A risk rich environment is one that enables children to assess and take risks in their play. Children are driven by nature to seek challenges; it is how they learn. Taking risks are an essential element in play, learning, exploring, experiencing and growing. If there are no challenges in an environment children will create their own acts of daring or experimentation that can result in harm.

This is important for children as it allows them make choices, test their limits, meet challenges, explore boundaries and learn about and from risk. Both Aistear and Siolta promote children’s learning through active, hands-on experience and appropriate levels of challenge.

The basics should allow children (individually and in groups) opportunities to be actively involved in a whole range of physical movements, balancing, swinging, rocking, jumping, bouncing, sliding, cycling, stretching, carrying, digging, climbing, crawling, hopping and skipping.