Risky Play: Promoting children’s agency

How do we get the balance right between protecting children from possible harm, respecting parents’ concerns and providing environments that promote children's agency and risk-taking?

Risky play promotes resilience. This is critical for children to be able to self-regulate, make good decisions and negotiate the challenges in life. Instead of trying to eliminate all risk from children's play, it is crucial we understand that risky play can be acceptable where the benefit to children's learning outweighs the risks (NQS 2.1.3) 

• Identify what the NQF says about risk-taking
• Understand the difference between risk and hazard
• Communicate the benefits of risk-taking to families