Posts Tagged ‘great american backyard campout’

My Great American Backyard Campout

Friday, June 4th, 2010

Don’t forget!  Saturday, June 26th is the Great American Backyard Campout.  What is that?  First of all, it’s super easy and fun as a family because you set up a tent in your backyard and have a campout.  Of course, you can gather in another family’s backyard or sign up with a group to share your first camping experience at a local park. The best part of all is you make memories as a family close to home.

Last June, I invited my girlfriends and their kids for a “Moms and Kids Only” backyard camp out; just take a look at how much fun we had!

And did you know? Saturday, June 12th is National Get Outdoors Day, and June is National Get Outdoors Month.  Here are some more simple ideas for how to get outside and spend meaningful time together as a family:

  1. Work the playground into your daily routine. Take a picnic blanket and do homework outside; bring healthy sandwiches and portable fruit like bananas and applies for a picnic.
  2. Volunteer in the school garden or grow vegetables in containers. We’re harvesting our peas now that we planted in April. Now it’s time to plant carrots seeds and tomato plants. See the plant lifecycle in action and taste fresh food!
  3. Take an evening walk or bike ride after dinner as a family, notice the animals around you. NWF’s Wildlife Watch shows you pictures of what you can find at this time of year. You may even see bats at dusk!
  4. Find a local park that is new to you.  Did you know that the USDA Forest Service has a great website that every parent should know, http://www.discovertheforest.org, that finds parks by zip code and gives you access to lots of other outdoor activities ideas as well.
Make it a point this month to celebrate and get outside with your family, and you may be surprised how your fun leads to outdoor experiences all summer long together and memories that will last a lifetime.
Rebecca P. Cohen is a gardening and outdoor lifestyle expert and host of Get Out of the House, vignettes that show fun ideas for family time outside and reach 46 million households on Resort and Residence TV. She is also author of the upcoming book, 365 Days Outside:  A Mother’s Journey to Improve the Well-being of Her Family (March 2011, Sourcebooks).  The daughter of educators, Rebecca left the corporate world after 15 years to teach families gardening and equip them with fun outdoor ideas that keep them healthy and connected year-round.  Rebecca’s work was recently featured in the April 2010 edition of Family Circle magazine and on Rachael Ray’s website, Yum-o!, for her Earth Day event with 1,000 elementary school students.  Rebecca is also Spokesmom for the National Wildlife Federation’s Be Out There movement. For more information, visit RebeccaPlants.com.

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Be Out There

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

We’ve started the s’more roasting in Virginia. With last week’s temperatures in the 40s and feeling like December, my kids and I welcomed a beautiful fall Wednesday evening this week by walking the dog, watching bats at dusk, collecting kindling for the fire and then roasting a s’more. “Look up!” said my seven year-old, pointing to the stars.

It was a perfectly clear and comfortable evening, just like for our last backyard campout in June. The success of the event for the kids led us to camping down the street in July for our first overnight away from home, and then in August, we had an overnight camp out in the West Virginia mountains.

It’s about time for another backyard campout, I thought. My first backyard campout was last March, on a cold Friday night when my four year-old begged me to sleep out back with him. Then, he wanted to sleep in the tent on Saturday night too. Nursing my sore back from a too-thin sleeping bag pad that somehow ended up on a tree root, I informed my husband that it was his turn to sleep outside.

We had subsequent backyard campouts before June 28th, when the National Wildlife Federation filmed my backyard campout. I invited two girlfriends, their kids, and my mom to join us for a “moms and kids only” campout. NWF’s Dave Mezejewski took us on a nature walk, and the kids spent hours outside, hanging on until almost bedtime before they had their s’mores.

With the launch of the National Wildlife Federation’s Be Out There campaign, let’s join together and continue to be the amazing influence in our neighborhoods and communities that inspires all families to get their kids outside.

Rebecca P. Cohen is Founder and President of Rebecca Plants LLC, a gardening and outdoor lifestyle company that inspires families to be outside and improve their well being. Mark your calendars for Thursday, November 19th at 10:30EST for Rebecca’s next radio show, Get Out of the House, where callers will share favorite multigenerational ways to get outside for the holidays. http://www.rebeccaplants.com.

Copyright 2009 Rebecca Plants LLC

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