Health

This toolkit supports practitioners who encourage children’s outdoor play. It takes a balanced approach to risk and safety. The toolkit was created it because of growing concerns that children are overprotected when playing outdoors or stopped from going outside altogether. As a result, they miss out on the joy and sense of adventure they should have from playing outside, and lose out on the long-term benefits of outdoor play.

Alberta Food Matters is a province-wide organization that connects dietitians, teachers and local producers to each other and to information on projects that already exist in Alberta and across Canada. They are linked to Canada-wide organizations that also promote these initiatives (such as Food Secure Canada, Coalition for Healthy School Food, Farm2Cafeteria Canada, Farm to School B.C. etc. AFM are currently working on a pilot project called “Community Animators” that supports schools to undertake whatever they are dreaming of doing to bring local, sustainable
food to their students.
 

Choose your Voice and Voices into Action are two free online resources filled with curriculum based lesson-plans for teachers based on social justice issues and environmental justice issues, including Residential Schools, Chinese Head Tax, Japanese Internment Camps, Immigration, The Roots of
Slavery, Antisemitism, Gender Equality, LGBTQ rights, Cyberbullying, and so much more.
For Grades 5-8: Choose Your Voice
For Grades 9-12: Voices Into Action

Also available in French:  www.choisissezvotrevoix.ca and www.parlezetagissez.ca

If you are an Edmonton school, participate in indoor food growing with a Little Green Thumbs garden! Sustainable Food Edmonton provides a free garden kit, supplies and ongoing support to teachers wanting to capitalize on cross-curricular and hands-on learning from fall to spring. Students participate from seed to harvest, growing and tasting veggies and herbs. The indoor garden is a great way to teach science, math, healthy eating, literacy, social, art and much more!
 

The Alberta Hunter Education Instructors' Association provides free, downloadable and printable workbooks and videos for all ages on a variety of topics, including:

• Junior Wildlife 
• Know Your Knots 
• Survival Kit Essentials 
• Tick Awareness 
• Map and Compass Basics 

The Outdoor Education Toolkit for Grades 9-12 by the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (Ophea) provides guidance, tips, safety considerations, and checklists for before and during outdoor education activities. The toolkit also includes lesson plans, conversation starters, and reflection activities.

Toronto Outdoor Education Schools has put together a searchable database of outdoor education activities for all grades and subject areas. 

The Indigenous Games for Children Resource is a collection of traditional Indigenous games and activities to help introduce or reconnect children to recreational and sport activities that reflect the rich cultural heritage of our Indigenous peoples across Canada. 

Earth School by TedEd is a collection of short videos and lessons organized by the following topics:

• The Nature of Our Stuff
• The Nature of Society
• The Nature of Nature
• The Nature of Change
• The Nature of Individual Action
• The Nature of Collective Action

Yale Climate Connections has created a list of seven of the best new documentaries on climate change. Read the article for summaries of each documentary.