Teach your Children (and yourself) about their World. Spending time outdoors with your children is as inexpensive as things get --- It's Free!
With a little imagination and planning, great memories may be made and great times will be had by you and your children. After all, what do you children really want more than your time and attention and reality is, they grow up so fast. Soon they will prefer spending time with their friends over spending it with you.........or will they?
Start participating in some great outdoor recreation activities together and the bond you have with your kids will strengthen and last throughout their lifespan. If your kids are still young, they most likely will be very enthusiastic about venturing into the outdoors with you. If they are older, they may initially enjoy the time more if they have a friend along. If your kids are grown and out on their own, imagine their interest when you call and say, "Hey let's get everyone together and go camping".
We here at GITTO are very dedicated to enhancing the family bond. We promote outdoor recreation as a way to enhance that bond by increasing the time families spend together without technological distractions and ultimately - without time limits. We strive to increase not only an individual and family's mental health, but their physical health as well.
We have found that by simply placing outdoor play and activities into the Health and Wellness column of life and not into the Leisure column, people are more likely to plan and go on adventures.
Just Starting Out? We suggest the following: Begin with what the National Wildlife Federation calls "Green Hour". Essentially dedicating one hour each day to unstructured outdoor recreation and play regardless of age. The NWF promotes this activity for Children, but we think it is a wonderful concept for people of any age. Just try it for a week and see how you feel. For more information:
NWF Green Hour.
Got Young Children? Another easy and fun way that every young child I have
ever met enjoys -- is what I call Backyard Safari. Anyone can do this, even if you don't actually have a backyard, you may use the area around your apartment or go to a local park.
How it works: Backyard Safari
Simply purchase a small notebook. Make this your child's outdoor journal. If they are young, sketch things that you see in the book for them. If they are older, encourage them to draw things that they see. Date the top of the page each time you go exploring. Be sure to include things under titles such as "Things we saw today" or "Things we learned today". An example of such an entry is taken from a journal I keep with my three year old neighbor. It reads:
"Things we learned today"
- Bark is the outer layer of a tree. It protects the tree.
- Bark is also called "mulch" when it is cut off of the tree and placed around plants. (We have pine mulch landscaping in our neighborhood).
We then took a small piece of bark off of a tree and a small piece of mulch and glued them into our field journal.
I am always amazed when my young neighbor can recite things that we talked about weeks before.
Older Children may modify the above and sketch, record and collect items of interest for themselves. Heck, you should keep a journal for yourself as well.
Discuss migratory and seasonal behaviors of the animals that live in your "backyard". Monitor the changes that take place in the plants that surround you. The possibilities are as limited as your imagination.
You may be astonished by what you learn!
