Free to Play
Free to Play is an initiative that supports outdoor play for children across Canada through projects funded by local community foundations.
Free to Play is an initiative led by Community Foundations of Canada, seeded by the Waltons Trust with support from the Lawson Foundation and Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities that supports local leadership and creativity in making play accessible.
The goal is to resource organizations so they can create welcoming spaces where kids can be active, imaginative, and social, away from screens and in connection with each other and their communities. Funding decisions for Greater Saint John will be made by your local community foundation through a participatory grantmaking process.
Building Belonging Through Play
Outdoor play is declining across Canada, and kids, and communities, are feeling the impact. Only 39% of children meet daily physical activity guidelines (source), and only 15% of Canadian children aged 3 to 4 years meet screen time guidelines of less than one hour per day (source).
These trends are connected to rising anxiety, reduced resilience, and fewer opportunities for kids to build real-world skills.
Free to Play was created to support open-ended, adventurous play that helps kids thrive and communities come together. Because when kids are free to play, communities grow stronger too.
“When we invest in play, we build stronger children, healthier communities, and a deeper sense of belonging.” – Dr. Mariana Brussoni, Director, UBC Outside Play Lab
Objective
Free to Play supports children by creating the conditions for them to play their own way; moving, imagining, taking risks, and connecting with others how they choose. Caregivers and community members can help create the conditions for outdoor play by providing the time, space, and freedom for children to explore, take safe risks, and play on their own terms.
The Fund aims to:
- Increase opportunities for outdoor play;
- Reduce barriers that limit everyday outdoor play opportunities;
- Contribute to the well-being, confidence, and healthy development of children n your community; and
- Contribute to a long-term shift that values outdoor play as essental to childhood.
What is outdoor play?
Outdoor play is voluntary engagement in an activity that takes place outdoors, is fund and rewarding, and is driven by children's own curiosity and motivation. It gives children room to explore, move, take risks, and play their own way, often alongside other children, caregivers, and community members. Outdoor play can also reflect land based play, rooted in relationships of reciprocity between people and the land.
Outdoor play may include:
- Running, climbing, digging, building, splashing, rolling, imagining, pretending
- Playing with natural materials like sticks, mud, water, sand, grass, or snow
- Taking risks, testing ideas, and learning how to navigate challenge and uncertainty
Free Play Resources to dive into:
- Outside Play Toolkit
- Canadian Paediatric Society
- Launch of the 2025 Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play! & Whiteboard Video
- Risk Benefit Assessment Toolkit
- Seven Cs design guidelines
- Trevor Noah What Now Podcast – The Anxious Generation
- Outdoor Play Canada Position Statement
- The importance of risky play for childhood development
- Play in the park: research participants wanted for intergenerational day of play in Halifax
- Outside Play Infographics
Purpose
Childhood has changed. Children spend more time indoors, on screens, and in structured activities and less time outdoors climbing trees, splashing in puddles, and going on outdoor adventures.
These moments, once ordinary, are now rare.
Across Canada and around the world, outdoor play is disappearing from childhood. Screen time for children has doubled in the past two decades, while fewer than 40% of Canadian children meet recommended daily physical activity levels. At the same time, families report more concerns about safety, busy schedules, and limited places where children can freely explore and play outside.
Even when families and communities understand the benefits of outdoor play, many still face physical and social barriers to enabling outdoor play. Adult concerns about safety and productivity lead to more structured schedules and less freedom for children to explore on their own. Physical environments can also limit opportunities; some neighbourhoods lack nearby places for children to play, or parents may not feel comfortable letting children play independently. For many organizations, funding, staffing, and resources to support outdoor play opportunities are also limited. Together, these barriers mean that fewer children experience the time, space, and freedom needed for high-quality outdoor play opportunities.
Free to Play responds to this challenge
When we invest in outdoor play, we invest in:
Healthier, happier children: Outdoor play supports physical and mental health, helping children stay active, manage stress, experience joy, and develop confidence and resilience.
Curiosity and creativity for a lifetime: Outdoor play gives children the space to imagine, problem-solve, and explore. Through experimentation and discovery, children learn to take risks, adapt to challenges, and think creatively, skills that last well beyond childhood.
Connected families and stronger communities: When children play together, families come outside, neighbours meet, and communities grow closer. Outdoor play strengthens the social fabric of a place, bringing people together and reviving shared community spaces like parks and fields.
Our Participatory Approach to Granting:
Free to Play is being delivered in selected communities across Canada to ensure deep local impact, with the long-term goal of scaling in future phases.
The Greater Saint John Community Foundation will adopt a participatory approach to allocating the Free to Play funds in our region. This process will convene 6–8 organizations in March and April 2026 for three interactive sessions. During these sessions, participants will learn about the concept of free play, explore potential initiatives—both new and existing—and collaboratively allocate the available funding using a consensus-based framework.
At least $195,000 will be available for allocation by the Spring 2026 cohort
Organizations interested in joining are invited to submit a Letter of Interest (LOI) outlining their experience with free play, ideas for new initiatives in the region, and willingness to participate in the cohort.
ELIGIBILITY
Interested in joining the participatory cohort? Contact Harry@sjfoundation.ca for more information.
View Application to Participate in cohort
Learn more at this Outdoor Play 101 Webinar – December 10, 2:30pmNT/2:00pmAT. Click here to register.
