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Obesity
Childhood obesity is a serious health condition that occurs when a child is well above the normal weight for his age and height. The trend for increased childhood obesity rates is especially troubling, because the extra weight on children often leads to increased risk of health problems that were once primarily confined to adults.
Ohio Art Company
The Ohio Art Company manufactures and distributes toys in the United States and internationally, the most famous of which is the classic drawing toy, the Etch A Sketch. They also manufacture retail and wholesale custom metal lithography and molded plastic products.
Olds, Anita Rui
One of North America's leading experts on child care center design, Anita Rui Olds was passionate about designing children's play spaces that would fulfill their developmental needs and provide a "rich environment for the wild spirit to flourish."
Olmsted, Frederick Law
Frederick Law Olmsted and his colleagues were the first Americans to regard landscape architecture as a profession and laid the foundation for the developing practice in the latter half of the 1800s. Olmstead's theories on landscape architecture have profoundly influenced the profession, and he is regarded as the most accomplished landscape architect in American history.
Onlooker Play
Onlooker play, also known as spectator play, is one of the earliest stages of play when children watch others play, but do not join in. In onlooker play as children sit or stand near other children who are playing, their motivation is to observe their play safely from a distance with no intention to be an active part of the play.
Open-ended Play
Open-ended play allows children to express themselves in play freely and creatively, not bound by preset limitations. Playing with open-ended materials with multiple uses and limitless possibilities, such as molding clay, wet sand, paint, blocks and other loose parts, allow for imaginative play.
Operation Playground
Operation Playground was a humanitarian effort to construct or rebuild playgrounds in Thailand following the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia in December 26, 2004. The founder is John Moretti. As he helped rebuild, he became aware of the affect the tsunami was having on the children. Wanting to help their situation, he returned to the United States to initiate Operation Playground to raise funds to rebuild playgrounds lost in the tsunami.
Orca Coast Playgrounds
Orca Coast designs, manufactures, and installs contained play spaces for family entertainment centers, recreational facilities, daycares, schools, and restaurants. They believe that a well designed playground will "stimulate your child's creativity and tempt them to explore new dimensions of play."
Organized Camping Movement
The organized camping movement was a distinctively American solution of the larger child-saving movement of the late 19th century and early 20th century. As the cities swelled with displaced families, undesirable child labor and crowded living conditions fueled several movements to save the children and raise a moral generation of citizens.
Out2Play
Out2Play is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing safe, welcoming play spaces for every elementary school in the five boroughs of New York City that needs one. Andrea Wenner saw the need when in 2001 she noticed that the elementary school near her apartment did not have a playground.
Outdoor Play
Playing outdoors is one of the things that characterize childhood, giving children the opportunity to explore, discover, practice, wonder, change, create, and learn about the world around them. Children's basic needs for freedom, adventure, risk-taking, experimentation, and just being children are enhanced by outdoor environments.
Outdoors Alliance for Kids
The Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK) is a national strategic partnership of organizations from diverse sectors with the common interest in expanding the number and quality of opportunities for children, youth, and families to connect with the outdoors.
