Challenging Adventurous Play: Assessments for Programming

Applying our ability to evaluate risk and hazards on site locations as well as with creating and building challenging experiences with children is important to creating spaces that are safe and are challenging at the same time. This session will be about implementing the different assessments with some guidance and then creating a collection of assessments that you can use in your program with ideas coming from among ourselves for a shared approach in the development of the resource we can use daily.

“You’re responsible for creating an environment of trust and a feeling of safety, while using professional judgment to support decisions that positively affect children and families. One way you can use your professional judgment is by considering when and how to intervene in children’s interactions. Use your professional judgment to determine when to let children work out complex ideas individually or with peers, and when to participate in their inquiries with comments or questions that can extend and challenge their thinking. The goal is to provide children with nurturing and supportive environments where they have opportunities to solve problems on their own, but not at the expense of safety. “ (Practice Guideline: Pedagogical Practice, College of ECE, July 2020)

Resource used: The Risk Benefit Assessment for Outdoor Play: a Canadian Toolkit