We are seeking nominations for the Outdoor Play Canada Board Finance Committee! See terms of reference for the Finance committee in the affiliated link: Finance Committee. Purpose The purpose of the Finance Committee is to assist the President, Executive Director, and/or the Board of Directors of Outdoor Play Canada (OPC) by acting on behalf of the full...
Thank you to Tammy Potter, RECE, FNS Practitioner and Supervisor of Forest Explorers and Ottawa Forest and Nature School for providing this post! In 2025, Andrew Fleck Children’s Services, thanks to Lawson Foundation funding, partnered with Algonquin College on a year-long research project exploring the evolution of outdoor play and learning at our outdoor-focused early childhood education...
Thank you to Louise Zimanyi for providing this post. This article was originally published in the Conversation. In spring, on the traditional and treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, young children, Anishinaabe storytellers and educators walk together with Aki (Land) and Nibi (Water). I’m a researcher and professor of early childhood and someone of French-Canadian and Hungarian descent living as...
Going outdoors with young children is beneficial. Indigenous people have learned on the land for many generations. Many outdoor early childhood programs have been modelled after Scandinavian and Northern European programs where children spend the majority of the day outside. In the last 15 years outdoor and land-based (OLB) early childhood programs have expanded across...
We are excited to share a new resource developed by the National Panel on Regulating Outdoor and Land-based ECE and supported by former BELCD students Jade Groompike, Kiera Publow, Eva Quenneville, Hannah Raudssus (who now works with OPC as a project assistant!), and Emma Zimolong: a national map tracking efforts to regulate Outdoor and Land-Based...
Thank you to Ruth Berzins from the Madiha Foundation for writing this post. This blog post was originally published on the Madiha Foundation website. Just this spring, I learned about a Canadian nature-based prescription program called “PaRx” (which is the short form for parks prescription). I’m so pleased to have the opportunity to share some of the...
Thank you to Dr. Beverlie Dietze, Dr. Kelsey Robson and Dr. Melanie Manitowabi for providing this post. This article was originally published in The Conversation. The same authors also wrote a blog post about this work for the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development’s weekly e-newsletter, published on July 21, 2026, here. Across Canada, every province and territory...
This article was first published by the Global Alliance – Cities4Children (www.cities4children.org/blog) and authored by Sarah Sabry and Anupama Nallari, Urban Hub @ Save the Children Between 2020 and 2026, Paris transformed 300 school streets, fully redesigning around 100 of them. This article shares key lessons from the ground and practical steps to help other cities plan and...
This article was originally published in Children, Youth and Environments 36(1), 2026 When we published our paper “Environmental Scan of Child and Youth Outdoor Play-Based Projects, Programs, Activities and Services Available in Canada during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” pandemic-related restrictions were in full swing in Canada, and thankfully, educators and administrators were reacting by bringing the learning...
Thank you to Owen Wiseman, director of Nature Quant, for providing this post! Beyond Access: Why Outdoor Play Needs Healthier Nature, Not Just More Space As a healthcare provider, I spend a lot of time talking with families about the foundations of health: sleep, movement, nutrition, stress, social connections, and daily routines. But one theme continuously shows...
