Lessons learned from Norway on risky play in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC).

The purpose of this study is to identify social factors that may affect children's opportunities to participate in risky play in a Norwegian kindergarten context. The study also aims to investigate how parents and kindergarten staff can promote children's risky play. Risky play is defined as exciting and challenging forms of play that may lead to physical harm, but which also have positive effects on children's development and health.

The study identifies three different factors that can affect children's opportunities to participate in risky play in kindergarten: Assumptions about childhood, parental and employee attitudes, and pedagogical practices. Trusting that children can develop necessary skills through their own experiences, instead of being taught these skills by adults, is highlighted as important in the data material. The kindergarten staff describe how children's learning process occurs directly through action without adult intervention.

The data material was obtained through the participatory observation of 28 children aged three to four years old in a Norwegian kindergarten, in addition to semi-structured interviews with parents and staff.

Obee, P., Sandseter, E. B. H., Gerlach, A. & Harper, N. J. (2021). "Lessons learned from Norway on risky play in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)". Early Childhood Education Journal, 49:99-109.