This service is provided by the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA). This is our summer update.
The Children in Nature Network in the US has amazing information and reports to assist anyone with an interest in getting kids outdoors. Click here to link.
The Alberta Council on Environmental Education has a workshop called "Optimizing your Environmental Education Programs" planned for November in Edmonton. Click here for a link.
The NRPA newsletter provides a link to a Kalamazoo story on getting kids outdoors. Click here for the link.
The ARPA developed a "Benefits Catalogue". Within the document are summaries of studies that outline the benefits of recreation and leisure activities. For a link to the summary of benefits for children's activities (some are outdoor), click here.
Business Week offers us an article relating adolescent health to neighbourhood planning. The original research for this article does not appear to be available yet. Click here for the magazine article.
Recreation Management Magazine has an article on producing podcasts to promote park visits. While it is not specifically directed at children, this is a technology children might find desirable, thus boosting interest in the outdoors. Click here for the info.
From NRPA, a link to an article on a program sponsored by health insurance companies to fight childhood obesity. This reveals an interesting partner in the fight against childhood obesity. Click here for the article.
From the Lifestyle Information Network (LIN) we have this link to the Ikea Play Report. Click here for insights into children's play.
The Children in Nature Network provides a tool kit for Natural Leaders, a program aimed getting teens outdoors by recruiting other youth and young adults to act as leaders. Click here for a direct link to a page offering the tool kit downs load.
Resources are available at the OAK site (Outdoor Alliance for Kids) if you click here for the link.
This Newsweek link takes us to a US study on parents' perceptions of obesity among their own children. Click here for the article.
Here is a thought provoking idea, adding wireless internet service to our parks. Will it attract a younger element to the outdoors? Click here for an article that touches upon opposing points of view.
From Maryland State Parks, and encouraging story about Youth at Risk assigned to labour in parks for their misdeeds. Click here for this story.
