Play Outdoors Magazine: Exploring Outdoor Experiences in Early Learning is devoted to bringing articles, inspiration and creative ideas to those who play a key role in shaping the first five years of a child's life. Articles are written by educators, practitioners, and researchers and include: how-to incorporate loose parts in the outdoor environment, books and...
The Environmental Educators Provincial Specialist Association (EEPSA) in British Columbia put together a Position Statement on Education Outside the Classroom. In the Statement the authors outline the social, emotional, physical and academic benefits of spending time outside, recommendations on bringing education outdoors, as well as a call to action to discuss their recommendations, directed at...
PaRx, an initiative by BC Parks Foundation and driven by health-care professionals, is Canada's first national, evidence-based nature prescription program. The goal of PaRx is to promote prescribing time in nature for lifelong health benefit. This online resource includes useful tools to make prescribing time in nature simple, fun and effective: quick tips, patient handouts, a...
Nature Companion is a free app and website produced by EcoFriendly Sask that provides interesting and easy-to-understand information about >300 plants, trees, birds, animals, insects, reptiles, and amphibians found in Canada's four western provinces. Each short description includes colourful photographs and a Did you know? section with fun facts about each species. The tool is available on...
The Advancing Early Childhood Education Outdoors Now Roundtable, led by Dr Mariana Brussoni, Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, explores the health and educational benefits of being outside, successful international models of early childhood education outdoors, and paths for advancing licensing outdoor early childhood education in British Columbia. This 3-part roundtable series explored the...
On June 13, 2020, the Education Hub, based out of New Zealand, hosted an early childhood education (ECE) webinar entitled 'The importance of outdoor play and how to design outdoor spaces in ECE' featuring OPC Leadership Group Member Dr. Mariana Brussoni. This webinar covered the latest research on outdoor play, risky play, and play in...
Wild About Vancouver (WAV) is developing a series of outdoor lessons and blogs to help support Canadians in getting active while at home. WAV is normally the home site for the WAV Outdoor Education Festival, a free public outdoor education festival offering practical ways to get children and adults outdoors more regularly. Given these uncertain...
The Supreme Court of British Columbia accepted the Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play and 2015 ParticipACTION Report Card as ‘social fact’ and ‘authority’ evidence and ruled in favour of the District of Saanich that it was not negligent in a case involving a child and outdoor play (a game of grounders). Click here to read...
Led by a team of researchers, early childhood educators, governmental agencies, and professionals in BC, the Seven Cs is an informational guide for early childhood educators, designers, administrators, and parents. The goal of Seven Cs is to help people design outdoor play spaces that support the development of young children and integrate the unique qualities...
As a “How-To Guidebook,” the Outdoor PLAYbook offers a selection of leading research and best practices for school grounds in the following areas: landscape architecture, sustainable design, economic and phasing strategies, child development, injury prevention, and outdoor educational opportunities. The Outdoor PLAYbook was funded by the Vancouver School Board and won an award in 2017 from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. The Outdoor PLAYbook is available at www.outdoorplaybook.ca....
