The Learning from Indigenous Perspectives: Land-Based Learning in the Early Years research project was a four-year initiative (2020-2024) based at The School of Early Childhood at George Brown College, Toronto, Ontario. It aimed to incorporate Indigenous perspectives and pedagogies into early years education. The project involved 20 educators from 10 childcare centres across Toronto. As the...
The Summer Camp Bondar Challenge is an immersive photography program that fuses art and science to help youth explore nature through a new lens. The program teaches photography skills and an understanding of the science behind the natural world. Participants are challenged to take a photo that captures the biodiversity of nature, and use their...
The Raising the Nation Play Commission is delighted to be launching its final report on the International Day of Play: ‘ Everything to Play For: A Plan to Ensure Every Child in England Can Play'! The report warns that cuts to clubs and playgrounds, busier roads, and increased fears among parents and children about safety, have...
This project, part of the Lawson Foundation Outdoor Play Strategy 2.0, explored changes to provincial legislation in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) that would allow outdoor-based programs such as Forest and Nature Schools to operate as licensed Early Learning and Child Care programs (ELCCs). The NL government provided Cloudberry Forest School with an exemption to operate...
Applying an Indigenous Two-Eyed Seeing approach – taking the strengths from both Indigenous and Western ways of knowing, this resource guide was developed by Katy Cameron, a First Nations female and MSc former graduate student with the HALO Research Lab, as an information tool for families, practitioners and professionals on environmental considerations when playing outdoors in...
Get Kids Paddling is a national not-for-profit organization whose vision is that paddling experiences are accessible to all children and youth across Canada. They hope to achieve this through: Supporting organizations that foster these experiences Promoting opportunities for kids to safely play and learn through paddling self-propelled watercraft Connecting children and youth across Canada with...
The Lawson Foundation’s Outdoor Play Strategy 2.0 (OPS 2.0) was a pan-Canadian initiative focused on building adult capacity to support outdoor play in early childhood education (ECE). This resource translates the evidence and learning from OPS 2.0 into a practical resource that ECE leaders—such as faculty, directors, and pedagogical leaders— can use on their journey...
Developed based on Public Health Sudbury & Districts’ experience working in partnership with Active Sudbury under the guidance of Sport for Life, Public Health Sudbury & Districts has created an exemplary guide for public health professionals to work collaboratively and efficiently within a multi-sector, community-based partnership to address physical literacy. The document presents ways in...
In the fall of 2024, Outdoor Play Canada, as part of our Canadian Centre for Outdoor Play SPROUT-Able project, held a World Cafe with educators, community partners and families to explore the physical and social barriers and facilitators to outdoor play and learning in natural spaces. Checkout the graphic recording that summarizes that conversation, here: SPROUTAble_EN...
Park People’s 2024 Canadian City Parks Report, titled "Bridging the Gap," examines how partnerships and collaborations can help overcome the pressing challenges facing Canada’s park sector today. With insights from cities across Canada, this sixth annual edition highlights strategies to advance urban park development and management while fostering vibrant, inclusive, and resilient spaces for all. To...
