Outdoor and Nature Play in Early Childhood Education is timely because of the new national and international research that reinforces the importance of outdoor play in the lives of children―for their health, wellness, dispositions, and connectedness to their childhood space and place. Outdoor play is so important to children’s daily living that we have written this book to present the core concepts about outdoor play that will support teachers in collectively examining outdoor play within their environments and beyond.

The text is rooted in the work of well-known theorists who have made invaluable contributions to early childhood education and who advocated for children to have access to play and learning outdoors. The text situates the discussion on the benefits of outdoor play and the breadth and depth of learning that occurs during outdoor play in a Canadian and local context.