Outdoor play is increasingly recognized as a foundation for children’s healthy social, cognitive, emotional and physical development. As such, outdoor play has now been added to the Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development, where experts have weighed in on 9 outdoor play related topics from play-based learning to designing cities to support outdoor play. The chapter recognizes the...
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...
During the school week, children and youth spend half their waking hours at school. Schools share the responsibility for making sure students get outside and get active during those times. Alongside instruction and programs, the built and natural environment of the school makes a difference for students’ health. Schoolyards Count! is a citizen-science project. A researcher...
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....
More and more parents, practitioners, teachers, and researchers are interested in how nature can be beneficial for children as place to learn,play, socially interact, and become connected. A growing body of research published in the last decade shows promising results that regular classes in natural green environments (e.g. EOtC – Education Outside the Classroom) can...
Nature Canada, a national charitable organization has released a report titled Screen Time vs. Green Time” The Health Impacts of too much Screen Time exposing the negative impacts of screen time on Canadian children and providing suggestions to guide children away from screens, and towards nature. Report highlights and findings In an article summarizing the Screen Time vs. Green...
As we continue to understand the benefits of outdoor active play, and the consequences of screen time, research is expanding to explore the influence of outdoor play and screen time on specific areas of children’s health and development. A recently published study in PLOS ONE titled “Cross sectional associations of screen time and outdoor play with social skills in...
There are many evidence-based benefits of outdoor play in children and youth including increased energy expenditure, the development of motor skills, improved social relationshiops (e.g., ability to develop and sustain friendships) and emotional well-being (e.g., increased happiness). Very little is known, however, about the relationship between outdoor play and eating habits. A recently published study in the Journal...
The article titled "The health benefits of the great outdoors: A systemic review and meta-analysis of greenspce exposure and health outcome", was published by Caiomhe Twohig-Bennett and Andy Jones in Environmental Research with the objective of quantifying evidence for the impact of green spaces on a range of health outcomes. Prior to this publication, no systematic...
A study conducted by Persil on 1,000 British and Irish parents of children aged up to seven has found children spend twice as long looking at screens than they do playing outside. But, interestingly, 62 percent of parents wish their children would spend more time playing outside instead of in front of a screen. It was...
