50 ideas for getting your kids hooked on the outdoors

To us weekends filled with outdoorsy goodness (namely hikes through Mt. Tamalpais and bike rides around Angel Island) are just what we need to reconnect and recharge from the craziness of the week. Nature calls us and we go knowing all is right when we are out in it exploring, getting dirty and going crazy. Weekends spent outdoors are hands-down our kids' favorite and have been their most memorable ones.

But we can't just reserve the outdoors for 2 days a week. What happens Monday thru Friday? Especially now with all that extra juicy sunlight...Perhaps a round of hide-and-seek or a pickup game of hopscotch or a quick rock check for creepy crawlies...I've had so many conversations recently about how kids never seem to be outside playing in the neighborhood anymore. They are there but perhaps they need an extra little push.

Dyanne Fry Cortez, Wendee Holtcamp and Bernadette Noll of Texas Park and Wildlife Magazine have compiled a list of 50 outdoor activities for kids that's simply inspirational. I love this list which combines ideas for right outside your door as well as more remote places. From tried and true ideas (making mudpies and digging a hole to China) to more adventurous ones (taking a sensory walk through the woods and exploring a mini-landscapes) to ones requiring special equipment (geocaching and using a pocketknife) the list goes on and on....one great idea after another...all the way to #50.

According to Cortez, Holtcamp and Noll:

Kids don't develop a relationship with nature by watching it on the Discovery Channel. They need to feel the wind, smell leaves and wildflowers, run their fingers over rocks and make personal contact with other living things. Pristine wilderness is not required: Ask any of today's dedicated outdoorsmen, and you may find that his favorite childhood memory involves a backyard tree house or fishing in an irrigation canal. Encourage children to get outside wherever they can, as often as possible, and start building their own memories.

Print it out and start from number one or mix it up a bit...The list is a starting point for all parents whether you're looking to draw out the tree hugger inside your child or just searching for some fun things to do outdoors. Get outside, connect with nature, bond with your kids and create lifelong memories!

(via se7en)