• Retired Teacher Pilots Outdoor Adventure Clubs for Urban High School Students Denny McFadden is a retired teacher whose dream was to introduce urban youth to the great outdoors.   “For many years while teaching in the Cincinnati Public School district, I facilitated annual team building canoe trips for students and fellow teachers....
  • MeetMeOutdoors.com is Launched! Great news!!!!  Now you can see all of Greater Cincinnati’s outdoor events and programs on one convenient website.  MeetMeOutdoors.com allows you to search for outdoor fun by activity and date.  The site, sponsored by Green Umbrella, features not only upc...
  • It’s Not Just About Obesity Leave No Child Inside – Greater Cincinnati was founded in order to educate the community that time spent in nature is essential to the physical, mental and emotional health of all children.  Because obesity is one of the most pressing issues facing the he...
  • Where Nature Meets Story – for Parents and Educators Research shows that spending time in nature makes kids happier, healthier and smarter. Reading is probably the single most important skill for achievement in school and success in life.  So, why not combine the two? The Children & Nature Network’s Wh...
  • Spring is Here! Resources for Local Outdoor Adventure Spring is here and that means families will be on the look-out for fun things to do in Greater Cincinnati.  For activities at area parks, nature centers and other outdoor venues, including your own home, check out these on-line resources: Green Um...
  • Safe Routes to School Project Connects Kids to Nature   Programs that get kids moving safely through neighborhoods are integral to healthy communities and assist in connecting kids to nearby nature.  Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a national program designed to assess condition...
  • International Recognition of Children's Right to Connect with Nature Since the publication of Last Child in the Woods in 2005, countries around the world have acknowledged that children are increasingly disconnected from nature.  In September of this year, more than 10,000 people representing the governments of 150 nations...
  • No Platitudes!  September 22-23 Over 120 Free Outdoor Activities Click on logo for details One year after founding  the Children & Nature Network, Richard Louv challenged Grassroots Leaders with this request:  “No platitudes – we need action...
  • Thanks to our community’s “Cheerleaders” for a happier, healthier lifestyle Throughout our community, organizations like Leave No Child Inside, Green Umbrella, We Thrive!, Go Vibrant! and Closing the Health Gap are working in a variety of ways to engage Cincinnatians in a healthy and FUN lifestyle.  A growing number of you ar...
  • Grab the kids and check out Mill Creek Greenway Trail! Mill Creek Greenway Trail Mill Creek Restoration Project just dedicated the Mill Creek Greenway Trail, a 1.5 mile trail located on Spring Grove Avenue with the trailhead next to the Old Timber Inn.   The creation of this trail was a learning experience...
  • Grab the kids and check out Armleder Park Trail Connection! Armleder Park Trail Connection This trail opened with a dedication ceremony on June 14 and connects the Otto Armleder Park (which includes a great dog park, by the way), with the Lunken airport bike trail.  The connection gives you 8 miles of trail to ...
  • Tangible Progress in Reconnecting Children with Nature With the release of the 2011 Grassroots Leadership Survey, the Children & Nature Network provides us with evidence that our work and that of grassroots initiatives across the country is having an impact.  Results from the survey were analyzed and repo...
  • Diversity in Nature It’s long been known that biodiversity is essential to the health of our environment.   The Leave No Child Inside movement is also working toward the health of communities by increasing the diversity of the people who experience nature in their daily live...
  • What's Your Green Umbrella? Have you wondered what the television ads for Green Umbrella are all about?  Green Umbrella is an exciting new collaborative working to improve the economic vitality and quality of life in the region around Cincinnati by maximizing the collective impact o...
  • Find, Celebrate and Publicize outdoor events in April: Let's G.O.! Today’s children spend less time in nature than any generation in all of human history.  April’s Let’s G.O.! (Get Outside) campaign is aimed at reversing that trend!  Join in as people of all ages get outside  to Play, Serve and Celebrate during the m...
  • Cincinnati Nature Center’s New Nature PlayScape Who said that kids don’t play outside in the winter in Cincinnati? A recent trip to the Cincinnati NatureCenter’s new Nature PlayScape revealed plenty of area children at play in this fabulous new project.  Don’t know what a Nature PlayScape is?  Thin...
  • Cincinnati in Top 100 Communities for Young People Cincinnati has been identified as one of 2011's Top 100 Communities for Young People by America's Promise Alliance.  The award is presented to communities who are successfully working to improve graduation rates.   LNCIgc is actively involved in two of th...
