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Risk and adventure in early years outdoor play: learning from forest schools, and Forest schools for all

Sara Knight is rapidly becoming an authoritative voice in the developing area of Forest School provision and with these publications she consolidates and extends her earlier book Forest schools and outdoor play in the early years. The exciting and positive new book Risk and adventure in early years outdoor play draws on her experience as a lead Forest School practitioner to argue the necessity for young children to have adventurous, challenging outdoor activities, whilst recognising that many early years workers lack expertise in this area and are nervous about providing what they see as dangerous play activities outdoors. So her focus is reassuringly practical, and discussion about the management of any risks involved is prominent throughout. Her introduction helpfully analyses what constitutes ‘risk’ and what does not, and uses the Early Years Foundation Stage framework to emphasise the importance of risk-taking for children’s learning and development. The following seven chapters offer interesting case studies and practical advice on ways of using natural resources to provide adventure in different aspects of outdoor play such as Earth, Water, Air and Fire, the latter a particularly clear and reassuring outline of the practicalities involved. Chapter 8 considers risk and danger specifically in terms of risk assessment and the avoidance of hazards, a key concern of practitioners, and the author rightly encourages the involvement of the children themselves in this process. Thus the book has considerable strengths as a resource for early years practitioners, and the staff of a setting could well use it to support the systematic development of their outdoor provision, discussing and using the activities and points for practice incorporated into each chapter. However, Sara Knight might well have discussed further the provision for 6to 8-year-olds, as the book is very focused upon the Early Years Foundation Stage. Sue Waite’s Children learning outside the classroom: from birth to eleven could be a useful supplementary resource for those working with older children. Sara’s second, and more substantial, book does extend the focus in a most interesting and helpful way by analysing how Forest Schools in the UK have developed since their introduction by Bridgwater Children’s Centre in 1995 and by showing how, through the Forest Schools for All approach, their innovative provision and practice in outdoor learning are being adopted within later stages of education. As editor she successfully clarifies the characteristics of today’s UK Forest Schools, Early Years Vol. 32, No. 1, March 2012, 99–106