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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

Import to your local calendar

GR2_2_2: Symposium: Active Outdoor Play: From Multi-country Evidence to Policy Action, Practice and Urban Design

Time:

Wednesday, 09/Sept/2026:

11:15am - 12:25pm

Session Chair: Berry van Holland

Location: Glass room 2

Presentations

Active Outdoor Play: From Multi-country Evidence to Policy Action, Practice and Urban Design

Chair(s): Josefine Kailaheimo-Björkqvist (Folkhälsan Research Center, Finland); Berry van Holland (Hanze University of Applied Sciences)

Active outdoor play is a form of play taking place outdoors that involves physical activity of any intensity. Play is essential for child development, supporting motor competence, sensory integration, physical activity, connection to nature, and resilience. Achieving population health impact requires coordinated action across policy, practice and planning so everyday outdoor play is possible, attractive, and safe, while allowing age-appropriate challenges and risks. This symposium links research with policy and practice to translate evidence into feasible action and expand active outdoor play opportunities for children. It also reinforces the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states: “State Parties recognise the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and activities appropriate to the age of the child”.

Speaker 1 will present outcomes from the 2025 Active Outdoor Play Global Position Statement, updating the evidence base and positioning active outdoor play as a foundation for health and well-being across ages, communities, and environments, increasingly important amid global challenges such as health inequities, climate change and excessive screen use. Speaker 2 will present key findings from SUNRISE Finland on associations between preschool children’s outdoor play, motor competence and physical activity. Speaker 3 builds on this evidence by presenting longitudinal findings from the Physical Literacy for Communities (PL4C) initiative on how outdoor play relates to trajectories in motor competence and well-being. Findings from the Ireland State of Play Survey will communicate how parental attitudes towards risky play may influence children’s opportunities to engage in these activities. Finally, the Pazi!park UrbanOasis initiative in Slovenia illustrates how child-participatory, multifunctional urban design choices can remove or reinforce barriers to active outdoor play in school and neighbourhood settings.

Although active outdoor play is a low-cost way to support child development and resilience, an implementation gap persists between evidence and reality, shaped by stakeholder barriers and outdoor spaces designed for single-purpose use rather than everyday multifunctional play. Bringing these perspectives together, the symposium clarifies enablers and constraints across home, education and neighbourhood environments, and how spatial affordances and design qualities shape access and choices to engage in active outdoor play.

Presentations of the Symposium

Going Global with Active Outdoor Play: Outcomes from the 2025 Global Position Statement

Shawnda A. Morrison¹; Louise De Lannoy²; Leigh M. Vanderloo³; Maeghan E. James⁴; Lærke Mygind⁵; Mark S. Tremblay⁶; Eun-Young Lee⁷
1: University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; 2: Outdoor Play Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; 3: ParticipACTION, Toronto, Canada; Western University, London, Canada; Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada; 4: Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada; University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada; 5: Copenhagen University Hospital – Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg, Frederiksberg, Denmark; 6: Outdoor Play Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada; University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada; 7: Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada; Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea

Background and Aim

Active outdoor play is a form of play taking place outdoors that involves physical activity of any intensity, essential for healthy child development and accessible to those of all ages. In 2015, a Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play was released in Canada; one decade later, a 10-year anniversary initiative was conducted to broaden the scope and impact of the original work, extending its reach conceptually, to global and all age categories.

Methods

The updated 2025 Position Statement was informed by 18 rigorous literature reviews, a series of leadership group meetings, three rounds of draft AOP10 surveys, and extensive communication, translation, production, and dissemination activities over a two-year period.

Results

The updated statement emphasises that “active outdoor play promotes holistic health and well-being for people of all ages, communities, and environments, and for our entire planet.” Key statements and evidence from several studies determined that outdoor play: 1) helps us move more, play longer, and sleep better, 2) builds climate resilience and stewardship for a sustainable future, 3) is a catalyst for sustaining health and well-being, including 4) reducing excessive indoor time and sedentary behaviour.

Conclusions

Policy implications and practice implications are varied; active outdoor play can be aligned with other aspects of international justice, health, and equity, including as part of national development goals, educational curricula, and urban planning to facilitate healthy resilience countermeasures within the population.

Funding Source

Lawson Foundation Canada

Associations of outdoor play in various environments with physical activity, sedentary time, and motor skills in early childhood

Nanna Wackström¹; Karoliina Uusitalo¹; Nina Simonsen¹; Sari Aaltonen²; Henna Launistola¹; Carola Ray¹; Eva Roos³; Elina Engberg¹
1: Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland; University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; 2: University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; 3: Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland; University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

Purpose

We investigated associations of outdoor play in various environments with physical activity (PA), sedentary time, and motor skills in early childhood.

Methods

Cross-sectional data included 3−4-year-old children (N= 1,081) that participated in the SUNRISE Finland Study (2022−2023). Children wore accelerometers for seven consecutive days and completed Supine Timed Up and Go (STUG), single-leg balance, standing long jump, and handgrip strength tests. Caregivers reported sociodemographic factors and whether children had engaged in outdoor play across six predefined environments during the past three days (yes/no). Linear mixed models with family-level random intercepts were adjusted for age, sex, household income, residential setting (urban/rural), and season.

Results

Outdoor play in nature was associated with less sedentary time (B=-17.66, 95% CI [-30.01, -5.31]), more moderate-to-vigorous (B=3.33, 95% CI [0.71, 5.94]) and total PA (B=12.47, 95% CI [1.53, 23.41]), and better handgrip strength (B=0.44, 95% CI [0.16, 0.72]). Outdoor play at playgrounds/parks was associated with more moderate-to-vigorous (B=4.34, 95% CI [1.62, 7.06]) and total PA (B=11.92, 95% CI [0.50, 23.34]). Outdoor play in own yard was associated with better STUG performance (faster time) (B=-0.82, 95% CI [-1.48, -0.16]). Outdoor play at friends’/relatives’ home (B=0.42, 95% CI [0.13, 0.70]) was associated with better handgrip strength. Outdoor play on streets and near water showed no significant associations.

