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Safety & Outdoor Play

Thank you to Sylvie Melsbach, partnerships and outdoor play lead at the Regroupement des centres de la petite enfance de la Monteregie, for providing this post. The "Poupons et trottineurs ouverts vers le monde extérieur : Creating Optimal Outdoor Spaces for Infants and Toddlers in Early Learning and Child Care" project is based on the premise that...

Outdoor Play Canada is proud to be among over 40 organizational signatories of the Healthy Environments for Learning Day Vision Statement for Healthy and Sustainable Child Care Environments, led by the Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment and the Canadian Child Care Federation. This vision statement outlines ten core elements of healthy and sustainable...

Thank you to Ulises Charles Rodriguez, Ph.D. candidate in Population Studies in Health and Dr. Richard Larouche, Assistant Professor of Public Health at the University of Lethbridge for providing this post. Climate change, conflict, and war are increasing the number of people who are migrating from their countries of origin. International migration has increased dramatically in...

Over the next few months, OPC's Dr. Mariana Brussoni will be presenting a number of webinars on the benefits of risky play for children's health and development. Keep reading to learn more about where, when, and how to attend! On January 31st at 9:00 am ET, Dr. Brussoni will be presenting on 'The health issue of...

This article was originally published in the BC Aboriginal Child Care Society's Caring for our Children Newsletter. Thank you to Rachel Ramsden, PhD student, and Dr. Mariana Brussoni, Associate Professor, from the School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia for providing this post. “It’s too cold!” “It could be dangerous!” “It’s so much easier...

This post comes from Ms. Alison Whiting, Research Analyst with the Engineering Health Lab, University Health Network   A research team based at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network in Toronto, is conducting a study on national/provincial park accessibility in Canada. The intended outcome of this research is to make recommendations to improve access at these...

Thank you to Dr. Tanya Halsall (University of Ottawa) and Dr. Louise de Lannoy (Outdoor Play Canada) for providing this post. This article was originally published in The Conversation. An important incidental change that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic has been our collective rediscovery of the outdoors. As we begin building back better, we have an opportunity...

Thank you to Roula Zougheibe, PhD Candidate at Curtin University, Australia, for providing this post. Active children and neighbourhood safety Children build up their recommended daily physical activity through organised sport, playing, walking, cycling and/or scootering to local destinations in their community. Our study “Is there a correlation between children’s outdoor active mobility behaviour and neighbourhood safety?...

In 2020 the Lawson Foundation published a report and position on increasing outdoor play in early learning child care environments in the context of COVID-19. With input from OPC Leadership Group member Frank Welsh, the Lawson Foundation recently revisited the guidelines and published an update through First Policy Response.   Read the updated report, 'Outdoor early learning helps kids....

Thank you to Dr. Negin Riazi, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Health Sciences at Brock University, for providing this post. Children’s independent mobility refers to a child’s freedom to travel and play in their neighbourhood without the supervision of adults. However, there has been a steep generational decline in children’s independent mobility which is quite...