Growing Through Risk: Supporting Play & Wellbeing from 9-15 Years

Growing up is risky business (Gray et al., 2025a). Risky play is the bedrock of learning from experience and a prerequisite for healthy child and adolescent development. Exposure to opportunities that foster prosocial or positive risk taking during the foundational years helps cultivate lifelong risk literacy skills. The 2026 Play Australia’s Risky Play Position Statement for children and adolescents aged 9 to 15 years provides an evidence-based framework for comprehending, supporting, and implementing risky play opportunities. International risky play research has almost exclusively concentrated on early childhood (0–8 years). Landmark systematic reviews, national position statements, and regulatory guidance have been produced predominantly centring on the early years. Major professional organisations supporting risky play include the Australasian Society for Developmental Paediatrics (2025), Play Australia (Jones et al., 2025), the Canadian Paediatric Society (Beaulieu & Beno, 2024), and the international Active Outdoor Play consortium (Lee et al., 2025). While the emphasis has been invaluable, it has inadvertently created an unintended gap: Children and young adolescents aged 9 to 15 years and the adults who work alongside them, are left without evidence-based frameworks tailored to their developmental needs and risk profiles. Further longitudinal research is recommended on long-term outcomes following children into adulthood, specific benefits and cross-national studies, virtual reality modelling for the 9 to 15 age group, dose-response relationships, effectiveness of different implementation approaches, social capital influences (Lee et al., 2026), and cultural adaptations and/or variations. The 9- to 15-year-old position statement builds on the foundations established in Children Thriving With Risky Play: A Risky Play Position Statement for Young Australian Children (Jones et al., 2025). Risky play was identified as a critical component of healthy development and wellbeing for children from birth to 8 years and advocated for a benefit–risk assessment (BRA) approach to children’s play opportunities. Extending upon Jones et al.’s (2025) seminal work, this risky play statement focuses specifically on adolescents (9–15 years). This age group represents a distinct developmental period characterised by increasing independence, mobility, autonomy, social engagement, and confidence. At the same time, children and adolescents aged 9 to 15 years are navigating significant emotional, cognitive and executive function, and social developmental milestones that can be nurtured through opportunities for developmentally appropriate challenge, exploration, and well-managed risk. The risky play statement document for 9- to 15-year-olds was collaboratively developed by specialists in education, allied health fields, safety, and community experts through iterative feedback sessions. This ensures that the position statement reflects contemporary evidence and practical relevance across multiple settings, as shaped and guided by ongoing stakeholder consultations.