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Outdoor Play Environments

Get Outside & Play is co-hosting their second annual Outdoor Play in the Early Years Conference! See details below. Dates: April 12 (evening) & April 13 (all day) Location: Calgary, Woodcliff United Church, and Edworthy Park Cost: $210 + GST Children need to be outdoors. This conference will inspire educators to be outside with children in a way that...

Thank you to Dr. Tanya Halsall, the Royal Ottawa, and Laurel Donison, Brock University, for providing this post. Outdoor and nature-based activities promote better health and academic outcomes for children, where the school context represents a critical opportunity to support increased outdoor time. However, outdoor learning is not implemented consistently across school contexts, and as such,...

Thank you to Christina Han, Research Coordinator with the PlayOutside Lab, for providing this post. Dr. Mariana Brussoni and her research team at the University of British Columbia are excited to share https://teacher.outsideplay.org, a free online tool designed to help teachers support outdoor play and learning in elementary schools. The Outdoor Play and Learning tool was...

POSITION: MSc / PhD Studentship Opportunity (through Carleton University)  PERIOD: January 2024 (for 2 years - MSc, 3 years - PhD)   SALARY: MSc: $20,000 annually + $1000 Professional Development Allowance – for two years  PhD: $25,000 annually + $2500 Professional Development Allowance – for three years  REPORTS TO: Dr. Mark Tremblay, Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research...

Thank you to Megan Gilbertson from PHE Canada for providing this post. Save the date! The first annual National Healthy Schools Week is October 2-6, 2023! National Healthy Schools Week is a kickoff event for schools to prioritize, plan, and engage in Healthy School conversations early in the school year. This week-long initiative is unique to each...

Take Me Outside Day is back for its 13th year, helping raise awareness and advocating for outdoor learning by helping educators and learners feel inspired to head outside and learn beyond the four walls of a classroom!  From Oct 16th - 20th, thousands of educators and learners will come together to participate in a week of...

In the last ten years, we have seen a groundswell in outdoor and nature-based preschools and an abundance of outdoor play-based learning programs situated on or near school grounds across North America. The possibilities for play are endless, yet the challenges many educators face are equal in measure. It is important to think through our...

The Outdoor Learning Store is partnering with over 70 other non-profit partners to offer Free Fall Outdoor Learning Virtual Workshops! Sign-up to join some/all of these 60-min sessions: Naturally Inclusive: Engaging Children of All Abilities Outdoors Wild Learning: Practical Ideas to Bring Teaching Outdoors Outdoor Learning through Patterns in Nature Connecting Children...

Exploring decolonization in the outdoors: A virtual panel discussion Join the Outward Bound Canada (OBC) Training Academy team on Wednesday, September 13 at 9 a.m. PST /12 p.m. EDT for a virtual panel discussion presenting individual perspectives on decolonization based on the teachings of First Nations and Indigenous groups from across the country. A diverse group of...

Thank you to Dr. Jean-Philippe Ayotte-Beaudet and Dr. Felix Berrigan for providing this post. This article was originally published in The Conversation. There is a growing interest across Canada in outdoor education that is formally integrated into school. This trend has increased since COVID-19, particularly because open-air environments significantly reduced the risks of disease transmission. Outdoor education is an...