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CFNL Invests in Outdoor Play Projects Across NL Through Free to Play

Building a movement to bring outdoor, child-led play back into everyday childhood

The Community Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (CFNL) is proud to bring Free to Play to Newfoundland and Labrador — a growing national, community-led movement that helps children get off screens, spend more time outdoors, stay active, and connect with their communities.

Free to Play supports community-led projects that remove barriers to outdoor play and help create the time, space, and freedom children need to move, create, take risks, and build confidence outdoors.

At a time when children are spending less time outside and more time on screens, Free to Play invests in local solutions that strengthen wellbeing, belonging, social connection, and joyful childhood experiences close to home. The initiative supports social infrastructure, activating parks, schoolyards, trails, gathering spaces, and community places to support child development, mental wellbeing, physical activity, and social connection. When children are free to play, they are healthier, more confident, more resilient, and more connected to the people and places around them.

Through this first round of funding, CFNL is investing $281,500 into 8 community-driven outdoor play opportunities across Newfoundland and Labrador. CFNL received 16 applications from across the province, requesting a total of $622,000. A review committee of community leaders from across the province narrowed the initial applications to this group of eight, representing strong, diverse experience in outdoor play and geographic reach. CFNL supported this group in a series of conversations to collaboratively allocate the $281,500 across their projects. 

The response to Free to Play demonstrated growing momentum around the importance of outdoor play for children, families, and communities. Across Canada, communities are coming together to help spark a broader cultural shift that recognizes outdoor play as essential to healthy childhoods, thriving communities, and stronger futures for children.

Free to Play is powered locally by participating community foundations and was seeded by support from Waltons Trust, with additional support from The Lawson Foundation and Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities.

Join the Movement

CFNL is calling on local donors, businesses, governments, and community partners to join us in expanding outdoor play opportunities for children in Newfoundland and Labrador.

By joining Free to Play, partners can help:

  • Help more children get outdoors, off screens, and into joyful, active play close to home.
  • Expand equitable access to outdoor play, particularly for children in Indigenous, rural, remote, and underserved communities.
  • Join a growing national network of philanthropic, private, public, and community leaders helping drive a larger cultural shift around outdoor play and childhood in Canada.
  • Stretch investments further by pooling resources alongside community foundations and other local and national partners.
  • Support community-led solutions designed by organizations and leaders who understand local children, families, and neighbourhoods.

To learn more about partnership opportunities, contact Nicole at ndawe@cfnl.ca.

The following projects are being supported across Newfoundland and Labrador through CFNL’s $281,500 investment:

Organization Location Amount Funded Project Description
City of St. John’s St. John’s $25,000 Enhance City-owned spaces with mud/snow kitchens and natural playground elements located near community centres and shared use paths, supporting low-barrier, unstructured play environments for children and families in all seasons.
Cloudberry Outdoor Play and Education Centre St. John’s $45,000 Provide province-wide professional learning to NL  organizations, building educator capacity in outdoor pedagogy, risk management, environmental awareness, and program implementation.
Global Citizen Incorporated St. John’s $28,500 A summer mentorship-led outdoor play initiative for newcomer children ages 0–15, where community-based Play Ambassadors guide families into parks for child-led, risk-positive, unstructured play, building trust, belonging, and confidence.
Mi’kmaw Cultural Foundation Incorporated Stephenville (Provincewide) $50,000 Develop a series of Free to Play Land Days for children ages 0–14 and their families across western Newfoundland, offering open access to outdoor spaces for free, unstructured play with light supports such as snacks and transportation.
North West River Youth Engagement Initiative Inc. North West River $30,000 Support small outdoor play hubs in North West River, including community garden boxes and accessible sports equipment, to expand safe, low-barrier opportunities for children ages 0–18.
Pumpkin House Child Care Centre Happy Valley-Goose Bay $43,000 Expand and redesign the outdoor free play and nature exploration space at the centre, adding natural loose parts, mud-play areas, accessible gardening zones, sensory pathways, and outdoor gathering spaces usable in all seasons.
St. Peter’s Academy and the Town of Humber Arm South Benoit’s Cove $30,000 Create a nature play space and medicine walk through the woods adjacent to the school, with trilingual signage (English/French/Mi’kmaq) identifying culturally important plants and nature play pockets along the trail.
Union House Arts Port Union $30,000 Offer free, unstructured outdoor play and creation programs through summer 2026 in the organization’s outdoor studio and community garden space.