Risky Play
Risky Play
The Benefits of Risky Play
Risky play supports a child’s sensory processing, movement skills, and confidence. The exact benefits will vary depending on each child’s unique sensory needs, but it can provide:
- Just-right challenges that match the child’s abilities.
-
Opportunities to develop key sensory skills:
- Proprioception - your body’s sense of where it is in space and how it’s moving.
- Vestibular awareness - the body’s sense of balance, movement, and spatial orientation.
- Interoception - your body’s ability to sense and understand internal signals, like hunger, fatigue, or heart rate changes.
- Movement calibration and physical strength, including ankle stability, coordination, and overall body control.
-
Problem-solving and meaningful exploration, as children figure out what they are capable of.
Encouraging risky or challenging play helps children push their abilities in ways that promote growth without causing frustration or disengagement. Allowing children to struggle within safe limits fosters cognitive development and executive functioning skills. It gives them space to see problems from different angles, practice multi-causal thinking, and develop basic problem-solving abilities while learning to adapt.
When children accomplish something on their own (at a level appropriate for their age and development), the pride and joy they experience increases the likelihood they will continue to challenge themselves in the future. Risky play isn’t just fun; it’s an invaluable experience that supports growth in countless ways.
(This insight comes from an Occupational Therapist specializing in Sensory Integration and Processing.)
Balancing Safety & Challenge
The goal is to allow children to explore and take risks safely, rather than trying to remove every hazard. Here’s how you can do it:
-
Assess the environment - Remove hazards that could cause serious injury (sharp items, traffic, deep water, extreme heights), but leave challenges that encourage movement, problem-solving, and risk-taking. Also consider which additions are necessary (think: a helmet). The removals should all be age-appropriate. Some examples: rollerblading down a slight hill, but ensure you are in a low traffic area, and they are wearing a helmet. Or jumping from one item to another. Ensure the landing is stable and away from sharp corners, but let them jump even though they might fall.
-
Provide just-right challenges - Match an activity to a child’s abilities, allowing them to stretch themselves without overwhelming them.
-
Supervise without taking over - Be present to step in if something becomes unsafe, but let the child try first. You can ask, "What's your plan?" or acknowledge, "You are up high!"
-
Teach risk-awareness - Talk through safe ways to navigate challenges, so they have some information to think back on to encourage safe decisions.
-
Gradually increase difficulty - As children gain confidence and skill, increase the challenge level!
It’s natural to want to protect children from bumps and bruises, but removing all risks can also take away crucial learning opportunities. Appropriate risky play is not the same as dangerous play.
By allowing safe challenges, children can experience important emotions, including:
-
Hesitation
-
Excitement
-
Fear
-
Joy
-
Mastery
It helps them learn about their bodies, their limits, and their comfort zones, supporting both physical and emotional development. Safe risky play is about controlled, meaningful challenges. Children learn resilience, confidence, and self-awareness when they are allowed to test their limits in a secure environment.
