Risky play: the benefits of unscheduled and (somewhat) dangerous goofing around

Tarps, boxes, empty wrapping paper rolls, logs, buckets, old tires, pots, pans, snow. Those may not sound like typical kids toys, but Michelle Stone and Daniel Stevens want families to embrace these and other “loose parts” and allow their children to integrate them into unstructured, so-called “risky” play. The Dalhousie University researchers are embarking on…