Learning About Risk
Milford Lodge’s Excellent Approach to Risky Play.
BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE
Milford Lodge has just been awarded its third consecutive Excellent rating by the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority, and although this Sunshine Coast childcare centre embraces risky play, this top rating is no accident!
For almost 40 years, Milford Lodge has been providing excellent early learning experiences.
Every child at this 1.5 acre, 100-place service is given the freedom to learn and grow, and whether they’re choosing which home room they’d like to be in, or which hand tool they’d like to wield, there’s a real focus on self-determination.
Children learn life skills, like sewing, woodworking and gardening, using real implements, like needles, screwdrivers and spades, and if an accident does happen, littlies know what to do.
At Milford Lodge, preschoolers are trained in basic first aid, and to learn more about all of this, we spoke to Nancy Andrews, Educational Leader at the family-owned service.
Nancy says risky play is a regular part of the curriculum, because it challenges children in positive ways.
Early childhood education expert, Dr Mandy Cooke, actually spent weeks at Milford Lodge researching the benefits of risky play for her PhD thesis, and Nancy says a reasonable amount of risk yields great rewards.
She explains that, “Children learn how to self-assess risk, instead of relying on grown-ups to tell them what’s safe and what’s not safe.”
“They learn to trust their instincts, and decide what they feel comfortable or uncomfortable doing, and along the way, they develop their fine and gross motor skills, building their capabilities in lots of different areas of interest.”
Risky play is handled carefully, though, with educator supervision and small group sizes.
Educators decide whether a little learner is ready for a risky activity, and Nancy says, “We hone in on the interests and skills that children have and place them into small groups of like-minded learners.”
“These children engage in the same activities again and again to build their competencies, and we then invite less experienced children into the group.”
“The original children take on a ‘peer helper’ role, which is really great for their self-esteem, and it also helps the new children to gain confidence and develop their skills.”
Recently, a 15-month-old baby was very keen to do pony rides, and although every child is different, Nancy says the age at which children are ready for risky activities seems to be getting lower and lower as littlies watch others in action.
Families are also included in some risky play, further afield.
Since 2016, groups of children and educators have been regularly exploring the pine forest, creek and waterfall near Milford Lodge as part of the Forrest Dwellers program, and every school holidays, parents and older siblings are invited along as well, for a Family Forrest Dwellers Adventure.
During term, the Forrest Dwellers program supports children’s social and emotional wellbeing with a ‘nurture through nature’ approach, and educators know all about natural learning after engaging Niki Buchan to work on a regular basis with the team over a number of years.
While in the forest, children get to light winter fires, using flint stones and small hand tools, and have close-ish encounters with wild creatures.
Nancy says, “There’s always lots of squealing when littlies first spot the resident eel, but they learn to respect all the forest fauna, including the eel, turtle, spiders and snakes.”
In fact, it was a snake sighting that led to preschoolers being trained in first aid.
Nancy says, “We saw a snake one day and started talking about what would happen if someone was bitten by it in the middle of the forest. We decided that it would be great if children were trained to help educators deal with the emergency.”
Milford's staff then organised for their usual first aid trainer to teach the basics to ages four to five.
The children were really interested in reading the first aid manual, asking lots of questions as they worked their way through it, and then learnt hands-on skills, like how to treat cuts and abrasions, broken bones, bites and stings.
They also learnt how to call an ambulance, know their address, and look for recognisable landmarks to share with the operator.
And though no-one’s been called on to administer first aid in the forest (yet!), Nancy says one preschooler applied his skills very soon after being trained.
“He hurt himself at the skate park, and although there wasn’t a first aid kit at hand, the child instructed his parent how to stop the bleeding, much to his dad’s amazement!”
Risky play and first aid training are just two of the ways that Milford Lodge builds children’s confidence and capabilities.
From the moment a child enrols at the service, they get to decide which home room they’d like to be in (in consultation with Mum and Dad), and despite its large size, this service supports every child to decide, explore, discover and feel at home, with all day, every day, mixed-age grouping.
Nancy says, “Children can choose a home room with their best friend, older sibling or younger cousin, and they get to choose what they’d like to do and where they’d like to go.”
“All of our staff know all 100 children, and there’s no big transition at the end of each year. Our children tend to stay with the same educators for several years in their same home room, and this is great for educator-family relationships.”
The main thing is that children experience what’s best for them, and if this means drilling holes, lighting fires or begging to get back on the pony, educators are on hand to help littlies manage risk and enjoy the benefits of Excellent early learning.
