New research from Statistics Canada’s Canadian Health Measures Survey reaffirmed the dramatic decline in Canadian children’s fitness seen over the past 35 years with only a third of Canadian school-aged children meeting physical activity guidelines. Other research from the same survey showed that physical activity increases when children are outdoors, with each additional hour spent...
Make sure your voice is heard. Ontario Parks is halfway through the Healthy Parks Healthy People consultation period. The time to submit your feedback on nature and health is now! We know nature is a valuable tool for producing positive health outcomes. Ontario Parks is ready to take action, but they need your help first. They...
From October 8-9, 2019, the Uppsala Health Summit was held at the Uppsala Castle, Sweden. The theme of the summit was Healthy Urban Childhoods with a focus on how to strengthen the child perspective in urban planning to create healthier and more inclusive cities for children. Topics covered at the summit included child-friendly city planning,...
Check out the new documentary “Running Free: Children’s Independent Mobility”! Told through the eyes of 3 families, this 26-minute documentary explores the concept of children’s independent mobility, the benefits for children’s mental health, and challenges viewers to consider solutions to this issue. Watch it here: [vc_video link='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKOXfa8NfTY&feature=youtu.be']...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][message type="normal" border="no" background_color="#5dc269"]Outdoor Play Canada Awards were established in 2019 with the generous support of Kamik, Inc., and were presented today at the inaugural Breath of Fresh Air Outdoor Play Summit at Wesley Clover Parks in Ottawa, Canada.[/message][/vc_column][/vc_row] [vc_empty_space height="64px"] [icons icon="fa-trophy" size="fa-4x" type="normal" icon_animation="" link="" target="_blank" icon_color="#3f8963" position="center"] [vc_empty_space...
Ottawa, September 27, 2019 – Outdoor Play Canada was launched today at the Breath of Fresh Air Outdoor Play Summit in Ottawa – an open-air conference where outdoor play thought leaders, practitioners, researchers, and policy-makers gathered to exchange knowledge and best practices for promoting outdoor play. Outdoor Play Canada has a vision that outdoor play is...
Are you looking for a Breath of Fresh Air? The first national Outdoor Play Summit is only 50 days away! Join us September 27-29th, 2019 for a national forum on outdoor play, taking place in an open-air environment, located at the Ottawa Forest and Nature Schools and Wesley Clover Park’s Campground, where thought leaders, practitioners, researchers and...
Ever since an unnecessary threat from police against a six-year-old simply playing a game of road hockey in front of his home, the residents in the town of Beloeil, Quebec have grown upset about the lack of opportunity that their kids have to play freely outside. Since then, street-play initiatives have resulted in the designation of...
The Lawson Foundation is a National family foundation which focuses on the healthy development of children and youth. One of their major goals is to support children’s access and opportunity to connect and play in nature. In October 2018, the Lawson Foundation brought together 125 experts and leaders from various sectors at the Outdoor Play and Early...
The Canadian Public Health Association recently released a toolkit composed of infographics, research summaries, decision-making tools, promising practices, and a discussion document. The toolkit provides excellent resources and information on the importance of unstructured play, how to develop policy to facilitate play within schools and communities, and current research in the field of risky play....