  • Get Ready for April’s Let’s G.O. (Get Outside)! Month 2011 was the first year of Let’s G.O.!, which is a youth led initiative aimed at getting people all across the country outside to Play, Serve and Celebrate during the month of April.  Plans are underway to make it bigger and better in 2012.  Does your org...
  • 2011 Annual Report from Leave No Child Inside – Greater Cincinnati 2011 marked the fifth anniversary of Leave No Child Inside – Greater Cincinnati.  We’ve come a long way since 2006!  See our 2011 Annual Report for some of the highlights of last year.  It is thrilling to see all of the good work happening as this message...
  • PADDLEFEST KIDS OUTDOOR ADVENTURE EXPO Now it its sixth year, the Kid’s Outdoor Adventure Expo was bigger and better than ever this year. In addition to serving as the conclusion to Cincinnati Public Schools’ Fifth Quarter program, the event provided over 4,000 area children with hands-on expe...
  • Cincinnati Public Schools Fifth Quarter Program Includes EarthSmart Institute Jim Shelton meets with fifth quarter planner and CPS parents In an innovative program designed to stem the loss of learning that takes place during the summer for many students, Cincinnati Public Schools offered a Fifth Quarter, targeting grades K-7 at t...
  • Play Date for 50,000 in Central Park News of the movement to get kids back outside seems to be everywhere these days, but this event in New York City is worthy of special mention! A coalition called Play for Tomorrow hosted a Giant Block Party, expecting to attract 10,000 people. To their su...
  • Richard Louv speaks to American Academy of Pediatrics The American Academy of Pediatrics has invited Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, to speak at their national conference in October, 2010. This is evidence of the growing recognition of the cr...
  • Ohio Children’s Outdoor Bill Of Rights In September, 2010, an Ohio Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights has been endorsed by Governor Ted Strickland and more than thirty Mayors across Ohio. Click here to view the Ohio Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights....
  • The Report On Ohio’s Initiative To Reconnect Children With Nature This report, prepared by the Ohio Leave No Child Inside Collaboratives, in partnership with the Governor’s Office and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, summarizes the issues surrounding the diminishing connection of children to nature and sets for...
  • Leave No Child Inside Goes Statewide 2010 saw the rapid expansion of the Leave No Child Inside movement in Ohio, as five collaboratives across Ohio came together to form the Ohio Leave No Child Inside Collaboratives. Click here to visit the statewide website and to be added to receive statew...
  • Safe Routes To School Cincinnati Public Schools has been selected to participate in the federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program. This program engages the school, parents and the community in an effort to make it safe for children to walk or bike to school. Leave No Chil...
  • Bringing Nature To Schools Leave No Child Inside – Greater Cincinnati is expanding our support of Cincinnati Public Schools to encourage a closer, more customized relationship between schools and nature organizations via the Nature Partner Program. Advantages to this are many – c...
  • 2nd Annual Child-Friendly Backyard Contest We know that unstructured outdoor play leads to happier, healthier and smarter children! Leave No Child Inside wants to encourage a return to the joyful, creative outdoor play activities that should be the birthright of all children. The Child-Friendly ...
  • New Fact Sheet Summarizes Benefits of Gardening for Children Gardening provides different forms of engagement for children, including designing, planting, and maintaining gardens; harvesting, preparing, and sharing food; working cooperatively in groups; learning about science and nutrition; and creating art and s...
  • Fifth Quarter Project a Success Cincinnati Public Schools Fifth Quarter Program Includes EarthSmart Institute   Jim Shelton meets with Fifth Quarter Planners and CPS Parents. Jim Shelton meets with Fifth Quarter Planners and CPS Parents In an innovative program designed...
  • Early Childhood Conference Focuses on Children and Nature On Saturday, May 2, 2009, over 120 child care professionals gathered at the Oasis Conference Center for 4C for Children?s "Bringing the Outdoors Back In" conference. Keynote speaker Ken Finch discussed the importance of unstructured play in nature to th...
  • Obama aide lauds CPS program An emissary from the Obama administration today praised Cincinnati Public Schools' expanded summer-school program as a creative way to keep kids in class longer, a major administration priority. During a tour of Pleasant Hill Academy in College Hill,...
