Neighbourhood Nature Play

The Neighbourhood Nature Play initiative was a pilot project in partnership with the City of Kitchener, Ontario. It focused on building routine, year-round, outdoor play in two city parks located in low-income neighbourhoods. Working closely with the community, Evergreen made strategic design/build interventions to increase nature contact and play value for children and families.

At the parks, Evergreen’s trained staff delivered free, year-round programming that fostered an environment for immersive, social, and adventurous play. The combination of thoughtful design elements and dedicated staff created a place in the neighbourhood where children could explore freely, engage with others, and take healthy risks. Children were encouraged to become the architects of their surroundings, using their creativity and skills to invent and build with a variety of “loose parts” materials—flexible, open-ended items that they could spontaneously create with. This innovative project championed a collaborative, child-centered design approach, transforming ordinary parks into dynamic community hubs. At the heart of this transformation were three key elements: play animators, loose parts, and a focus on nurturing self-directed, adventurous play.

Throughout the project, Evergreen also led extensive training for City of Kitchener camp and program staff, building their capacity to sustain and expand this model of nature-based, child-directed play for years to come.