Let’s Go Out and Play! Nordic Perspectives of Free Play in Child Development

https://www.penndutchstructures.com/importance-of-outdoor-play/

In these past couple of weeks, my child development course has focused on the role of play and nature in children’s lives and development from a Danish pedagogical perspective where, again, I have seen major differences when compared to my own upbringing in the U.S. Many of us have memories of ourselves as children engaging in some form of play whether it be indoors at home or in the classroom, or outdoors at a park, on a playground, at the beach, or maybe even out in the forest. For some of us, play outside might not have been as common while for others it may be the only memory you can recall. For me, I can remember a good amount of playtime spent outdoors running around at the park and playing on the playground with my siblings and cousins, but also a lot of time playing indoors with my kitchen set.

Play is a significant characteristic of childhood where children get to explore, use their imaginations, interact with others, and just have fun! It is not often that we see adolescents or adults these days playing outside the way that children do. From a Nordic perspective, play, specifically free play and nature play, is a necessity for children. Children must be given the opportunity to play as it is a significant contributor to a child’s holistic development and overall well-being. As a result, time for free play can make up about 50% or more of a typical day in Danish child care and in early years of schooling (Winther-Lindqvist, 2017). This fact itself is a major difference from U.S practices in early childhood where there is more of an emphasis on early learning and school readiness as I wrote about in previous blog posts. But even the idea of free play itself is conceptualized and defined differently between Danish and American traditions. A great example of the role of play and nature in Danish pedagogical practice are Skovbørnehave, or “forest kindergartens” where a typical day is spent outdoors for children to learn about their environment and play. I highly recommend watching the video below to see what these forest kindergartens are all about.

From the video, we can see a number of unique characteristics of Danish pedagogical practice in regards to play and nature. I want to point out two aspects that stood out to me the most.

1. Free play is often unsupervised, with little to no adult interference

Children are free to choose however they would like to spend their time, in whatever way they prefer. They are not limited to activities that the adults might want them to engage in and there are no physical boundaries of “off-limit” areas. Additionally, the teacher or pedagogue does not need to be able to see all of the children all the time. In the U.S, adult supervision is often required at all times and could even be a legal issue of safety or neglect. Thus, this first came as a shock to me, as it often does for many people from outside of the Nordic countries; but in a Danish context, free play works to develop children’s sense of autonomy and independence, and encourages children to take self-initiative in their exploration and learning. Additionally, I admire how there is an emphasis on children learning through experience and by doing because the activities the children choose to engage in and are interested in can generate more meaning and relevance in each of their own lives.

2. Trust between adults and children is key

The forest kindergartens and free play itself is possible because adults hold a high level of trust in the children to take care of themselves and look out for one another. The video shows how the children know when they need to wait for an adult to be with them in order to go past a certain area, and how a group of children were able to carefully wield knives on their own. I think this amount of trust stems from the Nordic view of children as capable beings who can manage do a range of tasks on their own as they learn through experience. This contrasts with a common view of children as unknowledgeable or incapable, leading adults to do a lot of things for them instead of teaching them or allowing them to do it on their own. Relatedly, Nordic practice allows for children to engage in more “risky behavior,” such as the child who climbed to the top of a tall tree without any supervision. Though there is risk for injury, children have the opportunity to learn to calculate risks and weigh the consequences of their actions, and major injuries during play are actually very minimal.

Overall, our discussions about the role of free play in children’s development have been very intriguing and have brought up themes, questions, and dilemmas I have never thought of or considered before, especially in regards to what the “norms” or popular views are in the U.S concerning children’s play. A look to Danish pedagogical practice can definitely spark ways in which we might improve child services and the way we approach child development.

 

 

References

Winther- Lindqvist, D. A (2017) “The role of play in Danish child care” in Ringsmose, C. & Kragh-Müller, G (eds.), Nordic Social Pedagogical Approach to Early Years, International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development 15, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42557-3_6