  • Scientists Report Nature is Essential for the Brain It's common knowledge that nature can help us focus our attention. Ask most of us what kind of environment we visualize during meditation, and it would be "nature".Read this fascinating article linking nature to brain function and how that information r...
  • Winners Announced! We know that unstructured outdoor play leads to happier, healthier and smarter children! Last summer, Leave No Child Inside ? Greater Cincinnati sponsored a Child-Friendly Backyard Contest as a fun way to encourage parents to allocate space in their...
  • Exploring Nature with Your Little One By Julie Eldridge Early Childhood Educator at Cincinnati Nature Center It wasn't long ago that I could slip on my hiking boots, snap the leash on my dog's collar and head out for a hike. The wind rustling through the trees, the gurgling water in the...
  • Fun in the Mud Article by Julie Eldridge Early Childhood Educator at Cincinnati Nature Center While April showers may bring May flowers, springtime also brings the season of MUD! Look away for one second and your child is ankle deep in it. Squelch, squerch, plop! ...
  • Conserving our Camps for Future Scouts On Saturday, April 5, over 75 Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts at the Dan Beard Scout Reservation and over 30 Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts at Camp Michaels learned about conservation while helping our camps at the spring Camp Conservation Day. Hundreds of sa...
  • Granny's Garden School Keeping Kids in Touch with Nature Want to see first-hand just how much of a difference one person can make? Plan a trip to Granny's Garden School in Loveland! Seeing how disconnected kids are becoming from the natural world and their communities, Rob...
  • Eco-Families   Feburary, 2008 Photos courtesy of Imago Eco-Families (nee Eco-Babies), is a monthly potluck for families and their young children, hosted by Imago. For parents, it is a way to learn more about ecological subjects and to hang out with other...
  • Nocturnal Adventures at the Cincinnati Zoo   Article by Michelle Balz Photos courtesy of the Cincinnati Zoo Twenty Girl Scouts stand in the Nocturnal House kitchen, an area of the Cincinnati Zoo most visitors never see. It is 8:30 p.m., three hours past closing. All eyes are intently o...
  • A Local Success Story - Early Education Below is a letter from Sally Wehby, Executive Director of the UC Child Care Center, Inc. with their solution to providing today’s kids with the same unstructured play opportunities that many of us took for granted. "A group of administrators and teachers...
  • Leave No Child Inside - Greater Cincinnati supports the Ohio Physical Activity Plan Feburary, 2008 On February 13, 2008, Ohio's Physical Activity Plan was released. This plan, created by a consortium including the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association, is a statewide plan of ac...
  • The Importance of Unstructured Play Although this piece from National Public Radio does not deal specifically with play outdoors, it supports the importance of unstructured play to healthy childhood development. Click here for information on how unstructured play affects a child's cogniti...
  • Leave No Child Inside movement gains momentum! Leave No Child Inside movement gains momentum! USA Weekend | November 18, 2007 The movement to reconnect children and nature is growing daily. Local initiatives continue to spring up all over the country, including Wilmington and Columbus here in Ohio. ...
  • Cincinnati Public School Boasts Ohio's First Environmental Studies High School Aiken University High School Offers Career Opportunities in the Burgeoning Environmental Field Aiken University High School is now the first environmental studies high school in Ohio! Their campus is uniquely suited to the study of the environment. Situa...
  • Movement to reconnect kids with nature growing nationwide Movement to reconnect kids with nature growing nationwide The Nation's Health | October 2007 The intersection between healthy people and a healthy environment is becoming clearer every day, with public health advocates emerging as crucial defenders of s...
  • Overnight in an Urban Oasis Saturday evening of the Great Outdoor Weekend, families gathered on a grassy knoll just a few miles from downtown, pitched their tents and had some fun! The Civic Garden Center sits on 8 beautifully landscaped acres called the Hauck Botanic Garden and hos...
  • Leave No Child Inside: The growing movement to reconnect children and nature Leave No Child Inside: The growing movement to reconnect children and nature Orion Magazine | March/April 2007 The March/April issue of Orion magazine, with their article on Leave No Child Inside, has inspired a national dialog on the topic. Read the ar...
  • Leave No Child Inside: The growing movement to reconnect children and nature Orion Magazine | March/April 2007 The March/April issue of Orion magazine, with their article on Leave No Child Inside, has inspired a national dialog on the topic. Read the article and blogs to see what parents, educators, hospitals, environmental group...