Some ideas for outdoor exploration, recommended by the National Wildlife Federation, are:
- Enjoy a five senses hike.
|
- Organize a nature scavenger hunt.
|
- Explore a local nature trail.
|
- Camp out in the backyard.
|
- Take a nature photo safari.
|
- Put up a bird feeder and watch for visitors.
|
|
|
- Plant a family tree and watch it grow.
|
- Invite neighborhood kids to join in a bug walk and critter talk.
|
*Thanks to American Camp Association at www.campparents.org |
|
Family Fun Ideas to Get Green |
 |
 |
 |
 Encourage your kids to be "nature sleuths" and help them develop their own detective kit with magnifying glass, paper, and pencil to record interesting things they see in the backyard (e.g., insects, birds, leaves, spider webs, etc.).
- Have a sound-pollution free day at home and unplug! No radios, televisions, CDs, computer games, iPods, etc.
- Plant a garden of flowers and/or vegetables in your yard together as a family.
- Put up window bird feeders so you and your children can easily watch the variety of birds that will visit.
- Take your kids on a field trip to the local nature center and participate in an environmental education program together.
- Participate as a family in local clean-up projects, like Adopt-A-Highway, park, or stream cleaning.
- Complain about the weather less; appreciate the outdoors more.
- Put out weather instruments; thermometer, barometer, rain gauge, etc., in your yard and monitor them together as a family.
- Catch run-off water from your roof in a rain barrel to water flowers in your garden, teaching your children the value of water conservation.
- Put up signs to remind family members to turn off lights to conserve energy.
*Reprinted by permission of the American CampAssociation; © 2007 American Camping Association, Inc. |
|
|
The American Camp Association (ACA) and the Children & Nature Network (C&NN) are collaborating to help families connect with the outdoors. Start a checklist for green living and ways to include the outdoors in your family activities by downloading this pledge.
|
|
Read more... [Take the Nature Pledge]
|
|
How Camp Teaches Kids to Think Green |
|
|
|
| After a long day of exercise and fun at camp, children’s eyes can be much bigger than their stomachs! Camps across the country are encouraging children to put on their plates only what they will eat, then camps teach children about recycling by converting the leftovers into compost. The compost is then used to fertilize the fields that create food for the campers! |
|
Read more... [How Camp Teaches Kids to Think Green]
|
|
The Natural Gifts of Camp |
|
|
|
|
By Richard Louv
 Every summer, when I was in junior high and high school, my buddy Pete Sebring would disappear for a few weeks to a camp in the mountains west of Colorado Springs. I resented it. For me, those humid July weeks back in Kansas dragged, and then Pete would come home telling tales of adventure — as if he had been to some alpine Oz.
|
|
Read more... [The Natural Gifts of Camp]
|
|
Summer dreams in tough economic times
Like most savvy parents, you were probably well aware of the recession long before the official announcement caused the stock market to take yet another nosedive. And, like many, you've probably taken some steps to curb any big spending, or you've begun cutting the nonessential "fat" from your budget. The state of the economy may also have you worrying about your children missing out on the joys of childhood because the purse strings are simply pulled too tight to factor in a night at the go-cart track or that family trip to the Grand Canyon. But one childhood joy that may still be within reach is a life-changing summer camp experience. |
|
Read more... [Cost Effective Camp:]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Parents