Six Fun Green Outdoor Activities for the Kids

Remember when you were young and played outside all day?  Most children don’t do that anymore and they’re missing out.  Not just on exercise and fresh air but also on a true appreciation for nature and our environment.  Here are six fun and green outdoor activities to encourage more time outdoors and help your kids enjoy the earth and all it can provide.

 (Photo credit: nonperturbative)

#1.  Host a scavenger nature hunt.  Give children a digital camera and send them on a hunt for all things nature.  For example, your list can contain items like dandelions, worms, a maple leaf, and a ladybug and so on.  You can adjust the list of items to hunt for to the age of your children.  If digital camera skills are beyond your little ones, then give them a pad of paper and a pencil so they can check off the items they find.

#2.  Bird watching or stargazing.  Looking up at the sky can fill hours of time and when you make it active, by looking for specific birds, bird habitats, constellations or planets, children learn and have fun.  Both activities can be enhanced with a telescope or binoculars, but they can also be accomplished with the naked eye.  Head to the library to pick up a book on birds or constellations and watch the fun.

#3.  Watching bugs.  Ants, bees, fireflies and praying mantises are fantastic to watch and children, for some crazy reason, like bugs.  Children can learn about what bugs eat, how they interact and communicate with each other and how they benefit nature.  They’re the bottom and the top of the circle of life.

#4.  Go fly a kite!  Flying a kite is 100% green and you can easily add a bit of a Benjamin Franklin lesson into the playtime.  It takes zero energy, other than the energy you need to keep up with the kite, and if you add making a kite from household items into the outing then it’s a super environmentally-friendly outdoor activity - and a great way to get outside for the whole family!

#5.  Remember pet rocks?  Those goofy items sold back in the 70s are actually a great outdoor activity.  Using non-toxic and environmentally safe paint, children can paint their favorite rock to look like a dog, cow, pig, monkey or whatever their favorite animal is.  They can gather a collection of rocks and paint a whole zoo or barnyard.  To keep mess at bay, lay out a piece of newspaper on the ground and let children create their masterpieces outside where it doesn’t matter as much if they spill the paint.

Leaf Rubbing Card (Photo credit: cproppe)

#6.  Nature rubbings are one way for children to combine their artistic voice and an exploration of nature.  All you need are some non-toxic crayons with the paper peeled off so children can use them sideways, paper, a hard surface and a bit of nature.  Place the item to be explored, like a leaf or a flower, under the paper and on top of the hard, smooth, surface; then rub the crayon over the top of the paper.  The image will come through.  Children can create amazing masterpieces by rubbing a number of items on one page or they can add their own personal touches. 

There are so many amazing things for children to enjoy and explore outside and most of them are completely environmentally friendly.  Teach your children to love nature and being outdoors and they’ll grow up with an appreciation for the planet we live on - and maybe someday develop great environmental and planet-saving technologies - who knows?

Eco-Friendly Field Trips for the Whole Family

Field trips are meant to be educational while fun. But field trips aren't just for schools; you can take your kids on field trips too. You can even grab some other family members and friends and head out on an eco-friendly field trip to places your school wouldn't dream of visiting.

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If your kids think that trash just disappears, then it might be time to take a family field trip to the landfill. There's nothing like the sight of that big huge hole half-filled with junk to make an impression on the younger generation. While everyone is plugging their noses, take a few moments to point out all the items in the landfill that don't have to be there - cardboard, newspapers, old food, perfectly good-looking furniture, old computers, etc. Explain how everything gets crushed down and that even things that would normally decompose, like food, have a hard time doing decomposing after getting squished together with everything else.

Likewise, you can take your kids on a tour of the local recycling center. They can see firsthand how items are separated and sent off on different conveyor belts - it's pretty cool to watch. Explain to them what will happen to the recycled products and how plastics will be turned into park benches and new decks and that paper will be shredded and mashed and processed into new paper.

If you can't find such activities in your local area, rent some videos. There are numerous videos today that explain recycling from beginning to end, and other videos that show where your trash goes after it leaves your house. Some of these videos can even be viewed online.
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If your kids like the gross-me-out factor of the landfill field trip, then they'll love a tour of the sewage treatment plant. Can you believe they actually give tours? Water treatment facilities also give tours, check yours out and give your kids a chance to see what happens to their "sewage" or where the water goes besides down the drain.

Another great field trip is to an organic farm. If you don't grow any vegetables yourself and you don't keep animals, going to a farm is a real eye-opener for children. Let them see where the eggs really come from, and that it's not the grocery store. Show them how the carrots grow underground, are pulled up, cleaned and cut up, and taste oh-so-good. With any luck the farm will have a u-pick fruit area where they can pick blueberries, strawberries, or blackberries. They'll appreciate sampling the delicious fruit as they pick it!

Some communities allow field trips to their facilities that handle cast-off goods, giving them new life. They even let the kids try their hands at repurposing items so they don't end up in the landfill. Trash to treasure is the theme here.

Check out what your community has to offer in guided eco-friendly field trips for kids or create your own field trip by directly contacting an organization or farm owner. You'll be amazed at what is readily available out there to teach kids about where our precious resources go.