Created by Annie Palone. Based on research done during June and July of 2014 with travels to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Stockholm, to research the physical design of exemplary cities in terms of “Child Friendly Urbanism” (and sustainability). The handbook documenting “successful examples, best practice & resources, and strategies for success” was put together in the fall of 2014…

Read it here…

NPR: Replacing Vacant Lots with Green Spaces…

Eco Parks for Learning & Play

Get those kids outside and let them play, occupational therapist urges Angela Hanscom says children struggle to develop strength and balance “Kids should be spending at least three hours outdoors a day — and preferably left to their own devices, a pediatric occupational therapist is recommending.”

Texas School Beats ADHD By Tripling Recess Time

Why Wilder Nature is Better for Your Health

Being Barefoot Benefits Brain Development (* I don’t know about this, but love the idea!)

Want Your Child To Eat (Almost) Everything? There Is A Way

A Lost Secret: How To Get Kids To Pay Attention Attention, motivation & autonomy…

Vacant land and urban agriculture are rejuvenating wild bee populations. Bees love cities. What can cities do to love them back? STORY BY Jen KinneyTwitter PUBLISHED ON May 28, 2018 Facebook Twitter Email Last summer, Paul Maeillo had to clear a vacant lot in North Philadelphia, and he wasn’t happy about it. He’d done it…

Kids spend less time outside than prisoners “While inmates at maximum security prisons in the U.S. are guaranteed at least 2 hours of outdoor time a day, half of children worldwide spend less than an hour outside, reports TreeHugger.com.”

CityLab: why are little kids in Japan so independent?

Preschool Without Walls By LILLIAN MONGEAUDEC. 29, 2015 SLIDE SHOW|8 Photos Learning ABC’s Under the Trees Learning ABC’s Under the Trees CreditMeryl Schenker SEATTLE — Three-year-old Desi Sorrelgreen’s favorite thing about his preschool is “running up hills.” His classmate Stelyn Carter, 5, likes to “be quiet and listen to birds — crows, owls and chickadees,”…

Visit NEWORLD THEATRE HERE or read about the project below. ME ON THE MAP MOTM Promo Video from Neworld Theatre on Vimeo. May 25 to May 31 2015 at the Vancouver International Children’s Festival  “It is audacious to believe that the city might build happiness just by changing it’s shape. But it is foolish not to…

Read it here, or at The Field, ASLA MAKING NATURE PLAY AREAS THAT WORK November 10, 2015 — asla staff image: Andrea Weber Nature play has been in the news a lot in the past few years, but what does it really mean and how can you successfully introduce it into a public park setting if…

Visit Jessica Lahey’s webpage here. Comments about the book: (Disclaimer: I haven’t read it!) “’The ugly and wonderful truth about middle school,’ [Lahey] says, is that ‘failure is not an if proposition, it’s a matter of when.’ Or it used to be. Now that parents shelter their children every step of the way, we have ‘failure…

Here’s the article, or visit Teacher Tom to read the original. Teacher Tom Teaching and learning from preschoolers Wednesday, November 11, 2015 Eleven Things To Say Instead Of “Be Careful” Share on gmailShare on tumblrShare on facebookShare on twitterMore Sharing Services95 In yesterday’s post, I riffed on what is popularly called “risky play,” what author and…

Read it below, or the original at Children & Nature Network. HOW NATURE CAN HELP CIVILIZE OUR CITIES by Richard Louv | Nov 9, 2015 | Columns by Richard Louv, THE NEW NATURE MOVEMENT | 0 comments About the Author Richard Louv is Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Children & Nature Network, an organization supporting…

Go visit this researcher and publisher of Child Friendly Cities materials: Rethinking Childhood: Child Friendly Cities, by Tim Gill

From NOLA.com By Contributing Op-Ed columnist on August 24, 2015 at 10:44 AM, updated August 24, 2015 at 11:11 PM Darell Hammond is the CEO of KaBOOM! “Ten years ago, I received a phone call from Ginny Reynolds in the days immediately following the disaster asking KaBOOM! to come to the Gulf Coast and assist…

“For far too long, many people have considered family life and urban life as being mutually exclusive. That trend is slowly reversing, as more and more parents choose to raise their kids in urban areas. However, city builders often fail to consider their smallest, most vulnerable users. As Enrique Peñalosa famously said: “”Children are a…

READ THE ORIGINAL HERE \METROPOLIS MAGAZINE / MARCH 2015 / PLAYTIME Playtime James Mollison’s latest book and exhibition capture playgrounds from around the world. Paul Makovsky Warren Lane Elementary Inglewood, Los Angeles In 2009, the photographer James Mollison was reflecting upon his Oxford school days when he realized that nearly everything he remembered happened on the playground—memories of games…