Since its launch in 1991,
Evergreen Canada has helped over 3,000 schools
green their school grounds, the result has been the proliferation of usable and safe outdoor spaces for kids.
Now, Evergreen has consolidated some of that 14-years of expertise in a brand new guide outlining best practices for designing outdoor play spaces for kindergarten-aged children.
The guide, Child Development and Landscape: A Design Guide for Early Years-Kindergarten OutdoorPlay, is the result of an Evergreen collaboration with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB).
"Our collaboration with the TDSB goes back many many years," says Anthony Westenberg of Evergreen's communication outreach department. "Based on our work with the TDSB, we realized there was a need for this guide to speed up uptake of the design principals we'd learned."
The guide, which was spearheaded by Evergreen’s Senior Designer, Heidi Campbel, highlights best practices from Evergreen's own work naturalizing school playgrounds, as well as outlining findings from facility managers, teachers and landscape architects across Canada.
"Given that most provinces in Canada are now offering full-day kindergarten, thinking about natural play environments is even more important," says Westenberg. "Working with the TDSB we wanted to show how outdoor learning places for kindergarten kids are very important and that there are lots of benefits to connecting with nature."
"Outdoor play spaces are often worked into the curriculum. So science teachers will take the kids outside and do science-based learning. The arts teacher will take the students outside and do some arts-based learning. So it's about creating play spaces and also outdoor classrooms."
The guide was officially published yesterday morning at a public event at the Evergreen Brickworks.
"We're really hoping people will be able to take the information in the guide and run with their own initiatives on the ground," says Westenberg.
The full report is expected to be up on the Evergreen website by early next week.
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Anthony Westenberg, communication outreach department, Evergreen