The pendulum swings: developing a healthy risk appetite for outdoor play, adventurous learning, and child brain development

Play, challenge, adventurous activities and risk-taking provide the bedrock of early childhood learning. This chapter unveils the evidence-based research alongside the public discourse surrounding risky play and experiential learning. Research on children’s outdoor risky play has found that fear surrounding safety and misadventure underpin the decision-making process for play provision. Experiential educators have long acknowledged that stepping out of one’s comfort zone, entering the challenge zone, and embracing fear are essential to risk-taking. Risk-taking stimulates the prefrontal cortex and promotes decision making and healthy brain development. Against this backdrop, we are confronting a teen mental health crisis, with Gen Z being more anxious, fragile and risk averse. By all available indicators, modern society is at a dangerous crossroads, preoccupied with hermetically sealing children from harm or risk exposure yet, paradoxically, creating a deficit in mental toughness and resilience. This conundrum is poised to radically change with the recent advent of ISO 4980:2023, the benefit-risk assessment for sports and recreational facilities, activities, and equipment. Educators, safety inspectors, and paediatricians argue that personal growth and learning occur through exposure to risk and that failure is an enrichment opportunity. These experiences offer a potent vehicle for developing a child’s resilience, executive function and risk intelligence. This new advancement in safety standards effectively permits children to sharpen their risk-literacy skills and become better risk technicians. Lastly, the pendulum is swinging towards a healthy risk appetite, and we conclude with one author reflecting upon his parenting style and its influence on his child’s risk-taking propensity in adventurous natural settings.