Conclusions

Outdoor play may support children’s PA and motor skills, highlighting the importance of creating diverse outdoor play environments that encourage children’s play.

Funding Source

Research Council of Finland (371235), The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland

The Developmental Benefits of Outdoor Play: A Longitudinal Study on Motor Competence, Self-Perceived Physical Literacy, and Mental Health

Beatrix Algurén¹; Johannes Carl²; Yiling Tang³; Chelsea Pelletier⁴; Patti-Jean Naylor⁵; Guy Faulkner⁶
1: University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden; 2: Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; 3: Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China; 4: University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, Canada; 5: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada; 6: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Background
Outdoor play is important for children’s physical and psychosocial development, yet longitudinal evidence is limited. This study examined whether outdoor play predicts trajectories of motor competence, self-perceived physical literacy (SPPL), and mental health over a two-year period.

Methods
Data were drawn from the two-year longitudinal Physical Literacy for Communities (PL4C) cohort study in Canada. Children’s outdoor play and mental health (SDQ) were parent-reported, while motor competence and SPPL were measured via the PLAYfun and PLAYself tools, respectively. MVPA was assessed via ActiGraph. Linear mixed models were used to estimate longitudinal associations, adjusted for gender and MVPA.

Results
A total of 342 children and their parents participated at baseline, with 255 and 239 retained at the one- and two-year follow-ups, respectively. Outdoor play was positively associated with PLAYfun scores (β=0.88, p=.003), independent of MVPA and gender, and did not differ by age. Regarding SPPL, there was a significant interaction between age and outdoor play (β=2.75, p=.013); for baseline (median 7 year-olds) outdoor play showed a weak association with PSQ scores (β=1.54, p=.074), whereas 2 years later the association was substantially stronger (β=4.29, p=.013), indicating a lagged effect. While no significant effect of outdoor play was found for the SDQ total score, it had a significant positive effect on the Prosocial subscale (β=0.27, p=.007), with no age effect.

Conclusions
These longitudinal findings highlight time spent in outdoor play as an important early-life behaviour that strengthens children’s perceived competence, social functioning, and motor competence over time, beyond overall physical activity.

Parental Attitudes to Risky Play and Children’s Independent Mobility: Opportunities for Public Policy to Promote Safe and Healthy Childhoods in Ireland

Fiona Armstrong¹; Michael J Barrett²; David Gaul¹; Lorraine D’Arcy¹
1: Technological University Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; 2: Children’s Health Ireland, Ireland; University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Background and Aim

Outdoor play supports children’s physical, social, and emotional development, yet opportunities for risky play are declining. Parental safety concerns shape children’s independence and play experiences as parents balance injury prevention with developmental benefits. This study examined parental attitudes toward risky play and independent mobility in Ireland to inform public health strategies that promote safe, developmentally beneficial childhood environments.

Methods

A cross-sectional online survey of 376 nationally representative parents of children ≤16 years assessed attitudes toward risk, safety, supervision, and opportunities for outdoor risky play, alongside demographics. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and multivariable regression to identify predictors of children’s engagement in risky play.

Results

Of the 349 survey completers (84% female), most parents recognised the value of risk for skill development and trusted their children to play safely, yet attitudes strongly shaped play opportunities. Significant associations were found between attitudes to outdoor play in the rain and school travel (p < 0.01), and between perceived appropriate age for independent activities at home and school (p < 0.05). Greater independent mobility was moderately associated with permission to play in the rain (Cramer’s V = 0.51).

Conclusions

Despite recognising the value of risky play, parents viewed supervision as necessary and were risk-averse for play near dangerous elements, with adult tools, or out-of-sight. Findings highlight how parental attitudes can facilitate or constrain risky play and inform public policy and family-focused initiatives to support safe, developmentally appropriate outdoor play.

Multifunctional outdoor environments for physical, social and mental well-being - practice insights from Slovenia

Gaja Trbižan
Društvo Pazi!park, IPoP – Inštitut za politike prostora (IPoP – Institute for Spatial Policies)

Background

Active outdoor play is often framed primarily through intensity of physical activity. However, children’s engagement outdoors depends on environments that provide choice: movement, rest, social interaction and retreat. This presentation draws on practice-based projects to demonstrate how multifunctional and gender-sensitive spatial design influences active and unstructured outdoor play and supports physical, social and mental well-being.

Methods

The UrbanOasis and RE:PLAY projects applied participatory spatial design methodologies in school environments. Children were involved as co-creators through workshops, model-making, spatial testing and on-site implementation activities. Observations of play behaviour before and after interventions, participatory workshops with children, and consultations with teachers, school staff and municipal representatives informed iterative adjustments to the design.

Results

Projects showed that mono-functional sports surfaces often privilege specific groups and forms of play, while diverse topography, natural elements, flexible structures and informal gathering areas attract a broader range of users and allow diverse forms of play. Girls’ participation in active play increased where climbing structures, balancing elements and smaller-scale social spaces complemented traditional sport courts. Spaces that introduced quieter areas enabled longer outdoor stays and richer social interaction. Design processes highlighted negotiation challenges related to safety regulations, maintenance standards and school operational needs, as well as adult spatial preferences and competing land uses.

Conclusions

Multifunctional, participatory outdoor design can act as an intervention for health-enhancing physical activity by expanding who participates and how. Embedding spatial quality and child agency into planning practice supports inclusive outdoor play while advancing child rights, mental well-being and sustainable urban development.