At a Glance: Benefits of Risky Play for Kids
- Outdoor play comes with risks, but manageable risks are important for how kids develop.
- Risky play helps kids build judgment, confidence, and creativity.
- Learning to assess and manage risk on their own is an essential developmental milestone for kids.
- Outdoor play can be uncomfortable or difficult, which helps kids become more resilient and physically capable.
- Outdoor play with other kids also builds social skills and problem-solving skills.
Play is how kids learn. And sometimes, the best lessons come home with muddy knees, wet socks, and a pocket full of rocks. For generations, kids climbed trees, built forts, splashed through creeks, and disappeared into the woods for hours.
They weren’t just having fun. They were practicing problem solving, creativity, confidence, and judgment.
The Link Between Outdoor Time and Risk Management
But kids today are spending more time inside. Plenty of parents use devices from time to time. I get it! Sometimes a screen is the only thing standing between a parent and a cold cup of coffee.
But when screens replace outdoor play rather than complement it, children miss out on experiences that simply can’t be replicated digitally. Research consistently shows that time outdoors:
- Improves physical and mental health
- Strengthens self-regulation
- Reduces stress
- Builds empathy
- Encourages creativity
Outdoor play also develops something we don’t talk about nearly enough: the ability to assess risk.
Danger vs. Risk: The Benefits of Risky Play for Kids
Of all the benefits of outdoor play, “risk” may be the one we overlook most. In a world where we’ve worked hard to eliminate risk from childhood, it’s worth asking whether we’ve also eliminated opportunities to learn how to manage it.
Parents naturally want to keep their children safe. But there’s an important difference between danger and risk.
Danger is something a child can’t reasonably recognize or manage. Risk is something they can see, think through, and learn from. Balancing on a log. Crossing a creek. Climbing a tree. Jumping from one rock to another.
These moments teach children to ask themselves: Can I do this? What’s my plan? What happens if I slip?
Every successful decision builds confidence. Every mistake becomes information. Children don’t learn good judgment by avoiding risk. They learn it by practicing.
In trying to protect children, we’ve removed many opportunities for them to make their own decisions. Playgrounds have become increasingly standardized and sanitized. Adults intervene quickly. “Be careful!” has become one of the most common phrases children hear outdoors.
So where do children get the chance to practice these skills? One of the best classrooms has been here all along.
Tolerating Discomfort: Nature Is the Best Teacher
Spending time in nature isn’t without its challenges. Nature can be uncomfortable. Splinters, stings, sore muscles, fatigue, and temperature swings can all make being in nature difficult at times.
But that’s the beauty of it. And that’s exactly why it’s such a great teacher.
Children discover they can tolerate discomfort. They become more adaptable, more observant, and more confident. They learn that not every obstacle needs to be removed.
Research Corner: What Are the Types of Risky Play?
In her research, Ellen Sandseter, a professor at Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education, identified six categories of risky play that children are attracted to:
- Play with heights: climbing trees or playground equipment
- Play with high speed: running fast, cycling or scooting downhill
- Play with dangerous tools: using sticks, hammers, rocks, or other tools
- Play where children can disappear: hide-and-seek or exploring
- Rough and tumble play: wrestling or play fighting
- Play with dangerous elements: water, rock piles, or similar elements
Sandseter’s research doesn’t argue that children should be left to manage these risks completely alone. Instead, the principles of risky play suggest that children should be allowed to explore these categories of risk in an age-appropriate way, gradually learning to assess and manage risks for themselves.
Building Comfort with Risk
Children are not the only ones who need to learn this. In order to help kids safely and confidently bloom outdoors, parents also need to make peace with discomfort. As families have moved indoors, I’ve seen adults lose their tolerance for risk, too.
If a child isn’t in immediate danger, I encourage parents to guide with questions rather than directions. Questions help children pause, think, and evaluate instead of simply waiting for an adult to solve the problem.
As we help kids develop their ability to identify risk, try an encouraging and patient approach. Instead of saying, “be careful,” you might ask if a kid thinks their choice is a good one, or if they have a plan.
This is all part of helping children develop good judgment.
A Different Kind of Playground
As opportunities for free outdoor play have become harder to find, nature play spaces have become increasingly popular because they bridge the gap between traditional playgrounds and true wilderness.
