Nursery World - Outdoors in Japan, part 2

When it comes to risk-taking and resilience, Japan’s settings get the most out of adults and the outdoors, finds Julie Mountain

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Resilience can’t be taught; it is gained when children have the confidence to try and fail repeatedly, to work through problems themselves, safe in the knowledge that adults will help if needed but won’t interfere or take over.

On my visits to Japanese kindergartens in 2017, I was struck by the physical and emotional confidence on display when children played outdoors. The longer visit in 2018 allowed me to study how children interacted with their landscapes, with one another and with their key adults. The quality of these interactions is at the root of Japanese kindergarteners’ ability to persevere, take turns, communicate and succeed.

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