Thank you to Michelle E.E. Bauer, PhD Candidate (Interdisciplinary Health Science, University of Ottawa), for providing this post. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the physical and emotional wellbeing of Canadians across the country, conversations abound on how best to help families cope. Outdoor play, if done safely (only with household members and while adhering...
The 2020 Basecamp Conversations, hosted by the Canadian Outdoor Summit Leadership team, was a series of weekly conversations leading to the writing and publication of the ‘COVID-19 Principles and Emerging Practices for Led Outdoor Activities in Canada’ document. This document aimed to bring together those involved in outdoor led activities to share experience, wisdom, leads,...
Last week, Dr. Mariana Brussoni from the University of British Columbia spoke with Dr. Katherine Frohlich (University of Montreal) and Kate St-Arneault (PhD student, University of Montreal) about outdoor play during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the bilingual webcast, Dr. Brussoni, Dr. Frohlich, and Ms. St-Arneault discuss the consequences of physical distancing on their families' ability to...
The Child and Nature Alliance has published their first podcast in partnership with Evergreen Brickworks and the Trillium Foundation. This is the first of a series of podcasts that will focus on highlighting the Forest and Nature School pedagogy. In the podcast, host Stephanie Smith speaks with Gemma and Natalia, two youth play animators on their...
On March 18, 2020, BBC News wrote an article entitled 'Coronavirus: Should you let your children play with other children?'. In the article, journalist Robin Levinson-King, from Toronto, Ontario, describes how families are wrestling with whether or not they should let their children play with others given recommendations on physical distancing. Dr. Angela Pyle, an assistant...
March 16, 2020 10am Eastern/7am Pacific On Saturday, March 14th, BC's provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry spoke to the public on ways to stay healthy while engaging in safe social distancing practices. In her announcement, she highlighted the observation that viruses do not transmit as readily outdoors. So, she suggests, 'go outside and play with your...
In the fall of 2019, the 'Minimum Planning Requirements Regulations' were added to the Nova Scotia Municipal Government Act. The regulations added 'recreation facilities and public open spaces' to the list of elements that must be included in municipal planning strategies. Similar changes were made to the Halifax Regional Municipality Charter. This was an important...
From October 8-9, 2019, the Uppsala Health Summit was held at the Uppsala Castle, Sweden. The theme of the summit was Healthy Urban Childhoods with a focus on how to strengthen the child perspective in urban planning to create healthier and more inclusive cities for children. Topics covered at the summit included child-friendly city planning,...
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....
From September 27th-29th, 2018, the University of British Columbia Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies hosted the Levelling the Playing Fields: Strategies to Promote Outdoor Play 2018 Roundtable. The goal of the roundtable was to develop a (research) strategy for systematically creating opportunities for outdoor play in schools and communities in Canada. Learn more about this...
