Rethinking Risk: The Benefits of Risky Play for Your Child's Development

Risky play has been making waves in parenting circles, sparking conversations about the delicate balance between protecting our children and the benefits of allowing them the freedom to explore. Parents, now more than ever, are wondering what the value in risky play truly is, what it looks like to implement it in their everyday routines, and where to draw the line between healthy risky play and play that is blatantly dangerous. To tackle these questions head-on, we invited Dr. Mariana Brussoni, a leading expert and researcher on risky play, onto the Parenting Ed-Ventures podcast.

Dr. Brussoni is a Professor at the University of British Columbia, Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership, and an Investigator at the British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute. Her groundbreaking research has shown the role of risky play in helping children build resilience, independence, and problem-solving and emotional regulation skills.

Dr. Brussoni walks us through what risky play looks like in everyday life, the benefits it has to offer, and how parents can confidently introduce these experiences into their children’s lives.

Understanding Risky Play

Risky play, a term that has gained prominence in recent academic literature, refers to thrilling and exciting forms of play that engage children with uncertainty, often involving the possibility of physical injury. This feeling of excitement and thrill, Dr. Brussoni explains, borders that of fear. These activities stand in contrast to more traditional or controlled play, emphasizing exploration and pushing boundaries.

Activities that typically fall under the umbrella of risky play include climbing trees, engaging in rough-and-tumble play, wandering outside unsupervised, riding a bike at high speeds, or exploring secluded spaces. These activities push children beyond their comfort zones, providing experiences that can feel both thrilling and somewhat scary. The fine line between excitement and fear is central to understanding what constitutes risky play, as it taps into a child’s natural curiosity and desire for independence.

Developmental Benefits of Risky Play

Research is clear about the benefits of risky play for childhood development, and this body of evidence is only growing. As Dr. Brussoni explains, when children engage in activities that involve risk, their bodies activate an adrenaline response known as "fight or flight".

"One of the reasons that risky play is so important is because it trains kids to get used to those really strong feelings" explains Dr. Brussoni. It encourages children sit with their fear and lean into the new opportunity that faces them, instead of withdrawing to accommodate their comfort.

Rather than defaulting to fear or avoidance, children who participate in risky play learn to embrace uncertainty and view these experiences as opportunities for growth. This process helps children build resilience, empowers them to face future challenges with greater confidence, and also contributes to lower levels of anxiety.

"More and more research is linking risky play to mental health" explains Dr. Brussoni, "by building experience with risk and risky play, [children] get more comfortable with understanding those feelings, understanding themselves, understanding how far they can push themselves, and to get to that point where it's thrilling and exciting...they just kind of build resistance to that, and that really helps manage anxiety."

The shift to outdoor, risky play also naturally lends itself to promoting a more physically-active childhood, and the benefits that come as a result of that.

"[Children] are spending less time on screens, they're outdoors, they're hanging out with their friends. And so you have a massive amount of social-emotional learning that comes with navigating friendships; it builds executive functioning skills because they make plans, and they have to carry out those plans, and they have to keep their attention on that task" Brussoni explained.

Outdoor, risky play is also much less restrictive for children.

"Nobody is telling them to slow down, to use their inside voices, or controlling their behaviour as much, so they're able to move in ways that they're not able to indoors" she explained.

Kids who partake in outdoor or risky play also refine their risk-management skills, build their self-confidence, and become more comfortable with failure, and--as Dr. Brussoni highlights--failure is just as important as success in terms of learning.

Common Misconceptions and Parental Fears About Risky Play

One of the biggest misconceptions about risky play is that it’s inherently dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. The word 'risk', contrary to popular use, is actually a neutral term which simply denotes the likelihood of something happening, whether it be positive or negative.

"One of the things that we've done intentionally [in our work], is to use the word 'risk', in risky play" Dr. Brussoni explained. "We wanted to uncouple that from the more traditional use [of the word] being danger or hazard, or something that should be controlled or stopped." Instead, parents should keep the risk and the opportunity for children to make a decision for themselves about how far they want to push themselves or what they want to try, and manage the hazard.

Many parents, however, perceive the term "risk" as synonymous with "danger" and are naturally cautious, often concerned about their child’s safety. This heightened level of concern has been exacerbated by societal pressures and the rise of "helicopter parenting," a term used to describe the trend of parents closely supervising and controlling their children's activities.

In past generations, children were encouraged to explore freely, often unsupervised for long periods, which allowed for natural risk-taking. However, beginning in the late 1980s, there was a shift toward more intensive parenting models, characterized by heightened supervision and a focus on structured activities designed to ensure children’s success. This shift has led to a decrease in opportunities for children to engage in play that fosters independence, creativity, and resilience.

To counter these evolving attitudes, experts advocate for a return to valuing risky play as a fundamental part of child development. While risky play, by definition, acknowledges the possibility of physical injury to a child, Dr. Brussoni explains that this chance is much more rare than we think.

"Part of my research has been actually looking at how big a chance [of physical injury] there is, and the punchline is that it's not something that we really need to worry about very deeply" she explains.

Understanding the Balance: Safety vs. Freedom

One of the key challenges for parents and educators is determining where to draw the line between keeping children safe from life-threatening danger and allowing them the freedom to engage in risky play and reap the subsequent developmental benefits.

According to Dr. Brussoni, the role of the parent and/or caretaker is about cultivating environments that are rich, varied, and safe enough to let children explore at their own comfort levels, rather than controlling the actions of the child. The approach, Dr. Brussoni explains, should be centred around three key ingredients: time, space, and freedom, and by creating environments that offer these elements, children can explore, take risks, and learn how to manage potential dangers on their own.

By ensuring parents are informed of what the research says about the benefits of risky play, coupled with what the data shows about the chance of real danger, experts are optimistic that risky, outdoor play will soon again, become the majority practice.

Understanding what matters most—such as fostering independence, building resilience, and supporting emotional growth—can help parents move beyond societal pressures and create spaces where children feel empowered to take risks.

Dr. Brussoni encourages parents to reflect on their core values and how they want to shape their child’s experiences. Tools and resources found on websites like OutsidePlay.org, provide support and guidance for parents, childcare workers, and educators, looking to navigate the balance between risk and safety in a way that supports children’s growth.