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....
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...
In 2019, the Best Start Resource Centre hosted their annual conference for service providers working on preconception and prenatal health, and early child development and education. The 2019 conference topics included guided play for language/literacy and spatial learning in young children. Learn more about the 2019 conference here....
Registration for Healthy Parks, Healthy People has just opened. The 2019 Healthy Parks Healthy People Forum will bring together parks and recreation professionals, health professionals, researchers, policy-makers, academics, students, trainees and community members to share the latest research, best practices, and progressive policies related to the human health and well-being benefits of nature. This includes both direct contact with nature...
“In a recent survey, Kamik found that nowadays, children participate in over 5-6 structured activities per week. Hence, there is hardly ever any time left to play freely, outside. In fact, children spend 30-35% less time playing outside than their parents did.” Structured activities, such as soccer practice, swim lessons and dance class can be a...
On January 20th, 2019 at 8pm, The Nature of Things will be releasing a documentary called The Power of Play. In addition to talking about the importance of play in children, the documentary touches on play in mammals, amphibians, reptiles and even insects! We know humans and pets love to play, but it is interesting to watch some unusual...
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...
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...
