Playful Mindset is a national, charitable organization currently operating in the Ottawa, Ontario region with plans to expand nationally in coming years. Their mission is to disrupt adverse childhood experiences and support children and caregivers' mental health through outdoor play. They offer a number of Outdoor Play Support Groups, including: Grief & Loss Gender Based...
The Let's Move Canada podcast published an episode on Risky Play with Dr. Suzanne Beno and Dr. Mariana Brussoni. Dr. Suzanne Beno is a pediatric emergency medicine physician based at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, and senior author of the new Canadian Pediatric Society (CPS)'s Position Statement on Outdoor Risky Play. Dr....
Check-out OPC's inaugural Annual Report to learn about everything we've been up to in our first year as a not-for-profit organization! We're immensely proud and honoured to be leading several exciting collaborative, cross-sectoral projects both in Canada and internationally. We could not have done it without our new and growing team of staff, students, and...
This table highlights nationwide efforts in Outdoor Early Childhood Education (ECE) licensing, covering research, policy, and practice. It includes guiding documents, legislative initiatives, and professional development opportunities. The primary aim is to showcase the collective efforts of organizations, the ECE workforce, outdoor learning advocates, and policy and research specialists dedicated to advancing outdoor ECE licensing...
Drawing on a recent research project led by Dr. Tanya Halsall from the Royal Ottawa that explored outdoor learning in Canada, this video was created to share the children’s enjoyment of outdoor learning. Using data from interviews, the video highlights children’s quotes and shares important messages about the benefits and significance of outdoor learning. This...
Active Living Alliance is starting a project to develop a municipal guide to promising and best practices for disability inclusion in recreation and physical activity. See the infographic about that project here: EN / FR ...
At the 2023 Breath of Fresh Air Summit, attendees were invited to contribute to a poster on gaps in research, questions on how to advance outdoor play policy, thoughts about who we need to invite to the table and pedagogical priorities for outdoor play and learning. Download the resulting Future of Outdoor Play Poster here! ...
City of Neighbors is the fourth book in the ThinkCities series by Andrea Curtis. It is a tool for kids, parents and teachers to learn about placemaking projects around the world. It aims to inspire young people to consider how they can get involved in making their community greener, cleaner, safer and more fun and...
The Vancouver Junior Ranger Program is a resource for all teachers to facilitate safe and exciting outdoor learning in city parks. Teacher candidates work alongside the Lead Vancouver Park Ranger in Stanley Park, providing education to visitors to the park while developing outdoor activities and nature safety tours for school groups and field trips. Learn more...
Promoting Life-skills in Aboriginal Youth (PLAY), by Right to Play Canada, is a program that trains locally-hired Community Mentors to deliver weekly play-based programs that promote healthy living, healthy relationships, education and employability life-skills to Indigenous children and youth. The program aims to provide safe play spaces, life-skills training, healthy food, inclusive physical activities, leadership...
