Risky play in early STEM learning

What’s your appetite for risky play in STEM education? Is giving children knives and matches ever worth the risk? We explored these important questions and more at our recent online STEM Hour “Unlocking STEM through risky play in early learning”.

Read on for more resources on how to effectively engage children in risky play and STEM learning in your own service or classroom. You can also join our Facebook group “Early STEM Educators Network” to exchange ideas and questions with other educators about risky play!

STEM Hour: Unlocking STEM through risky play in early learning

You can purchase a recording of our STEM Hour: “Unlocking STEM through risky play in early learning”. In this 60-minute topic deep dive, Kelly West and Dr Shirley Wyver share their rich expertise on:

🧠 The role of risky play in early STEM education.
🧪 How risky play can enhance early STEM learning.
💡 Different types of risky play for early childhood age groups.
🛝 Strategies to safely implement risky play in your setting.

BONUS: 30-minute Risky Play Q&A (free!)

Educators had so many questions about risky play that we didn’t get to all of them within the STEM Hour.

Dr Shirley Wyver and Kelly West generously hopped on another call with Little Scientists to answers questions about: the benefits of risky play for children with disabilities, how to spot and support vicarious learning, and where to go next if you already have experience embedding risky play in your setting.

What is risky play?

Risky play invites children to engage in “fear-provoking” situations, such as climbing a high branch or playing with power tools, and is often implemented incrementally or slowly in the ECEC setting. Whether a child is taking a jump from a small step or climbing a tree, risky play can look different for individual children based on their interests and risk appetite.

In saying this, risky play is shown to be beneficial for children regardless of these varying levels and experiences of risk between children. Risky play can lead to physiological responses in the human body, such as increased heart rate. As a result, exposure to these risky situations can increase children’s tolerance for and ability to cope with anxiety and uncertainty in the future, like public speaking. Risky play is ultimately “doing dangerous things safely” because it gives children the tools and confidence to assess risk and cope with it effectively.

Risky play & STEM learning

Risky play often involves children engaging in STEM skills such as problem-solving, calculation, and experimentation. For example: A child may experiment with climbing trees of different heights or running at different speeds through the outdoor area.

Dr Shirley Wyver reflects that these experiences also encourage children to describe the physiological experiences they encounter during risky play, for example: “It makes my tummy tickle”. She suggests that STEM can extend upon children’s risky play experiences and encourage them to investigate the “why” behind these physiological responses.

Not only this, risky play with dangerous elements such as certain liquids and fire require children to consider their skills and prior knowledge, and experiment with the various materials. Take the example of a child creating a chemical reaction: They can experiment with fire to explore combustion-based reactions when combined with particular liquids or different amounts of those liquids.

Risky play STEM activity ideas

Risky play doesn’t have to involve expensive materials or complicated processes. It can be implemented in your own unique setting using everyday materials available in your service or classroom. Here are some examples from Kelly West (please note that you should consider the suitability of different activities based on your children’s age range, your physical setting, and other unique circumstances):

🛝 Take the children to the local park and invite them to use the play equipment. Do the children feel unsteady when climbing a ladder versus when they are standing on solid ground? Does the velocity of a swing change depending on whether a child or an educator sits on it?

🕯️Explore candles with the children. How does it feel to sit near a candle? Once they become more comfortable, you may consider moving onto bigger fires, like a firepit, and discussing how the children can stay safe around fires. You may even spark a STEM conversation around how fires are created! Can you create fires only with a match?

Risky play in early STEM learning | Little Scientists Australia

👋 Invite the children to explore a loose parts material buffet of old or recycled items. Children may use old milk crates to create mini buildings or utilise old tyres to explore the friction between the tread and different surfaces.

🏃‍➡️ Observe how the children use loose parts materials in their play and the descriptive STEM language they use, such as “stacking” or “wobbly”.

🪚 Supervise the children while they explore basic tools, such as a saw or hammer. Discuss how they feel when using the tools and what the tools might be used for. You can also discuss how the tools might be made more effective when used in certain ways. For example: Does a saw cut more easily if it’s used back-and-forth, rather than side-to-side?

5 tips for embedding risky play in ECEC

🧒 Remember that being “risky” means something different for everyone, but everyone benefits from engaging in risk in some way.

👩‍👧 Finding some adults have lower risk appetites in your service? Support families and colleagues to build their comfort with risky play by encouraging them to think about their favourite activities as children. Often, they will fondly remember play experiences that did actually include an element of risk!

📋 When doing your risk assessments, work backwards from the worst possible scenario and look at how you can mitigate those risks. Consider taking notes of the benefits of risky play so that you’re considering both risks and benefits.

🗣️ When children engage in physical risks, provide just enough physical support as is necessary and as much verbal support as possible. Avoid placing children in situations they’re not able to get into themselves, such as high trees, as they may not know how to get back down.

Risky Play: Online STEM Hour | Little Scientists Australia

🔍 There is no perfect ratio to implement risky play in your own ECEC setting. Focus on facilitating active and adequate supervision. If there is a high-risk activity running in the centre (such as having a fire pit), then avoid running other high-risk activities at the same time. Maximise communication and supervision among the educator team to ensure these risky play experiences are run safely.

Extra resources

Here are some extra links to explore risky play in ECEC:

ABC Listen episode: “Beach kindergarten helps kids learn”. This episode explores beach kindergarten, a new concept that is showing impressive results in children’s learning capabilities in STEM.
Research article: “Children’s Risky Play from an Evolutionary Perspective: The Anti-Phobic Effects of Thrilling Experiences”. This article views children’s risky play from an evolutionary perspective, addressing specific evolutionary functions and especially the anti-phobic effects of risky play.
Research article: “Adventurous Play as a Mechanism for Reducing Risk for Childhood Anxiety”. This article outlines how a range of risk “markers” might be targeted through adventurous play and support children to cope with anxiety.
Research article: “Children’s Experiences and Concerns about Risk and Challenge during Loose Parts Play”. This article explores children’s play experiences with loose parts and real-life risky play, which gives them a greater sense of self-confidence and mastery.