2011 Summer Activity Guide

Nature Rocks Summer Activity Guide
Credit - NatureRocks.org

The Nature Rocks web site will give you plenty of ideas for summer activities. Download the FREE Nature Rocks Summer Activity Guide to discover fun ways for your family to stay healthy and happy in nature during the summer season!

Where Nature Meets Stories

New from C&NN
Credit - C&NN image

Did you read stories about animals when you were young? Did you get swept up in adventure tales about pioneer families or seafaring pirates or mountain climbers? Did your family members like to swap fishing stories?
Stories about animals, plants, and wild places can be a big part of helping kids connect to nature. We’ve created this special section to help you enrich your nature discovery with stories old and new…and even stories told by kids themselves.

Welcome to the Children and Nature Network’s newest offering!

http://www.childrenandnature.org/naturestory/

Plan a Wildlife-Friendly Backyard

Backyard Conservation - Bringing Conservation from the Countryside to Your Backyard

Cover of "Backyard Conservation"
Credit - Natural Resources Conservation Service

Winter is a perfect time to plan backyard gardening projects for the summer. Yards are personal havens for recreation, rest, and relaxation. By adopting a few basic principles, your yard can become a sanctuary for wildlife as well. The National Audubon Society offers many ideas to help you create habitat that supports birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. The National Wildlife Federation offers video clips on YouTube that will help you understand the basics. In addition, the Natural Resources Conservation Service offers fact sheets as well as a publication, “Backyard Conservation” that may be downloaded from their web site. Projects that make your yard wildlife-friendly will renew your family’s connection with the natural world.

Take The Wildlife Challenge!

iFish & Wildlife Employees at Barren Island National Wildlife Refuge

Fish and Wildlife Service Employees Guide Children on the Wildlife Challenge Course at Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, Maryland
Credit: Refuge Volunteer Ed Grimes/USFWS

Are video games, computers or HDTV’s keeping you inside more often these days? Looking for a way to get outside, and have some fun as well? The Wildlife Challenge Course is waiting for you!

Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, Maryland recently launched a new activity that will have you and your children hopping like frogs, leaping like deer, balancing like Pumas and seeing like owls. These non-strenuous, yet physical and educational challenges are part of the Wildlife Challenge Course. Participants use balance beams, hula hoops, bean bag tosses and other fun equipment to mimic the activities of animals living in the wild. Can’t get to Patuxent Research Refuge?: Create your own Wildlife Challenge Course in a nature setting, school playground or backyard near year. Click here for a course map and instructions on how to develop your own Wildlife Challenge.

Last updated: August 18, 2011