In recent years, children’s independent mobility, or the freedom to move about without supervision by adults, has been in steady decline.

Children’s play is increasingly controlled, costly and standardised. Risk aversion has resulted in attempts to eliminate all danger despite the limited health burden of play-related injuries and missing cost–benefit evidence. We provide recommendations for play providers, standard setters, inspectors and public health.

We examined the effects of an intervention to increase opportunities for nature and risky play in the outdoor play environments of two childcare centres using a repeated measures mixed methods design.

To reflect on the role of risk-taking and risky play in child development and consider recommendations for the injury prevention field, a symposium was held prior to the November 2013 Canadian Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Conference.

This project addressed the safety of outdoor play spaces (including playgrounds, green spaces, urban areas such as parking lots and vacant lots, and the street) available to vulnerable children and youth in Canada.

This report provides a synopsis of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) funded study entitled, Exploring Children’s Lived Experiences of Play Spaces through Participatory Photo Mapping.

We explore the relationship between child development, play, and conceptions of risk taking with the aim of informing child injury prevention.

This study further cites that the cribs and playpens “represents an unacceptable level of danger, highlighting the need for continued improvements in product design, especially to prevent falls from cribs.”

Richard Stanwick of the Vancouver Island Health Authority presents data on the playground injury incidences, and discusses opportunities to improve safety for children in child care facilities.