Mariana Brussoni, an injury prevention researcher and developmental psychologist at the University of British Columbia is concerned we are keeping our kids too safe. Children require the mental and physical space to figure out appropriate risk levels for themselves, writes Dr. Brussoni in an article titled Why kids need risk, fear and excitement in play. It is...
From November 1-15, EVERYONE can download a copy of the Special Issue of Children, Youth and Environments at www.jstor.org/stable/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.28.issue-2 Please share this important journal with everyone....
With a growing body of evidence supporting the link between a healthy environment and healthy society, the Healthy Parks, Healthy people movement which originally launched in Australia, has expanded to receive global attention. In May (1-2) 2019, Ottawa will be hosting the two day Healthy Parks, Healthy People Forum to bring together parks and recreation professionals,...
From September 27th-29th, 2018, the University of British Columbia Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies hosted the Levelling the Playing Fields: Strategies to Promote Outdoor Play 2018 Roundtable. The goal of the roundtable was to develop a (research) strategy for systematically creating opportunities for outdoor play in schools and communities in Canada. Learn more about this...
"The Classroom in Open Air" Project, by Naomi W. Reichstein The Classroom in Open Air Project, by Naomi W. Reichstein for the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, aimed to examine which Vancouver-area schools use parks, which parks are most popular for school use, which subjects are taught outdoors, and what other school-based activities occur in...
From May 8-10, 2018, the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association hosted The Gathering Strength: Framework for Recreation in Canada 2018 Forum, to build relationships, continue dialog and work in cooperation towards achieving the values, goals, and priorities identified in the 2015 A Framework for Recreation in Canada – Pathways to Wellbeing. Forum sessions focused on...
On April 21st, 2018, Ecology Ottawa hosted their annual summit, with the theme Activate Ottawa Parks. The goal of the summit was to foster relationships between people in the community, generate ideas for ongoing participation, and build momentum to make Ottawa parks even better. Learn more about the 2018 Summit here, and about other events hosted...
In 2017, the International Play Association hosted their Triennial World Play Conference: Unleashing the Power of Play, in Calgary, Alberta. This triennial conference is for play researchers, advocates, designers, educators, practitioners, providers, and policymakers and aims to celebrate play, understand its many benefits, and provide all children with the chance to engage in rich, meaningful,...
