Embracing Risky Play Course – Spring 2026

Embracing Risky Play Course

Dates and Times:

4pm Pacific / 7pm Eastern Time for 60 mins on Zoom on these dates:

• Monday April 13
• Monday April 20
• Monday April 27
• Monday May 4

Children are naturally drawn to risky play—taking physical chances, seeking excitement, and satisfying curiosity—and are more physically active when playing outdoors.

Delivered by 4 experts in the field (see bios below) with decades of experience, our course presenters will share research evidence alongside practical and accessible strategies for overcoming common barriers for implementing risky play at school.

The newly released Embracing Risky Play at School resource introduces readers to outdoor play and learning (OPAL) in the kindergarten to middle school years, explains the difference between risks and hazards, presents the concept of “Yes” spaces, and describes how and why risky play supports academic development and student well-being.

• Class #1 (April 13): Why risky play is important with Dr. Mariana Brussoni
• Class #2 (April 20): Risky play in child care environments with Sheila Grieve
• Class #3 (April 27): Risky play in schools with Dr. Megan Zeni
• Class #4 (May 4): Designing for risky play with Susan Herrington

All registrants will receive:

1. 4 x virtual 60 min learning sessions
2. Access to the recordings (available for up to 3 months following the sessions)
3. A Certificate of Completion

Please email accessibility@outdoorlearning.com to let us know if there are any accessibility barriers you face to being included or participating in this course, and we will do our best to accommodate them.

Facilitator

Dr. Mariana Brussoni is the Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership, and a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She is a developmental psychologist and is an investigator with the British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the British Columbia Injury Research & Prevention Unit.

Mariana’s award-winning research investigates child injury prevention and children’s unstructured, outdoor play, including risks that come with it. Mariana’s work focuses on the benefits of unstructured play on children’s development and addresses the barriers that get in the way of children playing outside.

Facilitator

Sheila Grieve, ECE, BPE, MAIS, is grateful to the Snuneymuxw people on whose unceded traditional territory she currently learns, lives, and works. As a member of the Métis Nation, Sheila commits to the concept of Kaa-Wiichihitoyaahk, taking care of each other. She is low vision (legally blind) and a professor of Early Childhood Education and Care at Vancouver Island University (VIU). Her research interest is land–based learning with a special focus on plants and our connections to plants; everyone has the right to thrive outside. She engages in risky play on a regular basis.

Facilitator

Dr. Megan Zeni has 3 decades of K-7 teaching experience in classrooms, outdoor classrooms, and school gardens. Dr. Zeni supports schools, school districts, and teacher education programs interested in building capacity for effective and sustainable implementation of risky play, school gardens, and outdoor learning in elementary schools. Learn more about online webinars, in-person professional development for teachers, research collaboration opportunities, and specialized consultation services at meganzeni.com

Facilitator

Susan Herrington is a Professor in the landscape architecture program. She regularly teaches histories of landscape architecture, theories in landscape architecture, and vertical studios. In the fall of 2021 she lead the Rewilding Play Design Build Intervention studio. Watch the video 

here. Susan is a licensed landscape architect in the United States and a landscape architect in Canada. She consults professionally in Canada and the US. Her research concerns design theories of contemporary landscape architecture including theories regarding children’s landscapes.

Optional supplementary resource for this course: