Canadian Centre for Outdoor Play (CCOP) 2025-2026 Annual Report Now Available We are excited to share the CCOP 2025-2026 Annual Report!This year's report highlights the milestones, partnerships, and initiatives that have helped advance outdoor play across Canada. It showcases the collective efforts of our partners, researchers, and community members who continue to strengthen opportunities for all...
Thank you to Dr. Jean-Philippe Chaput, Senior Scientist at the CHEO Research Institute, for providing this post! In a new commentary, entitled Nature as Medicine: The case for prescribing outdoor time published in Canadian Family Physician, the authors Dr. Jean-Philippe Chaput and Dr. Mark Tremblay, Senior Scientists at the CHEO Research Institute, call for Canadian...
We are recruiting for two positions to join our Canadian Centre for Outdoor Play research-practice-policy partnership - a project coordinator and bilingual professional learning lead. Project Coordinator Position The project coordinator position is specifically focused on coordinating our SPROUT-able project, exploring how to support children with disabilities in outdoor play and learning in natural spaces! For more details...
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...
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...
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...
Thank you to Laurel Donison (Lecturer) and Marlene Frederick (Kindergarten Teacher and Forest School Course Instructor) with King’s University College at Western University for providing this post. Trail Blazers: King’s University College is implementing a Forest School Pedagogy and Practice course in the Childhood and Youth Studies Department. A new trail is being blazed at King’s University...
Thank you to Gerben Helleman, PhD candidate at Delft University of Technology, for providing this post. Playing outdoors: how children perceive and value the public space as a place to play Outdoor play can positively affect children’s personal development and health. But how do children perceive and value public space as a place to play, and which...
Louise de Lannoy1, Brianna Nasrallah2, Nicholas Hayhow 3, Ulises Charles-Rodriguez4, Kimberly Squires5, Zainab Badruddin6, Justin J Lang2,7, Shawnda A Morrison8, Po-Yu Wang9, Mark S Tremblay1,2, Eun-Young Lee1,2,10,11 provided this post (affiliations can be found at the end of this post). We, as a global society, have shifted our lives such that the vast majority of our...
