Our Story
Over the past four years, our YMCA experienced a meaningful shift in our understanding, knowledge and practice of unstructured outdoor play opportunities within our licensed childcare locations. We shifted from the mindset of putting children in a bubble to one that allows risk, resilience building and confidence.
When we approach play with the lens of participation (as safe as necessary) instead of protection (as safe as possible), we open a world of potential. Unstructured outdoor play provides children the opportunity to interact authentically within the environment and develop a sense of ownership.
It’s been incredible to witness the shift in teaching our children that we trust them to test their limits and know when they are ready to take the next step. When we give them the opportunity to decide for themselves, what feels right, and what to do next, they:
- Learn self-regulation
- Develop resiliency
- Learn problem solving
- Work together
- Practice empathy
When we ask children how they feel rather than tell them they might get hurt, they learn to identify what that feeling “feels” like and ultimately what it is rather than relying on what the adult is predicting.
More exposure to the outdoors, quality opportunities for holistic development and increased advocacy towards the benefits of outdoor play are at the core of our work with early learning professionals, families and children.
- 2016: we developed a specialized outdoor play training module aimed to educate and put into practice a new mindset for select YMCA professionals, with funding from the Lawson Foundation.
- 2016-2018: Four child care centres were selected to pilot this training program implementation. Evaluation findings supported that these educators had increased positive perceptions and educational awareness of the benefits of outdoor play.
- 2017: Ontario Trillium Foundation supported the training for remaining centres, with over 400 staff now educated in the benefits of outdoor play.
- 2017: We partnered with Y Canada and the YMCA of the Greater Toronto Area on a plan with Colbeck Strategic Advisors to integrate Outdoor Play Training in our national YMCA curriculum.
- 2020: The Lawson Foundation granted our Y with $725,000 to support scaling Outdoor Play training to 40 YMCA associations across Canada over 3 years.
- 2021: We were awarded an additional $1 million from another funder to support Outdoor Play Training scaling efforts in the creation of Teaching and Learning Hubs across Canada.
- By 2025, our goal is to train over 3000 educators across Canada, with over 87,000 children receiving more exposure to quality, outdoor learning opportunities. The development of 10 Teaching and Learning Hubs will also be developed to support community integration of theory to practice in outdoor pedagogy.
Our Team
Jenny
Jenny Britt, B.Ed., MPEd., has been an Outdoor Play Specialist for the YMCA of Southwestern Ontario for the past three years. She is currently involved in research, development, and dissemination of outdoor pedagogy for early learning professionals within the YMCA as part of the Lawson Foundation's National Outdoor Play Strategy 2.0. Jenny has extensive experience in Adult Education and is a Curriculum Champion for our national YMCA curriculums for ages 0-12. Jenny’s passion for embracing children as active researchers and storytellers gained new perspective with the addition of her daughter in 2020. Together they explore the best recipes for mud pies, observe how high puddle splashes can reach, and investigate the squish of grass under their feet.
Cyndi
Cyndi Frizelle is a Regional Manager, Children's Educational Services for the YMCA of Southwestern Ontario and has been with the YMCA for the past 26 years. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science - Child Studies and Early Childhood Education degree from the University of Guelph and is a Registered Early Childhood Educator (RECE). Cyndi’s research interests are outdoor pedagogy, risky play, and expanding adult education initiatives within the YMCA and as part of the Lawson Foundation’s National Outdoor Play Strategy 2.0. She delivers training and mentorship in YMCA programs as a YMCA Curriculum Champion and has been a faculty at Fanshawe College for the past 13 years.
Jennifer
Jennifer Gilbert, RECE, is a Regional Manager of Quality at the YMCA of Southwestern Ontario. Jennifer focuses on ensuring quality standards are exceeded throughout all our programs within our Children’s Educational Services department. Jennifer is one of the project leads for the Embedding Outdoor Play Training: A YMCA National Early Learning and Child Care Transformation project, in partnership with The Lawson Foundation’s Outdoor Play Strategy 2.0. Jennifer is a trained leader in Adult Education practices and a Curriculum Champion for our national YMCA curriculums for ages 0-12. Jennifer has been a part time professor at Fanshawe College in the Early Childhood Education program for over 25 years.
Sasha
Sasha Patterson has worked for the YMCA of Southwestern Ontario for over 4 years and has since joined the Outdoor Play team. An additional funder provided the opportunity to combine her love of the outdoors and teaching as her primary role is the implementation of a YMCA Learning and Teaching Hub in every province across Canada. The YMCA Learning and Teaching Hubs will provide Early Learning Professionals an opportunity to engage in action research to improve upon outdoor pedagogy. Acknowledging the importance and priority of outdoor play to children in our child care is a meaningful vocation which she is grateful to be a part of.