Examining Outdoor Play Policies of

Licensed Childcare Centres in Alberta

Madison Predy, Valerie Carson, Nick Holt
Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation
University of Alberta

Lawson Foundation- Outdoor Play and Early

Learning Policy Research Symposium
October 25, 2018
 Introduction

• Outdoor play has many health benefits for children

• In recent decades outdoor play has declined

• Childcare is an optimal setting for a large proportion

of children to engage in outdoor play
 Introduction

• Canadian childcare is regulated by governments of

provinces and territories

• Wide variance in outdoor play legislation

• Current legislation affords centres the opportunity to

implement their own policies
 Introduction

• Policies in childcare centres are modifiable to

increase outdoor play

• Policies must be put into practice effectively

• Some centre policies (i.e. weather policies) may

restrict outdoor play opportunities
 Research Gaps

• Duration and frequency of outdoor play time in

Canadian childcare centres

• Seasonal variation in outdoor play time

• Prevalence and composition of written policies in

childcare centres
 Objectives

1. Determine duration of outdoor play time in

childcare centres in Alberta

2. Determine prevalence and components of outdoor

play policies in childcare centres in Alberta

3. Examine association between outdoor play policies

and outdoor play time in childcare centres in Alberta
 Methods

Participants
• Directors of childcare centres in Alberta
• 218 of 899 eligible centres

Procedures
• Recruitment by email or phone from a
complete list of centres
• Questionnaire filled out online via REDCap
 Methods

Questionnaire
• Centre Demographics
• Outdoor play environment and policies
• Adapted from: Go NAP SACC (Nutrition and
Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care)-
Outdoor Play and Learning Tool
 Methods

Outdoor Play: includes any time that children are

outdoors playing, including free play and educator-led
activities
• Total outdoor play time per day
- Toddlers and Preschoolers
- Winter (December-March) and
Non-Winter (April-November)
• Written outdoor play policy
• Specific components within policy
 Methods

Best Practices
• Toddlers: ≥60 minutes per day of outdoor time
• Preschoolers: ≥90 minutes per day of outdoor time
 Results

Centre Demographics

Number of Children
Location of Centres
• Toddlers 0-84 Rural Small Medium Large

• Preschoolers 0-112
• Average Total 62.5
Rural
11%

Accreditation
Large Small
44% 20%

• Accredited 82.6%
• In Process 15.1% Medium
25%

• Not Accredited 2.3%

 Results
Toddler’s Outdoor Play Time Winter Non-Winter
90

80

70
Number of Centres

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Less than 30 30-44 45-59 60-74 75-89 90-119 120 or more

Total Outdoor Play Time Per Day (minutes)

24% (50/209*) of centres are meeting the best practice

of 60 minutes or more a day in the winter months
*only 209 centres had programs for toddlers
 Results
Toddler’s Outdoor Play Time Winter Non-Winter
90

80

70
Number of Centres

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Less than 30 30-44 45-59 60-74 75-89 90-119 120 or more

Total Outdoor Play Time Per Day (minutes)

77% (160/209*) of centres are meeting the best practice

of 60 minutes or more a day in the non-winter months
*only 209 centres had programs for toddlers
 Results
Winter
Preschooler's Outdoor Play Time Non-Winter
100

90

80

70
Number of Centres

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Less than 30 30-44 45-59 60-74 75-89 90-119 120 or more
Total Outdoor Play Time Per Day (minutes)

15% (33/217*) of centres are meeting the best practice

of 90 minutes or more a day in the winter months

*only 217 centres had programs for preschoolers

 Results
Winter
Preschooler's Outdoor Play Time Non-Winter
100

90

80

70
Number of Centres

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Less than 30 30-44 45-59 60-74 75-89 90-119 120 or more
Total Outdoor Play Time Per Day (minutes)

55% (120/217*) of centres are meeting the best practice

of 90 minutes or more a day in the non-winter months
*only 217 centres had programs for preschoolers
 Results

Policy Components
Total Outdoor Time 57.3
• 94.9% of centres have
Daily Frequency 73.4
an outdoor play policy
Suitable Clothing 88

Safe Sun Exposure 89 • Average amount of

Unsuitable Weather 83 policy components
Managing Behaviours 36.7 was 4.8
Professional Development 29.8

Education for Families

• Policy components
21.6
were highly variable
Other
2.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Centres (%)
 Results

• Overall few associations between policy and meeting

best practice for outdoor play time
• Centres with a larger number of policy components,
compared to less components, had a lower likelihood
of meeting the best practice for toddlers in non-
winter months (OR=0.83 p=0.04)
• Centres that included daily frequency in their policy,
compared to centres that do not, had a lower
likelihood of meeting the best practice for toddlers in
non-winter months (OR= 0.43 p=0.01)
 Limitations

• Bias due to self-report

• Overrepresentation of
centres doing well in
outdoor play ?
 Conclusions

• Children are receiving less than optimal outdoor play

time, especially in the winter

• Prevalence of outdoor play policies was high but

components vary

• Having an outdoor play policy was not associated with

sufficient outdoor play time
 Implications

• Interventions for increasing winter outdoor play are

warranted

• Policies must be translated to practice

• Legislated outdoor playtime may be necessary

• Other factors may be more influential on outdoor play

opportunities
 Future Directions

• Examine the association

of outdoor play time
and other variables

• Research needed to
compare outdoor play
time in legislated
provinces vs non
legislated provinces
Acknowledgements
• Directors of Childcare Centres
• Dr. Valerie Carson
• Dr. Nick Holt
• BEL Lab Mates
 Thank you!

Madison Predy
mpredy@ualberta.ca