Thank you to Dr. Lauren Pinault, Statistics Canada, for providing this post. Greenness is linked to good health It may not surprise you to learn that living in areas that are surrounded by greenness, such as large trees, gardens, and natural vegetation, can be beneficial to our health. We have previously shown that higher levels of greenness around the home are associated with a lower risk...
Thank you to Susanna Abraham Cottagiri, Carleton University, for providing this post. The Public Health Agency of Canada estimates that only 9.3% of Canadian children and youth between the ages of 5 and 17 meet the recommended physical activity guidelines of 60 mins of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day. Active school commuting behaviours, such as walking...
Thank you to Josh Fullan, Director of Maximum City, a national engagement and education firm, for providing this post. In the second spring of what feels like an interminable coronavirus pandemic, nobody would blame kids and parents for surrendering to a just-gotta-get-to-summer feeling. Hope is hard to come by in the third wave of a plague...
On April 13th, 2021, the federal and Nova Scotia provincial governments announced they were allocating $7 million for the creation of new, or enhancement of existing, outdoor learning spaces in ~250 elementary schools in Nova Scotia. A government news release outlined that "Schools will be asked to ensure that the spaces are aligned with curriculum and...
Thank you to Dr. Negin Riazi, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Health Sciences at Brock University, for providing this post. Children’s independent mobility refers to a child’s freedom to travel and play in their neighbourhood without the supervision of adults. However, there has been a steep generational decline in children’s independent mobility which is quite...
Thank you to Tracey Coutts and Scott Bailey, Ever Active Schools, for providing this post. Looking for a versatile, cost-effective way to increase physical activity and improve literacy in your school community? Well, have we got a tale for you. Trail Tales was launched in Parkland School Division 70 as a means to promote physical activity and literacy,...
Thank you to Eun-Young Lee, PhD, School of Kinesiology & Health Studies at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada, Stephen Hunter, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport and Recreation at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, and Mark S. Tremblay, PhD, Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada,...
'The role of PLAY in the self-reported healthy movement, school experiences and well-being of Canadian children and youth', is an analysis from Maximum City's COVID-19 Child and Youth Study, an ongoing survey of 2,100 pairs of children/youth and parent/caregivers on children and youth's behaviours, school experiences, and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this analysis, the...
Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt, Professor at the University of Ottawa and Chair of the Royal Society of Canada's Working Group on Children and Schools, recently wrote an Op Ed piece for the Globe and Mail, entitled: 'Physical activity - the forgotten core area of child development during the pandemic'. In the piece Dr. Vaillancourt highlights the observation...
Active Smarter Kids (ASK) is a model for curriculum delivery developed in Norway that incorporates physical activity into academic lessons in a meaningful way. ASK physically active lessons occur primarily outdoors and aim to engage all students, and encourage collaborative and cooperative learning. The Nova Scotia ASK Project was piloted in two schools in the 2018-2019...
