The Freedom to Fail: Understanding the Role of Risk in Play is a panel during the Meaningful Play conference that will explore play as vital for learning and practicing resilience. Cara Ciminillo, Trying Together’s executive director, will present during the panel.

By reframing play as a “place of practice,” the event examines how the physical stakes of risky play and the psychological experience of failure work in tandem to reduce perfectionism, cultivate curiosity, and ground the belief that growth is impossible without both.

The discussion will address the specific benefits of risk and failure in play from early learners to adults. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how “uncomfortable” experiences – risk, failure, disappointment, frustration – can be explored through play and why play can be an especially fertile environment for growth and learning. Participants will leave with practical strategies and resources to advocate for and implement risky play in their own games, classrooms, and communities.

Ciminillo, who is also the co-founder of Playful Pittsburgh, will present during the panel and again at the conference. There will also be speakers from Hatch Partners in Play and Carnegie Mellon on the panel.

The event will run from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 15 at 5000 Forbes Avenue.

Meaningful Play will run from October 13 to 15. It brings together academics, game designers, and educators to explore how games and play can change people’s lives.