Helen Tovey - Creating Challenging Outdoor Play Spaces

7/14/2019 Helen Tovey - Creating Challenging Outdoor Play Spaces

1/32

Creating ChallengingOutdoor Play Spaces

Helen Tovey


2/32

Photo:Alan Sutton. PlayLink Places for Play Exhibition www.freeplaynetwork.org.uk


3/32

A provocative environment invites curiosity and has infinite possibilities


4/32

Creating challenging outdoor

spaces Provocative environments

Space for the imagination

Transformable spaces

Natural spaces

Wild spaces Opportunities for risky dizzy play


5/32

Set and pursue their own tasks


6/32


7/32


8/32

Exploring,

experimenting,solving

problems


9/32

Spaces for imagination

to flourish


10/32

Incidental

features of the

environment

offer rich

symbolic

potential for

play


11/32

Symbolic

transformation

is hugely significantin childrens thinking


12/32

Materials which can be

transformed not pre formed

`Loose parts


13/32

Enclosures,

dens and

places to hide


14/32

Wild SpacesChildren love awilderness. So one

plot should beallowed to grow wildbut many beautifulthings can be

planted in it.(McMillan 1919:47)


15/32

Importance of rough ground and change of levels


16/32

Engagement with

the natural world


17/32

Community playthings 2009


18/32


19/32

Spaces for being daring and adventurous


20/32

Opportunities forchallenge and taking risks


21/32


22/32


23/32


24/32

Culture of risk aversionand risk anxiety ?

Too risky?

Unsafe?


25/32

Risk taking is associated with-

Positive learning dispositions (Guy Claxton) Mastery an I can do it attitude (Carole

Dweck) Playing at the very edge of capabilities

(Vygotsky)

Emotional well being and resilience

Lack of risk in play is damagingchildrenMental Health Foundation (2002)


26/32

We must not lose sight of the importantdevelopmental role of play in pursuit of

the unachievable goal of absolutesafety.

UK Health and Safety Executivecited in Ball, D, Gill, T & Spiegal, B ( 2008) Managing Risk in play provision

www.playengland.org.uk


27/32

Creating challenging spaces

for play Provocative environments

Space for the imagination

Direct engagement with the naturalworld

Wild spaces and uneven terrain

Opportunities for risk and challenge

Adults who engage in and value suchplay


28/32

Does environment make a

difference? Susan Herrington - project to change play area for

birth to threes Aimed to translate knowledge of childrens

development into landscape design.infants-

-more active-used whole space

-more varied and complex play-more interactions with natural environment-significantly more interactions with adults

(Herrington 1997)


29/32


30/32

`If you are going to keep children safe you

must provide places in which they can get the

thrills they need; there must be trees they canclimb and ways in which they can safely get

the experience of adventure and the sense of

challenge that they crave.Susan Isaacs 1936


31/32

References

Claxton, G (1999) Wise Up the Challenge of Life Long Learning London: Bloomsbury

Community Playthings (2008) I made a Unicorn. The value of open ended play RobertsbridgeCommunity Playthings

Herrington, S (1997 ) the Received view of Play and the Subculture of infants Landscape Journalvol 16 no 2

Isaacs, S ( 1938) lecture to National Safety Congress in National Froebel Foundation Bulletin1960 no 125

Mental health Foundation (1999) Bright Futures:Promoting Children and Young People's MentalHealth. London, Mental Health Foundation.

McMillan, M ( 1919) The Nursery School London Dent

Stephenson, A ( 2003) Physical risk taking: dangerous or endangered? Early Years Vol 23 no 1

Tovey, H (2007) Playing Outdoors, Spaces and Places, Risk and Challenge. Maidenhead: OpenUniversity Press


32/32

Helen Tovey

Principal lecturer Early Childhood Studies

Roehampton University, London

[email protected]

Helen Tovey - Creating Challenging Outdoor Play Spaces

Documents

Transcript of Helen Tovey - Creating Challenging Outdoor Play Spaces