"skills like lighting a fire, building a raft and getting on with other people are lessons as important to children as maths."

It seems that play is very important for us when we grow up and learn:
Jay Doubleyou: play and learning
Jay Doubleyou: work and play

There's been a lot of talk about giving children more 'freedom' to play and explore:

Is this the perfect playground, full of junk?

An experiment in north Wales lets children – and adults – experience the boundaries of truly free play. Is it madness or a model for the future?

• Anna Moore
• The Guardian, Saturday 10 May 2014
• Jump to comments (109)

The Land adventure playground, Plas Madoc.

Approaching on a grey, rainy April day, Plas Madoc doesn't look too promising. An estate of 850 houses, seven miles from Wrexham in north Wales, it features high on the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation and has been known locally as Cardboard City and Smack Madoc. There's one shop for all the residents. The leisure centre – a shining light with its "lagoon", climbing wall, squash courts and trampoline – has just shut down because of cuts in funding.

But there is something. If you know your way through the maze, you can find a fenced-off grassy area marked with a sign that reads, "The Land. A Space Full of Possibilities." Go through the gate and your first thought may well be that it's a junkyard. In a space 55m squared, with a brook running through it, you'll see piles of pallets, a tonne of tyres, the odd upside-down boat, wheelbarrows, ladders, fishing nets, various stray hammers (courtesy of Poundland), ropes and punch bags.

Children learn about risk through the freedom to play at the Land

Look again and you may notice that the pallets have been organised into a web of mini walkways with entrances and exits way too small for adults. (It's called the Shanty Town and, like everything here, it's temporary. Any child is more than welcome to come along with a hammer and smash it to smithereens.) There's a small, red-headed boy swinging from a tree on a rope across the brook. In a far corner, children are sawing and banging, building a den around a tree. Another girl has a hose – she's filling a canoe with water, just for the hell of it. A teenage boy sits in a shopping trolley, which two mates push precariously up an incline. Some other boys are ripping sheets of wallpaper to build a fire. It's a playground, but not as we know it.

The Importance of Playing With Fire (Literally) from Vimeo

Is this the perfect playground, full of junk? | Life and style | The Guardian

And from the Chief Scout:

Give six-year-olds knives, says Chief Scout Bear Grylls - the sharper, the BETTER

CHILDREN as young as six should be given knives so they learn to handle risk and enjoy the adventurous play their ­parents took for granted, says Chief Scout Bear Grylls.

By: Sarah O’Grady

Published: Tue, May 6, 2014

When it comes to children and knives - the sharper the better, according to role model Bear Grylls[CHANNEL 4]

The TV survivalist believes that wrapping youngsters in cotton wool is a poor preparation for life.

Grylls, 39, revealed in an interview with Radio Times that he let his own son have a sharp penknife – and the boy cut himself badly.

But he insisted: “If you try to negate risk in children’s lives, you do them a disservice. You teach them not to be afraid of risk. You cannot negate risk. Risk is everywhere.

“You empower kids by teaching them how to do something dangerous but how to do it safely. I say to Scouts, ‘We’re going to climb this, it’s going to be scary and dangerous, but we’re going to do it together and look after each other to stay safe’.”

The father-of-three explained his stance on knives. He said: “I say to budding adventurers, ‘A blunt penknife is a dangerous knife. Make sure it’s really sharp’. They want a mega-sharp penknife – but teach them to respect it and use it properly.

“My six-year-old cut himself on a knife and had blood pouring everywhere. But he’s not cut himself again. He has learnt how to handle a knife.”

I say to budding adventurers, ‘A blunt penknife is a dangerous knife. Make sure it’s really sharp’. They want a mega-sharp penknife – but teach them to respect it and use it properly.

Bear Grylls

Grylls believes skills like lighting a fire, building a raft and getting on with other people are lessons as important to children as maths.

He said: “Two hundred years ago I doubt there was a six-year-old who couldn’t start a fire with a knife and a flint. It’s important to teach them these things. There’s a balance. You don’t want pain or hurt but you’ve got to let kids have the odd scrape and adventure. Let’s have fun again.

“You have to fail at things but keep trying and take a few risks if you’re going to achieve anything in life.”

England’s Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies agrees. She has said: “By exposing young people to challenges, we strengthen their ­ability to act effectively.”

Give six-year-olds knives, says Chief Scout Bear Grylls | UK | News | Daily Express
Bear Grylls: ‘Children should be allowed to play with knives’ - People - News - The Independent
Give kids a lesson in risk, says Bear Grylls | Mail Online
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