A free toolkit has been made available to communities in Calgary in an effort to increase childhood outdoor activity.
Mobile adventure playgrounds began as a pilot project in Calgary in 2016 and the success of the program has the City of Calgary and Alberta Recreation and Parks Association looking to expand to new areas.
Research conducted by the Centre for Healthy Communities shows there's value in allowing children to explore and take risks.
"There's been experts around the world that have talked about how we're raising our kids in captivity," said Heather Cowie, president of Alberta Recreation and Parks Association. "We're not letting them experience risk on their own. We're protecting them, which is what we do as parents, but we're probably doing our kids a disservice by not letting them develop their own sense of risk."
Mobile adventure playgrounds allow children to use their imagination to play and construct using a collection of donated items and with minimal input from play leaders.
To view the Calgary Play Charter and for additional information regarding the creation of a mobile adventure playground, visit Play Charter Guides – Alberta Recreation & Parks Association.
