Citation: Tangen, S.; Olsen, A.; Sandseter, E.B.H. A GoPro Look on How Children Aged 17–25 Months Assess and Manage Risk during Free Exploration in a Varied Natural Environment. Educ. Sci. 2022, 12, 361. https://doi.org/10.3390/ educsci12050361 Academic Editor: John Barker Received: 21 April 2022 Accepted: 17 May 2022 Published: 21 May 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). education sciences Article A GoPro Look on How Children Aged 17–25 Months Assess and Manage Risk during Free Exploration in a Varied Natural Environment Steffen Tangen 1, *, Alexander Olsen 1 and Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter 2 1 Department of Natural Sciences, Practical-Aesthetic, Social and Religious Studies, Østfold University College, 1757 Halden, Norway; alexander.olsen@hiof.no 2 Department of Physical Education and Health, Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education, 7044 Trondheim, Norway; ebs@dmmh.no * Correspondence: steffen.tangen@hiof.no Abstract: Research indicates that risky play has positive effects on children’s development, learning and health, and ability to assess and manage risk, but there is a lack of knowledge on how toddlers engage in risky play. This study aims to investigate how toddlers assess and manage risk in free exploration in a varied natural environment and was conducted within an explorative qualitative approach. Observations were collected through head-mounted GoPro cameras while seven toddlers freely explored a natural environment. The results show that toddlers are able to assess and manage risks in challenging natural environments. They develop their own risk management skills and assess risks directly and indirectly. The results also show that practitioners sometimes perform risk assessment/management on behalf of the child and thus override the child’s own actions. The findings suggest implications for an early childhood education and care (ECEC) practice where children even as young as 17–25 months should be allowed to explore challenging environments and learn how to assess and manage risks. Keywords: toddlers; risk assessment; risk management; exploration; GoPro 1. Introduction Injuries are the leading cause of death for children, and the literature suggests that traffic and transport, e.g., being a passenger in a car, is the most common cause of death and serious injury among children together with accidents in which children fall from heights [1]. Not much is known about how children learn to handle risk and avoid injuries, but there are indications that children’s own ability to assess risk can be improved through risky play where the child can test out risky behavior, situations, or actions without the severe real-life consequences [2,3]. Risky play has thus emerged as a topic of interest for researchers, parents, early childhood education and care (ECEC) practitioners, and policy makers and authorities over the last twenty years. Nevertheless, research also shows that outdoor risky play has decreased over the last 60 years [4–8]. There are cultural differences in how politicians, practitioners, and parents restrict or value risk-taking among children [7], which results in differences between countries’ regulations for how to handle risk in institutions such as ECEC. In Norway, where the present study is conducted, the National Framework Plan for Kindergartens [9] states that it is important to ensure that all children have the opportunity to sense, experience, play, learn, and create using their bodies as a starting point. It also states that children shall experience opportunities to assess and master risky play through physical challenges [9]. Norway’s long tradition for outdoor play and learning, including its risks, also provides children with ample opportunities for risky play. However, there are also increased safety regulations in Norwegian ECEC [10], and many parents and preschool owners in Norway are concerned about the possibility of injury. Educ. Sci. 2022, 12, 361. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12050361 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/education