Zeina Bassa, consultant at VeiligheidNL, explains: “The Risicoach toolkit was specifically developed to provide childcare practitioners and policy officers with sufficient knowledge, skills and inspiration to successfully implement risky play in their childcare setting. The ultimate aim is to give more children the opportunity to engage in risky play.” The basis of the toolkit is an online learning environment, with supporting materials and advanced training courses as optional extras. Risicoach was developed in collaboration with BMK, BK, BOinK, PPINK and GGD GHOR Nederland, and with input from Martin van Rooijen.
According to Bassa, risky play is useful: “You empower children by encouraging and developing their motor, cognitive and social-emotional skills. This can be done by giving children the space to engage in risky play: exciting, challenging and adventurous activities involving the possibility of a (minor) injury. This helps them learn to recognise their own boundaries and assess risks properly, which is good for their development. And that is more important for a child than the possibility of an injury.”
Read more about Risicoach for childcare providers.