Instead of brightly colored equipment with one intended use, nature play spaces may have:
- Logs
- Boulders
- Creeks
- Loose parts
- Mud kitchens
- Climbing areas
- Open-ended spaces that invite imagination and problem solving
Nature play spaces, including the one where I work at Wildrock, are designed to give children opportunities to practice independent decision-making. The rocks, woods, and play areas invite children to test their abilities, solve problems, and create their own games.
Having a curated playscape to practice risky play can be like training wheels to scaffold nature for kids who might not be as practiced in unstructured, outdoor play. The goal isn’t thrill-seeking. It’s helping children become comfortable making thoughtful decisions in an outdoor environment.
Risky Play: What Does That Actually Mean?
Not this:
- Jumping off a roof
- Playing near traffic
- Doing something beyond a child’s ability
- Throwing rocks at another child
- Swimming alone
More like this:
- Climbing a tree
- Balancing on a log
- Carrying a stick while hiking
- Figuring out how to cross a creek
- Building something that might fall apart
The Risks and Consequences of Keeping Kids Inside
I get the push-pull of loving a child so much that you want to keep them safe. A kid playing on a tablet on the sofa feels safer to some than a kid half way up a tree. But the risks can still be great.
Many teachers and outdoor educators report noticing that some children arrive with less experience using their bodies outdoors, from balancing and climbing to navigating uneven terrain. Many struggle with dexterity and impulse control in ways that were less common a generation ago.
These trends have many causes. But fewer opportunities for active, independent outdoor play almost certainly contribute. Children become physically capable by using their bodies. They become emotionally capable by overcoming challenges. They become socially capable by solving problems with other children, rather than having adults solve every conflict for them.
The Courage to Let Go
Whether I’m working as an outdoor educator or parenting my own child, the tension is the same: How do you keep kids safe without preventing them from growing?
Part of my job is scanning constantly for genuine hazards while still allowing children the freedom to test themselves. That same balancing act follows me home. Because every parent eventually faces the question: How much risk is too much?
For our family, that question has a personal answer. My child enjoys one of the most high-risk sports: horseback riding. She is best friends with a 900-pound prey animal on which she jumps over sticks and runs through fields.
We know dozens of horse friends who have been hospitalized with broken bones and concussions. And yet, riding horses has boosted my kid’s confidence, resilience, empathy, balance, and sense of responsibility. Not to mention, she loves it.
As a horse kid myself, most of my outside time growing up was at the barn, often unsupervised, learning through natural consequences and mentorship. We share a love of horses we could never share for screens.
The 10-Minute Let-Go Challenge
For those who want to start small, try giving your child 10 minutes of outdoor freedom this week. You might be surprised by what they can do!
- Let them choose the trail.
- Let them decide how to cross the puddle.
- Let them build something without correcting it.
- Let them solve a small problem before stepping in.
The Childhood We Hope For
All of this talk of risky play makes me think about the kind of childhood I want for the next generation.
I often say, perhaps to the chagrin of my Board of Directors, that Wildrock shouldn’t have to exist. Kids shouldn’t need whimsical hobbit houses or logs carved into bears and turtles. They shouldn’t need mowed meadows and fairy houses.
In an ideal world, children would have regular access to woods and creeks. They would have fields, neighborhood parks, and other places where they could explore freely and develop confidence through experience. Kids would know how high is too high because they’d spent years climbing. They would understand how to cross a creek because they’d done it dozens of times before.
Nature, Risky Play, and Reclaiming Childhood
For many children today, that experience has been lost. Nature-connected childhoods have become the exception rather than the norm.
That’s why creating opportunities for outdoor exploration matters more than ever. That can happen in a backyard, a neighborhood park, or a hiking trail. It can happen in a school outdoor classroom or at a nature center. What matters most is giving children regular chances to encounter manageable challenges and learn to navigate them independently.
Nature play is not without risks. But the benefits of will always outweigh the bumps and bruises. Because sometimes, a little risk is what kids need to learn, grow, and thrive.
Feeling inspired to get outside? Check out our favorite hikes to do with kids or ones where you can bring your pet. Spend a day at Ivy Creek Natural Area or visit some of the best playgrounds in town. Or, for a whole weekend in nature, try planning a family getaway to the Great Smoky Mountains. Plus, learn the seven reasons doctors love to see kids play in nature.
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MEG PHILLIPS is a Charlottesville native and the executive director of Wildrock. You can find her riding horses with her daughter or ogling plants at their home. Meg has always loved animals and spending time outside.
Note: Research for this article included work published by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, the Canadian Paediatric Society, and leading researchers in children’s outdoor risky play, including Helen Little and Mariana Brussoni.