Affordances of Outdoor Risky Play in a Traditional and a Forest Kindergarten

The article aims to qualitatively examine the affordances of children’s risky play in two different Polish kindergartens, based on Gibson’s (1979) theory of affordances and extended work on this theory by other researchers (Heft,1988; Kyttä, 2002, 2004). Observations of risky play were made in a traditional facility, where children played in a traditional playground, and in a forest facility playground, where children played in nature, in an adventure forest playground (Bubble, 2002; Lee, 1999). The research methods included observation, semi-structured interviews with children, interviews with staff, and visual methods (video recordings using KB 176 mini personal recorders attached to children’s clothing in the forest kindergarten and the traditional kindergarten). The data showed the current affordances of risky play and its limitations. I found that the studied play environments (traditional and forest kindergarten) allow children to engage in risky activities, and the degree of staff permission to move freely is an important factor in actualizing the affordances. I have recognized that differences in the quality and characteristics of the two environments have important implications for the affordances of risky play. The natural playground in the forest facility provided a significantly higher degree of risk in children’s play activities.