About

Outdoor play allows children to explore, create and discover freely – and children gain many benefits when they play outdoors. As many children spend a lot of their time at early learning and child care (ELCCs) centres, ELCC centres can be important in providing children with regular opportunities to be and play outside.

We do not know very much about outdoor play in ELCC centres in Canada, such as how often and how long children play outside, what their play looks like, and what teachings and policies shape their play. Knowing what outdoor play at ELCC centres currently looks like will help us better understand what is working well and how to support and measure progress in the future.

This study includes:

• A literature review of existing survey research on ELCC centres’ outdoor play provision.
• An environmental scan of governmental policies and supports for outdoor play training and provision.
• A pan-Canadian survey to ELCC centres [MECO Survey (English) | (French)]
• Interviews with key stakeholders to help interpret survey results.

We brought together an advisory committee with members from across Canada and many sectors to support this study. The literature review and environmental scan were completed in 2023 and the MECO survey was launched to child care centres across Canada between July and October 2023. The first results of this survey were produced in Summer 2024, with more findings to be published throughout 2025.

For questions about this project, email outdoorplay@bcchr.ca.

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Study Status

This study is now complete. Results from this work can be found under ‘Publications & Resources.

Funding information

Generously supported by the Lawson Foundation, the Lyle S. Hallman Foundation, and the Muttart Foundation 2022-2024

Publications & Resources

1. Measuring Early Childhood Outside: A Pan-Canadian Examination of Outdoor Play Provision in Early Learning and Child Care Environments (English) | Measuring Early Childhood Outside (MECO) – Mesure du contexte de jeu extérieur chez les enfants (French) 
2. Measuring Early Childhood Outside (MECO) National Infosheet: (English) | (French)
3. Recommendations for Outdoor Play Provision in Early Learning and Child Care Centre - Atkinson Centre Weekly e-Newsletter - May 22, 2025
4. NEW PREPRINT: Rachel Ramsden, Barry Forer, Hebah Hussaina, Christina Han, Caroline Bouchard, Jeff Crane, Megan McPhee, Michal Perlman, Mariana Brussoni. 2025. Examining outdoor play associations in Canadian early learning and child care centres: Cross-sectional insights from the Measuring Early Childhood Outside survey