Leading a program that promotes risk-taking requires a certain level of comfort with risk. If we want teachers to trust children’s capabilities and allow them to take on new risks in the classroom, we must model that by trusting our teachers to do the same.

Hold a team meeting to discuss risk in the learning environment. Talk with staff about how they define risk and their feelings about children engaging in risk-taking activities.

Identify safe risks that are present in the environment and ones that could be added. Implementing these learning opportunities also requires an understanding of what licensing regulations and quality initiative tools in your state say about risk-taking and big body play so you can work within those standards.

Collaborate with employees to create an environment that maintains adherence to licensing regulations and provides children opportunities to take on new challenges. It will also be important to have clear supervision guidelines for activities that involve risk.

Encourage staff to consider individual children’s comfort with risk, just as you work with individual teachers to increase the amount of risk they are comfortable with. Communicating the value of risk-taking to families can help them to accept the new activities you are implementing in the classrooms. It might even encourage them to promote some risk taking activities at home or at the local park as well.

For the main article Children and Risk, CLICK HERE

For the article Benefits of Risk Taking, CLICK HERE

For the article Encouraging Risk in the Classroom, CLICK HERE

For the article Big Body Play, CLICK HERE