Editor’s Note: Outdoor Families Magazine is proud to announce our partnership with O.A.R.S. for the #100HoursUnplugged Challenge! Join us, O.A.R.S., and partners, Children & Nature Network, Family Travel Association, National Park Foundation, Chacos, and NRS , as we get unplugged, reduce screen time, and get outside more. by Emily Nuchols - Four to seven minutes per day. … [Read more...]
Backyard Explorers
Editor note: Welcome to a new column by mother and writer Kristin Wognild. Kristin lives, works, and plays in the forests of Central Oregon and is an advocate of place-based learning. Thus, this new regular column's title "Nature's Place" should appeal to those families who desire to have a deeper connection to how, when, and where their kids learn. We hope you enjoy it. ~Erin … [Read more...]
The Healing Power of Nature
by Erin Kirkland Greek healer and writer Hippocrates, considered by most to be the father of Western medicine, often relied upon the outdoors as a salve for what might ail his fellow man. “Nature cures,” he wrote in one of his many volumes of instruction. “Not the physician.” Hippocrates practiced then-unconventional methods of observation and diagnosis during his life and … [Read more...]
My Outdoor Family: Meet a caterpillar named “Fuzzy”
by Eliana Osborn My son's rain jacket is laid across the back of the sofa. In the split second before calling, Come hang this up, I notice something yellow on the sleeve. Closer up, something fuzzy, perhaps a flower bud knocked off while running by. I lift the yellow cylinder with a piece of paper from the computer. A caterpillar, braving a stormy wet Fairbanks, Alaska … [Read more...]
Managing an Outdoor Meltdown
by Bridgett Ross "Take a deep breath in, and exhale slowly." I have witnessed these words ease overwhelming emotions countless times. I even use them on myself. When speaking these words to my 3-year-old son, however, he responds, "I DON'T WANT TO BREATHE!" Okay. I guess I have to get creative. "WOW!" I announce. "This leaf! Watch how it flies!" I place a dry leaf in the … [Read more...]
Diversity in the Outdoors: Starting a conversation
by Jennifer Fontaine The definition of DIVERSITY: di?ver?si?ty | d??v?rs?d?,d??v?rs?d?/ | noun The quality or state of having many different forms, types, ideas, etc. A Clemson University Master Teacher and Alumni Distinguished Professor in wildlife ecology, J. Drew Lanham is a naturalist and conservationist with strong interest in integration of game and nongame … [Read more...]
How to Raise a Wild Child: Outdoor Families interviews Dr. Scott Sampson
by Jennifer Johnson - Many parents of young children are familiar with Dr. Scott Sampson, better known as 'Dr. Scott,' a paleontologist from the PBS show 'Dinosaur Train.' Dr. Scott always ends each show with the tagline: "Get outside, get into nature, and make your own discoveries!" and earlier this spring backed up this charge with the publication of his book, How to Raise a … [Read more...]
Taking ‘STEM’ Learning for a Hike
by Jessica Schaefer? If STEM learning is important in the classroom, it?s important outdoors. But here?s the glory: It?s even easier outside. Far from the busy box of a traditional classroom, outside, things get real. Balls don?t stop at the edge of the gym; things that fall, break; water and wind create changes everywhere. The biggest value of STEM learning outdoors is … [Read more...]
How To Connect With Nature By Disconnecting in the Great Outdoors
by Bailey Gaddis - Collectively, much of humanity has developed a habit of dissolving into the vortex of technology; we log in to invisible connections and tune out physical surroundings. While technological capacities at our disposal can be fabulous when harmonized with the act of turning it all off to connect with nature and joy in time spent with family that … [Read more...]
The Importance of Covering Mirrors – Being beautiful in nature
by Elizabeth Small I try to model a positive body image for my daughters. I never once commented on the massacre that was my postpartum body (at least, not within earshot). And I didn?t even flinch when my daughter told a room full of strangers, ?My Mama?s belly is so ?squishy.?? Yet despite my best efforts, I still struggle with consistency. Recently my 4-year-old … [Read more...]
Notable Summer Reads for Outdoor Families
by Kelly Johnson Your local library?s shelves are probably filled with books about ways to connect with nature. But how is a parent to know which specific concepts to promote, like biophillia, for instance, a term describing humans? inherent love of nature, or ecophobia, a fear resulting from too much exposure, too young, to environmental problems and the pressure to "save" … [Read more...]
Nature Stewards: Four Fun Ways to Let Kids Participate
by Matthew Treadwell Fracking. Climate change. Mountaintop removal, overfishing, shark finning, oil spills, poaching, poisoned water, toxic air, deforestation, extinction. We're constantly bombarded with bad environmental news, and it's easy to become despondent, to feel helpless, hopeless. What do we do? What should we do? Besides living an environmentally conscious … [Read more...]
Finding Nature in Urban Spaces
by Shanti Hodges I still remember the ?Oh, no? look in my husband?s eyes when the doctor confirmed a June due date for our son?s delivery. I knew Mark?s mind immediately skipped from ?We?re having a baby!? to ?We?re going to miss out on a whole summer of mountain biking and rafting.? And so there it was, the reality of a summer spent within concrete confines of Portland, … [Read more...]
Winter in National Parks: Why you should go
by Erin Kirkland Perhaps no other agency moniker is as familiar as that of national parks. Providing access, protection, and valuable historical information, national parks are considered sacred ground by many as hallmarks of family vacation destinations. Sharing of a legacy, if you will. In the United States and Canada, at least, most national parks see the highest … [Read more...]
