Abstract
Playscape designer Rusty Keeler takes his readers on his journey of “pondering play,” inviting them to access their own “yes” when it comes to their roles in children’s play. Rusty's play journey started as a young child who was afforded freedom and natural environments. He went on to become an industrial designer in a playground equipment company, which included travels to Europe to study play. Europe's play and playground philosophies inspired him to start his own business, working with communities to design and create natural playscapes. He has written books on play, helped create a “junk” playground, and started the nonprofit Just Play Project. Rusty's deep connection to and involvement with play encourages him to be reflective of adults as gatekeepers of children's play. In this book, Adventures in Risky Play: What Is Your Yes?, he challenges his readers—educators, parents, school leaders, and anyone else working with children—to join him in this adult reflection.
In Part 1, Rusty builds a platform, exploring why play is important and how adults interfere with and hinder children's play—purposefully and unintentionally. He advocates for risky play and its benefits, carefully assessing the difference between risky and hazardous play, and defining risky play as “a thrilling and exciting activity that involves a risk of physical injury” (32). Acknowledging that our most genuine intentions are to keep children safe, Rusty provokes us to explore our personal feelings and fears regarding risky play, and to be mindful of our fear-based thinking so that we can reevaluate our threshold for risk. In this first part, Rusty brings awareness to the role that adults have in play and provides us with informative contexts regarding play so that we, as practitioners, can make conscious decisions that afford children play opportunities.
Part 2 provides insightful strategies that allow us to support children and their adventures in risky play. First, Rusty invites us to remember what role risky play had in our own childhoods, how it influenced us as we grew, and how it influences us now, as adults. Then, Rusty highlights how the power of knowing and trusting each child's capabilities, skills, and personalities can help us support children's play experiences. Possibly the most valuable strategy that Rusty provides is a thorough description of how to conduct a risk–benefit analysis. He teaches us how to carefully consider all of the benefits and all of the potential safety issues that a play opportunity might pose, and then how to manage the opportunity to minimize the chance of injury. Rusty presents the idea of “playwork” to challenge us to think about our role in children's play. He concludes Part 2 by encouraging his readers to thoughtfully rethink rules and consider the role of the environment and clothing in play, and describing how we can educate parents to become proponents of play.
Rusty uses Part 3 to remind us that many of the risks we eliminate for children are actually things we want children to experience, arguing that “it's more dangerous for children not to have ‘risky’ things in their lives”(165). To make his point, Rusty explores a number of elements and ideas—including sticks, bare feet, chickens, loose parts, fire, mud, tools, and more—that we should include in children's play and why. Part 3 challenges us to support play by way of being mindful of our environments and practices.
In Part 4, we get a glimpse of nature schools, adventure playgrounds, early childhood centers, and schools from all over the world that have reenvisioned play. These programs, schools, and communities are the epitome of valuing play and creating environments that afford play. Rusty uses this “tour” to inspire readers and demonstrate that it is possible to recreate these approaches to play in our own communities. Rusty concludes Part 4 by encouraging us to make a small change as our first step, and reminding us that the goal is not to stop saying “no” but to say “yes” more often. This section surely arouses possibility and hope in the mind of the reader as we get to peek at the creative ways other programs have reenvisioned and incorporated play.
Part 5 includes numerous resources that may help readers in their endeavors to say “yes” more often. Rusty includes a risk–benefit analysis form that coincides with his earlier description of conducting risk–benefit analyses in Part 2. Readers can scan and use this form in practice. Additionally, Rusty provides a resource list of play organizations, adventure playgrounds, books, films, blogs, and more to inspire play proponents. The resources included in this section offer a small way to say “yes”—or at least think about saying “yes”—for those readers who are not quite ready to commit fully to Rusty's call for action.
Throughout the book, readers will find beautiful pictures that capture the essence of play and the unique ways that programs, schools, and communities advocate for and encompass play. Rusty also includes excerpts from interviews with a variety of experts and practitioners who have knowledge and perspective to contribute to the world of play. These interviews give insight into the benefits of play and play elements, the realities of licensing and practice, and more. The addition of these pictures and interviews allows readers to become one step closer to envisioning a culture that says “yes.”
Adventures in Risky Play: What Is Your Yes? rejuvenated my passion for play as a risky-play researcher and an early childhood practitioner. Rusty Keeler gently nudges us to be reflective and mindful of the control we have over children's play—that a “yes” or “no” involves a careful and observant assessment. He reminds us that we carry preconceptions of play and, for the sake of children's rights, it is our responsibility as adults to be vigilant of those preconceptions. Through numerous examples and explorations, Rusty inspires and empowers us to reconsider the value of play, providing tangible action steps along the way.