Navigating Playground Rules: Balancing Safety And Freedom.pdf

One paradox inherent in cultivating a pedagogy of play has to do with rules. Schools are often full of rules, predominantly made and enforced by adults, to ensure children's safety and well-being. However, rules can interfere with children's ability to experience choice, wonder, and delight, which are indicators of playful learning. In this picture of practice, kindergarten teachers at the International School of Billund (ISB) explore what happens when they have fewer rules on the playground.

The teachers, Marina Benavente Barbon and Carolina Ayala, observe their class of 14 five-year-old kindergarteners during an hour-long outdoor play period. They find themselves saying "NO" more than "yes," as the children are constantly stopped from climbing trees, picking apples, and playing with friends through the fence. The teachers begin to wonder if having too many rules is interfering with children's play and learning.

Later that week, Marina and Carolina attend a Pedagogy of Play study group meeting, where they pitch the idea of exploring what happens when they have fewer rules on the playground. The question elicits a mix of gasps and cheers from the study group, who are both intrigued and worried about the implications. Marina reassures them that they will address the question as an empirical experiment, carried out thoughtfully, and will document what happens to share back with the study group next month.

Marina and Carolina make a concrete plan for carrying out their experiment, deciding to explain their plans to the children and talking about what it means to conduct research. They create green "freedom bracelets" and explain that when the children put these bracelets on, they only need to follow two guidelines on the playground: taking care of each other and taking care of the materials.

The following Monday, the children head out for their morning outdoor playtime with bracelets on their wrists. Each day that week, Marina and Carolina document what happens, filming short video clips of the children's play and writing observations in their notebooks. The children ride their bicycles on a part of the playground not normally allowed, play ball over the fence with the primary school children, and pick and gather apples from the apple tree. Surprisingly, there are no injuries.