A new policy brief from the Lawson Foundation explains the unique features of outdoor and land-based programs (OLBs) and provides a conceptual framework for developing a new category of regulations and licensing for OLBs. The brief is grounded in experience and evidence from leading practitioners, policymakers, and researchers in Canada and abroad....
The CCOP Annual Report serves to highlight the work our research-practice-policy collaboration has done over the past year, from the launch of the Forest Explorers building in June 2024 to May 2025. Read the CCOP Annual Report here (English version). CCOP Annual Report French version coming soon!...
Guidance on Nature Connection - Pre-birth to Age 5 Years A new Inspiring Scotland publication, Starting Out to Play, supports practitioners, working with parents, families, and carers, to make the most of the multiple benefits to health, well-being and learning found in connection to nature pre-birth to age 5. To ensure that all children aged 0-5 years have...
Proset is a Special Needs Adaptive Program, designed to teach neurodiverse individuals Tennis and Pickleball to all ages and abilities. Immersed in the environment, Coaches, Parents and Volunteers will help pave the way to success for all our students, in a way that is fun, challenging and motivating. Learn more about ProSet here!...
The Risky Play Position Statement for Young Australian Children has united professionals from medical, educational, and playground design disciplines representing government and not-for-profit sectors across Australia in providing an authoritative voice to advocate for risky play in children’s lives. Risky play is an inherent and critical component of young children’s play; yet, within Australia, risky play...
The Learning from Indigenous Perspectives: Land-Based Learning in the Early Years research project was a four-year initiative (2020-2024) based at The School of Early Childhood at George Brown College, Toronto, Ontario. It aimed to incorporate Indigenous perspectives and pedagogies into early years education. The project involved 20 educators from 10 childcare centres across Toronto. As the...
The Summer Camp Bondar Challenge is an immersive photography program that fuses art and science to help youth explore nature through a new lens. The program teaches photography skills and an understanding of the science behind the natural world. Participants are challenged to take a photo that captures the biodiversity of nature, and use their...
The Raising the Nation Play Commission is delighted to be launching its final report on the International Day of Play: ‘ Everything to Play For: A Plan to Ensure Every Child in England Can Play'! The report warns that cuts to clubs and playgrounds, busier roads, and increased fears among parents and children about safety, have...
This project, part of the Lawson Foundation Outdoor Play Strategy 2.0, explored changes to provincial legislation in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) that would allow outdoor-based programs such as Forest and Nature Schools to operate as licensed Early Learning and Child Care programs (ELCCs). The NL government provided Cloudberry Forest School with an exemption to operate...
Applying an Indigenous Two-Eyed Seeing approach – taking the strengths from both Indigenous and Western ways of knowing, this resource guide was developed by Katy Cameron, a First Nations female and MSc former graduate student with the HALO Research Lab, as an information tool for families, practitioners and professionals on environmental considerations when playing outdoors in...
