Celebrating One Year of Outdoor Play at the CCOP On June 26th, the Canadian Centre for Outdoor Play (CCOP) hosted its first-ever Open House to celebrate one year of the Forest Explorers licensed outdoor early learning program and launch of the CCOP at Wesley Clover Parks. Families, educators, and community members joined us for an evening...
Canada’s four-season climate means that spending time outdoors year-round requires a lot of gear — from waterproof rainwear to warm winter layers. While outdoor play is essential for children’s development and well-being, not everyone has equal access to the clothing and equipment needed to enjoy time outside safely and comfortably. High-quality outdoor gear can be expensive...
Thank you to Dr. Kerry Crofton for providing this post. This article was originally published in Mindful. In the summer of 2014, I participated in the first-ever digital detox retreat, Camp Grounded in Northern California. My camp name was Momma Zen. Each morning, I led mindfulness practice to ease the adult campers’ edgy tech cravings, guiding them through simple breath...
April 24th is Healthy Environments for Learning Day, led by the Canadian Partnership for Children's Health & Environment! The 2025 campaign centers on protecting children from extreme heat in schools and child care settings (including outdoor play and learning spaces) in Canada. This campaign has been co-signed by 40+ organizations, including Outdoor Play Canada. Check-out the full...
The Children, Youth, & Environments Network of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA CYE) is thrilled to present an online webinar led by Louise Chawla, a Professor Emeritus in the Environmental Design Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. This webinar will explore the numerous benefits of connecting with nature while also addressing the challenges of...
Thank you to Rachel Ramsden, PhD student at the School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, for providing this post. When it comes to children’s experiences at early learning and child care (ELCC) centres, how much outdoor play are children actually participating in – and can it be improved? New research from the...
Outdoor Play Canada is thrilled to announce that registration is now open, and we are currently accepting presentation/workshop submissions for the 2025 Breath of Fresh Air (BoFA) Outdoor Play Summit. The BoFA Outdoor Play Summit will once again take place at Wesley Clover Parks in Ottawa, Ontario, from September 25-27, 2025, in partnership with the...
The Outdoor Learning School and Store is offering a free virtual workshop titled Outdoor Learning in the Early Years. This expert-led session features an incredible panel of educators, researchers, authors, and practitioners who will share practical tools, resources, and ideas to enhance your outdoor learning practices, specifically tailored for the early years. Among the esteemed...
Outdoor Play Canada is looking to hire a full-time Canadian Centre for Outdoor Play (CCOP) Fellow for one year to build capacity and thought-leadership for outdoor play stakeholders. As the CCOP Fellow, your role will be to lead advocacy and thought-leadership initiatives for the promotion of outdoor play in the early years, in collaboration with...
Since 2020, the PaRx Prescription for Nature program has meant that physicians first in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario (and now many more) could prescribe a Parks Canada Discovery Pass to their patients for the purposes of promoting physical and mental health. A collaboration between PaRx, an initiative driven by health care professionals that promotes...
