Big Body & Risk in Play Assignment

EDUC 87
June 17th, 2015
Mary Lou Lummiss
By: Courtney Ferren and Leanne Stretton

Courtney Ferren and Leanne Stretton: Big Body & Risk in Play Assignment
A.
1. Challenging play helps children to understand themselves and to recognize their own
accomplishments against the background of previous behaviours (Kostelnik, 2015, p. 211). Big
body or rough and tumble play is important to childrens learning and ongoing development
because it helps to develop their gross motor skills. With big body play children can use all of
their muscles in a variety of ways, play cooperatively as well as independently, and problem
solve. "Rough and Tumble play contributes to the development of a number of social and
emotional skills such as reading and sending non-verbal cues, emotional regulation, social
affiliation and cohesion, abilities for initiating and maintaining interactions with peers, and
attaining and maintaining social status in male groups" (Kostelnik, 2015, p. 212)
2. An educators role in big body play is to provide the proper equipment, space, and materials
necessary for children to have a variety of rough and tumble play. An educator must also ensure
the environment and the play is set up in a way that promotes safe play. Some adults may
perceive R&T play as aggressive, and yes, there may be shouting, laughter, growling, shrieking,
and crazy noises and when children participate in rough motor play it increases both the
challenge and the risk. Adults can identify distinctive behaviours in childrens play to distinguish
between rough and tumble play and aggression (Kostelnik, 2015, p. 211)
3. There are some challenges and considerations that an educator will have to think about as they
plan for this type of play in their practice. Temperament and previous experience influences the
willingness of children to take risks in play. Toddlers have little sense of potentially dangerous
situations and must be protected. Preschool children, however, should be provided many

opportunities to try skills in supervised play to learn how competent they are (Kostelnik, 2015,
p. 211). Childrens safety is most important, but at the same time an educator needs to be able to
offer a variety of opportunities for big body play, while allowing the child to lead the play.
Educators may also find more encouragement is needed for children less motivated to engage in
big body play children who are obese, clumsy, or disabled find the natural movements of much
younger children challenging and need additional support to attempt even those simpler skills
(Kostelnik, 2015, p. 210)
4. Risk in childrens play is the fact that all play children conduct houses risks some more than
others. Educators need to consider all the safety and risk factors in the play that the children will
be conducting. . Children frequently assume that an activity that is easy for them will be easy
for an-age mate and may need guidance in recognizing the difference between being supportive
to peers and challenging them to perform potentially dangerous activities (Kostelnik, 2015, p.
211) Educators need to find a balance between keeping the play rough and tumble,
developmentally appropriate, and safe. With all this being said, it is important to remember that
children rarely attempt feats that are beyond their abilities unless pressured to do so
(Kostelnik, 2015, p. 211)
C.
a) Some of the positive risks in our play would be the act of jumping, hopping, crawling, and the
children chasing one another. Having to move in a variety of ways and utilise different muscles
like they havent before, creates a physical challenge for the children refinement and efficiency
of movement occurs as children eventually attain security in their own skills and become capable
of experimenting (Kostelnik, 2015, p. 215). Participating alongside the children or encouraging
them with words, the educator should hope to help them understand how to move. We as

educators should encourage children not to make the play too rough with other children. When
children are chasing one another, sometimes the play can turn rough, the educator should remind
the children that this type of play is not okay.
b) The activity we have planned is developmentally appropriate for many different age groups.
As the children age, the activity can be made to utilise more difficult moves and less common
animals, which will have them working not only physically but also cognitively harder. As well,
for preschool aged children and toddlers, this activity introduces them to varying types of gross
motor skills, movements, and activities which will help to stimulate their physical growth and
awareness. At the same time, the younger children will be learning the movement, sounds, and
names of different animals.
c) This activity can be educator led for children of a younger age or of differing ability, and as
they age or develop further, the children can slowly play this activity on their own with less and
less intervention by the educator as they scaffold the play. By adding in certain elements to the
game or subtracting others, this activity is appropriate for many age groups. The rules of the
game may be followed, changed, ignored, enforced, and invented according to the context of the
game or what children think is fun, fair, or acceptable (Kostelnik, 2015, p. 214) changing the
rules can be done in order to accommodate children with varying abilities. For children that are
visually impaired, we can change the game to have partners and switch any running to giant
jumps. The game can always be altered in order to include every child.
d) Educators could model the game first for the children, playing as one of the players is also
very helpful in the earlier phases of learning a new game (Kostelnik, 2015, p. 215). Educators
should encourage safe, cooperate play and the listening skills that are necessary to follow
through with the activity. When children seem to have the idea. Take on an observers role,

preferably at some distance, but within sight of action. Help children identify the problem when
there are different interpretations of the rules, and ensure the safety of children (such as when a
ball rolls into a street or parking lot). Otherwise, children should play independently (Kostelnik,
2015, p. 215)
e) Children could take this activity and raise it to an unsafe level by pushing other children,
chasing after them and hitting them instead of just running alongside of them. Before playing the
activity I would hope to explain that certain types of behaviour within the game are not okay and
if it did occur. I would gently remind them that this was not appropriate for the game. The
childrens understanding of the limits can easily be set out with the rules of the game and play.
Have rules, and generally there are sanctions for those not following the rules. (Kostelnik,
2015, p. 213)
f) Some materials that could be brought in for children to expand on this activity would be the
costumes of animals, or masks. Perhaps even a small obstacle course of hula hoops, pylons, and
ropes could also exist amongst the field of the game between the Bear and the other children.

References
Kostelnik, M. J. (2015). Guiding children's social development and learning: theory
and skills . Cengage Learning.