Information and Resources for Parents & Mentors

NATURE CLUBS FOR FAMILIES

Great for busy parents, Nature Clubs for Families have been sprouting up all over the country. Families gather to hike, play or camp with others from their neighborhood, church or school. View the video above to learn more about Nature Clubs for Families. Get ideas for seasonal outdoor activities and lots of other great ideas on the Children & Nature Network’s Natural Families Network website.

An Urgent Message for Parents

Photo courtesy of the Cincinnati Nature Center

Our world is changing more quickly than ever before, and sometimes we are swept into a new lifestyle before we realize it! Who could have imagined that children playing outdoors in their backyards and neighborhoods, as they have done throughout all of human history, would become a rarity? But, today’s children spend between forty and sixty hours per week attached to electronic umbilica, and the balance of their time is scheduled between school, sports and other extracurricular activities. Still other children have no safe place to play outdoors. This new lifestyle has resulted in a myriad of negative effects including stress-related disorders, reduced cognitive development, obesity, poor muscle development and more. [read more]

We hope that your family will take a step back from the hurried lifestyle to which we have become accustomed, and recognize the need for all of us, but especially our children, to have free time for play in nature! This page will give you ideas to get your kids started – once they’re out there, we predict that they’ll have plenty of their own ideas!

 

 

Make 5-2-1-0 your family’s prescription for healthy living!

5-2-1-0 is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the State of Kentucky and the pediatricians of Healthy Kids Ohio.

Where To Go in Greater Cincinnati

meet-me-outdoors-logo
Looking for outdoor activities, events and adventures for your family? Here are two local resources that make it easy for busy families to find what they are looking for:

 

MeetMeOutdoors.com is the place to go for information about outdoor events, destinations, retailers and volunteer opportunities in Greater Cincinnati.

The Tri-State Guide to the Outdoors lists the best places to go for outdoor adventures like biking, hiking, kayaking and camping.

Outdoor Activity Ideas

We hope that you’ll encourage your children to be creative in thinking up their own outdoor activities, but sometimes they may need a little nudge. Or, maybe you just want to “shake it up” a little bit! When you do, here are some great resources for you:

Nature Rocks

The Nature Conservancy partnered with Disney, the Children & Nature Network and EcoAmerica to create Nature Rocks!, a website that will inspire and empower your family to play and explore in nature, including your own backyard.

Grow Outside Guide to Outdoor Play

Be sure to check out the Tips for Parents, Fun for All Seasons and Seasonal Fun sections of our Grow Outside Guide to Outdoor Play! Collected from the Greater Cincinnati Environmental Educators, these sections are full of clever ideas that your family can do at home or other “nature in the neighborhood” location. We invite you to download the full Guide as a flipbook or as a pdf.

Where Nature Meets Story

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 Where Nature Meets Story is a place for parents and educators to find fun, outdoor activities for kids with a coordinated recommended reading list for toddlers to young adults.

Explore a wide range of activity themes, including “A Fort of One’s Own: Making Hide-outs” and “Of Fairies, Gnomes and Hobbits: Imagined Worlds in Nature”. Check it out and start your child down the path to a happier, healthier and smarter life.

Get Inspired!

 

outdoorafro

Outdoor Afro is a social community that reconnects African-Americans with natural spaces and one another through recreational activities such as camping, hiking, biking, birding, fishing, gardening, skiing — and more! Outdoor Afro disrupts the false perception that black people do not have a relationship with nature, and works to shift the visual representation of who can connect with the outdoors.

 

 

 

Together in Nature: Pathways to a Stronger, Closer Family explains how spending time in nature helps to build parent-child attachment and strong family bonds.

 

 

 

Create a Child-Friendly Backyard
If you are lucky enough to have a backyard, make it a safe and friendly place for children to play! Find inspiration and the information you need in the Child-Friendly Backyard section of our Grow Outside Guide to Outdoor Play.

 

 

 

 View the Grow Outside Guide to Outdoor Play online as a flip book or download the Guide as a PDF.

Guide Navigation:

  1. Guide Home
  2. Intro from Richard Louv
  3. The Child-Friendly Backyard
  4. Parks & Nature Preserves (Alphabetical)
  5. Parks & Nature Preserves (by ZIP code)
  6. Resources
  7. Nature for All Abilities
  8. Safety First
  9. Tips
  10. Outdoor Fun Ideas for Kids
  11. Fun for all Seasons
  12. Did you know…

Downloads

Download the entire “Grow Outside Guide to Outdoor Play” to print out at home or have as a reference.