Adventurous Risky Play Develops Proprioceptive & Vestibular Sense, Promotes Confidence

Adventurous play is also sometimes called risky play which is defined as thrilling and challenging forms of play that involve some sort of a risk.

Risky adventurous playtime can help promote and develop a child's self-confidence, resilience, executive functioning abilities, self-awareness, and let them experience trial & error, as well as new feelings and emotions. Each time a child has a minor fall, scrape, bump, or even a “scare,” learning and adaptation occur. There are numerous benefits of engaging in adventurous playtime.

Kid-Friendly Adventurous Playtime

Adventurous risky playtime does not have to be prone to injury or danger. No one wants our children to get hurt or experience trauma.

For a three-or-four-year-old, playing hide and seek is an adventure and involves risk-taking on a small scale – hiding, being apart from parents and friends, trying to not be found, crawling into small or new places, can bring new emotions, thoughts, and even let them feel like they are challenging their own routine boundaries and “safe spaces.” Playing a new game, like “slip and slide” can be fun, scary, and each time they slide can end up differently in terms of distance, where they slide off, or how fast they go. These are examples of risky adventurous playtime.

Benefits of Adventurous Risky Play

Adventurous risky play allows a child to be excited, build confidence, build a knowledge base, make new discoveries, and lets them think about and anticipate what may happen.

Letting a child engage in physical play where they can climb, run, jump, play on a variety of surfaces, and try playing in a new way will encourage creativity as well as develop their physical skills. An example of playing in a new “risky” adventurous way could be crawling UP the slide and not just sliding down it or even swinging with their eyes closed!

Minimize the “Risks” of Risky Play

Toddlers engage in lots of risky play that often make their parents nervous, and ready to jump in or yell at any given moment. For little ones, climbing up to sit on a chair is one thing, but then all of a sudden they are standing on the chair, or jumping up on the arm rest of the sofa – that’s all “risky” adventurous LEARNING playtime – but it all still makes our hearts jump in fear! As hard as it is, it is important to let them take some risk where they learn about how their body works as well as learn what is safe versus what can get them hurt.

I want to make it clear, I am not promoting letting a child try things that are quite obviously a danger, but to give them some learning leeway – a scraped knee is not the same as getting burned or allowing them to explore in unreasonable and unsafe spaces.

The “Power” in Adventurous Risky Play

Providing safe kid-friendly, and age appropriate risky adventurous playtime experiences gives many positive learning experiences that your child can benefit from.

Some of the “power” in adventurous play include:

• Allows a child to experience challenges outside of the normal day-to-day routine

• Helps to build confidence and positive self-esteem in feeling success in playing in a new way

• Let’s them feel small bits of emotion, like fear, anxiety, stress, excitement, and carefree joy, in small controlled ways

• Helps a child develop and build on their early learning problem solving skills (what may happen, how do I move through this, is there another way around, how can I do this and not fall off, how can I balance, and so on)

• Depending on the type of adventurous play, it can promote and build on gross motor skill development, coordination and control, balance, self-awareness, proprioceptive and vestibular awareness, fine motor skills, cognitive processing, strength, endurance, focus, and attention (to name a few!)

• Can help a child see the difference between safe and unsafe – how to make it safer, think about what could happen, and become more aware of how to make the play situation safer.

Playtime Activities for Adventurous and Risky Play

Pick and choose from the following activities taking into consideration:

• Age and developmental level of child (to keep them as safe as possible)

• Their fear and anxiety levels, especially with trying new ways to play, or places to play

• Don’t “over-push” their involvement – modify first attempts so that they will give it a try and achieve success

• Start with little steps, small gains – the idea is to get them started on new ways to approach play – each activity can be individualized, modified, and presented to meet a child’s needs.

• Know your child’s sensory issues. They may absolutely love some of these and totally avoid or have a sensory meltdown with others – the idea is to provide variety, opportunity, and experience!

Playground equipment (rope nets, climbing logs, swings, slides, tunnels, monkey bars) – run as an obstacle course going from one piece of equipment to the next; go up the slide, slide down backwards on your tummy, hop up the steps, wiggle through the tunnels on your back, and so on – Change the WAY you use the equipment

Rope swings (start hanging on low with feet still on the ground, and work up to where they are swinging free, swing back and forth, swing in circular motions, swing with eyes closed, rotate rope around to hang while rope untwists and move up to untwisting while swinging; swing out over a pool or lake and let go!)

Sitting in and swinging in a tire swing

Hitting a baseball (off a T or one tossed to them)

Tree climbing (try to climb up just a foot or two onto a low branch, sit on the branch, lay on the branch, try to climb a bit higher if safe, hang onto a branch so that feet do not touch the ground and swing body back and forth, climbing down is just as thrilling as climbing up!) Use a helmet for fall risks. Check the branches to be sure they are sturdy and not cracked or rotting.

Jumping into and out of a kiddie pool. Jumping into a pool from the edge. Jump into the pool from a dive board. Monitor continuously for safety! Use a life jacket or swim-floats.

Run along the shoreline and try not to let the water rolling in to shore touch your feet. Run in and out of the water flow. Dig toes into the sand and let the water fill up the hole with your feet in it. Sit at the shoreline and let the water wash around you. Build a fort or sandcastle at the shore where you may need to dig a moat to protect your work. Collect shells right at the shoreline. Always supervise a child around water at all times!

Petting zoos; letting them eat out of your hand

Rolling down a grassy hill. Riding down the hill on a plastic disc or sled. In the snow you can ride down on a slid or in a big tube.

Running down a hill (check for any safety hazards first)

Hiking on uneven terrain stepping over tree roots, rocks, over holes and the like. Wear good walking shoes and take water and snacks for longer hikes.

Take a trip to a gymnastics play center and allow all the jumping, swinging, rolling that such places afford.

Spend a couple hours in a play area that has a ball pit, climbing tunnels/nets, obstacle courses and is bright, colorful, and kid-friendly!

Check out the centers that offer supervised “wall climbing” experiences – height and assist based on a child’s level

Active games like hide-and-seek, scavenger hunt, slip-and-slide, twister, duck-duck-goose, shuttle-cock, hopscotch, jump rope, hoola-hoops, Keep-a-Way, and on and on!

Mud puddle play

Bike riding (tricycle – ride forwards and backwards, around an obstacle course, uphill and downhill)

Using a scooter (kid sized) in the house, in the driveway, on the sidewalk, at the park

Helping build a campfire (the wood part) then find a long stick to roast a marshmallow! Always provide constant supervision around fire sources.

Sitting on and bouncing on a large floor bouncy ball (with handle)

Jumping up and down on a kid-sized trampoline

Bumper cars (at local entertainment center)

Help to use a small hand saw to cut twigs and small branches (use work gloves for hand protection – talk about safety and proper use)

Try child-friendly mallets to hammer in pegs, thumb-tacks, or golf tees into soft wood, pumpkins, or big balls of playdough; work up to heavier and bigger hammers as your child displays ability and safety skills

Backyard camping out complete with snacks, drinks, story-telling, flashlight fun

Playing outside as dusk and nightfall approach may be simple, but has it’s thrilling elements!

Plan some risky adventurous playtime today!!

Please Share with Credit to TheraPlay4Kids.com

Thanks for your support!

Connect with us: e-mail

FaceBook: TheraPlay4Kids Group

Linkedin: Judy @ TheraPlay4Kids