Demand!
Objectives
- Summarize current attitudes toward adventure and risk.
- Outline benefits of and barriers to adventurous play in your current program.
- Identify specific ways to support adventurous play (indoors and outdoors) that supports children's development of life skills and sensory awareness to be resilient, able-bodied adults.
- Examine ways to optimize benefits of adventurous play with minimal safety risks.
- Critique current teaching and care strategies and evaluate ways to take "risks" in teaching style to make at least one programming modification that would welcome and support more adventurous, rough-and-tumble, full-bodied play and exploration.
