Introduction:
Childcare has to offer a rich and challenging play environment to give children plenty of opportunities for development. This should be reflected in the approach to childcare safety: “We aim for an environment that is as safe as necessary so that every child has as many opportunities as possible to develop. We mean an environment in which we cleverly deal with risks so that children can push their limits and have plenty of opportunities to play.”

Objectives:
Childcare providers need to make a risk analysis. This is a method to work on health and safety in childcare. Most childcare organisers use a checklist for this purpose, which is only pulled out every 2 years. A checklist helps to assess the static safety of your location. But if you want to include opportunities for play and development in your risk analysis, as well as emotional safety, this method is not sufficient. We needed to add a method to make risk analysis a process that continuously improves operations and is sensitive to children's needs.

Methods:
Regularly checking the necessary preconditions for health and safety with a checklist remains important. But besides that, it is also important to think about possible risks during daily activities and what you can do to make your childcare centre as safe as necessary. The method we introduce can help to start the conversation about safety with colleagues. What you think is dangerous might just be an exciting challenge or a fantastic play opportunity for some children. Discuss with your colleagues how you can make the risks acceptable and make your childcare as safe as necessary.

Results:
We introduce the 3 A's of Risk Analysis: • Acceptable risk? Do you see risks in the activity/play/the materials/the environment/what children do/... ? Are we talking about acceptable or unacceptable risks? • Adjust? What can you adjust to make the risk acceptable? • Attention to children's needs? Are you reducing opportunities for play or development with the adjustments you want to make? Can you provide those opportunities for play or development in other ways? Do you also ensure emotional safety?

Conclusion: A good risk analysis does not only make childcare physically safe. It also makes children feel emotionally safe, increases their well-being and gives them opportunities to play and develop.

Keywords: Child Safety, risky play, childcare, risk analysis

Other info: Yasmine De Mesel