Outdoor Play
Play outside!
Outdoor play allows children to be creative and provides them with opportunities to learn to manage risk, build social skills, and develop resiliency.
Take a walk or find a natural playground that offers challenging elements such as changes in elevation, rocks, tree stumps, and plants. These environments can provide children with the freedom to engage in activities of their own choosing, have positive impacts on health, behaviour, and social development.
Outdoor play allows children the opportunity to develop skills such as climbing, jumping, running, and balance. Through continued practice, children and their caregivers become more confident and knowledgeable about their own abilities, while spending time together.
Visit outdoorplay.ca to learn more about the health benefits of playing outside.
Tips and places to be active outdoors
- Continue to play as a family! Get outside in all seasons, and enjoy local parks, beaches, trails, tennis courts, and skating paths, or rinks together.
- Support your children to develop physical literacy by participating in activities that are ground, water, ice, and snow-based at different times of the year.
- Continue to encourage your children to engage in unstructured play with friends outdoors every day.
- Encourage your children to choose modes of active transportation to get to school.
This item was last modified on December 20, 2024