About

Research shows that risky play (such as climbing trees or exploring independently) is important for children’s development and wellbeing. Risky play may also help the development of children’s risk assessment and management skills – how they manage physical risks in their every day lives. With Professor Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter, a researcher from Norway, we are studying how children deal with risk in everyday situations using an innovative virtual reality (VR) technology.

In this study, children aged 8-10 (grades 3-5) will wear VR glasses to complete three virtual challenging tasks within the safety of the VR environment. This includes:

• crossing a road with car and bike traffic;
• crossing a river; and,
• getting from point A to point B on a balancing frame.

Then, we will interview the children to learn more about their motor skills at tasks such as jumping and running. We will also ask hem about their preferences toward taking risks.

The same study is being conducted in Norway and we will compare the data between Canadian and Norwegian children. We are hoping to make recommendations for children’s risky play opportunities from the findings from this study.

Funding information

Generously funded by the Research Council of Norway/Norges forskningsråd 2022-2025

Publications & Resources

1. Rasmus Kleppe, Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter, Ole Johan Sando & Mariana Brussoni (19 Nov 2024): Children’s dynamic risk management – a comprehensive approach to children’s risk willingness, risk assessment, and risk handling, International Journal of Play, DOI:10.1080/21594937.2024.2425539
2. Ole Johan Sando, Rasmus Kleppe & Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter (11 Dec 2024): Risk willingness in play: exploring children’s behaviour in a virtual reality playground, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, DOI: 10.1080/1350293X.2024.243
3. Lise Storli, Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter & Håvard Lorås (9 Jan 2024): Individual differences in children's movement variability in a virtual reality playground task, Human Movement Science, DOI: 10.1016/j.humov.2023.103171
4. Ole Johan Sando *, Rasmus Kleppe, Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter (Feb 2024): Children's risk assessment in street crossing using virtual reality. Journal of Safety Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2023.10.002
5. Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter, Ole Johan Sando, Håvard Lorås, Rasmus Kleppe, Lise
   Storli, Mariana Brussoni, Anita Bundy, David C Schwebel, David J Ball, Monika Haga, Helen Little (2023). Virtual Risk Management - Exploring Effects of Childhood Risk Experiences through Innovative Methods: Study Protocol for the ViRMa project. https://www.researchprotocols.org/2023/1/e45857/
6. Lorås H, Sandseter EBH, Sando OJ and Storli L (2023) Distinct clusters of movement
   entropy in children’s exploration of a virtual reality balance beam. Front. Psychol. 14:1227469. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1227469
7. David C. Schwebel, Ole Johan Sando, Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter & Rasmus Kleppe (2024) Age, sex, sensation-seeking, and road-crossing: How does risk context impact children’s street-crossing?, Traffic Injury Prevention, 25:7, 986-992, DOI:
   10.1080/15389588.2024.2358103
8. Sandseter EBH, Sando OJ, Kleppe R, Lorås H and Storli L (2024) Assessment of
   psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the sensation seeking scale for
   children in a Norwegian sample. Front. Psychol. 15:1341609. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1341609
9. Lorås, H., Hansen Sandseter, E. B., Storli, L., Kleppe, R., Barnett, L., & Sando, O. J. (2024). Psychometric Properties of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence for Young Norwegian Children. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 131(3), 637-659. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031512524124517

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