Risk helps kids practice and improve the following skills:

Flexibility

Adapting and adjusting to changing conditions and expectations.

Because Risk is a board game where you play against other players (sometimes even a computer in the app version), the player has to be flexible. The player could have the best plan laid out, knowing exactly where they are going to go and how they are going to dominate the world, but the other players can interfere with it. The element of random dice rolls can also impact what the player has to do. They might have the advantage of more armies against a competitor's country, but if the dice come out the wrong way, they might still lose. When any of this happens, the player has to adjust to these new "obstacles" and adapt to the changes they now have to make in their plan. If they don't, they will not win the game.

Planning

Developing and retaining information in our minds while working.

This game has a lot of similarities to chess. The player needs to solve the problem of how to beat all of their opponents. Which one to take out first, for example, and even which country to try and take over first. They also need to know when to leave a bunch of armies in one country in order to protect other countries they may own. And they need to plan out several steps and attacks and even turns at a time. Just like in chess, they may not get to follow through with their plan because of something a fellow player has done, but they need to have several steps planned out. And because these games can last 30 or 60 minutes--or more--the player has to maintain a long-term plan. If they don't, they will not be able to win.