ABSTRACT
Dr Judith Klein, an assistant professor of emergency medicine, defines play with risk as “child directed play which allows the child to recognise and evaluate a challenge and decide upon a course of action”. This type of ‘daring' play can sometimes be uncomfortable for adults, and at times, we may need to talk about the benefits with parents and colleagues. Taking a risk in play is not always about physical risk. Children with special educational needs are often unnecessarily restricted from taking part in adventurous play, and the social model of disability, developed by disabled people, proposes that people are disabled by physical or attitudinal barriers in society, not by their impairment. Adventurous play can stimulate many emotions, ranging from pleasure to fear, and young children are at an important stage where they are just starting to recognise, express, and understand their emotions.
