After going to Hobbledown for a birthday party, we came home and set about making our own small world version.  If you have never gone to Hobbledown, go! It’s near Epsom/Chessington: http://www.hobbledown.com

It is wonderful being in an adventure park that’s made of wood and metal, and not a lump of plastic in sight.  It is also a place where children of all ages and abilities can explore safety and comfortably.  But, each adventure area seems to offer ways of children to “progress” and they can venture into explorations where being scared is be part of the adventure, and the children embrace it.

In a world where our children tend to be cocooned in safety, often it is theme park rides that are the main source of “controlled terror”.  At Hobbledown, instead of roller coasters, you can find tunnels that are pitch-black, walk-ways that are high, with sections that are steep and feel exposed enough to scare some adults, and awkward doorways to secret hidey-holes that are virtually impossible for adults to get into.  The result is thrill seeking children sometimes getting themselves into pickles and sometimes feeling very real terror.  But I also noticed that once those children calmed down, they often returned to the activity that had scared them, exploring those sensations, developing their skills, and ultimately squealing with excited pride when they conquered their fear.

It was a working example of how beneficial it is to allow our children to experience risk, and give them time to explore, understand and ultimately work out how to deal with it.  Very similar to the “Risk Benefit Analysis” I was taught about on my Forest School training.  What I saw was the benefit, the achievement, but also the exhilaration of having been as brave as any fairy tale character, and surviving the adventure to tell the tale!