On a recent weekend trip to New York City with my young boys, there were contrasts of man and nature everywhere:  skyscrapers and trees, taxis and birds, playgrounds and climbing rocks.  The latter might not be what we think of a contrast, but it was a funny and welcome one for me.

One morning, we left the hotel to go to the half-price ticket booth for a matinee of a children’s musical.  It would be our first, and I had always wanted to see the Lion King on stage and thought my kids, ages 5 and 7, would be the perfect age for it.  “No way!” they cried.  “We don’t want to do that!”  Standing on the street without a plan, I said, “Let’s head to the park.”

We entered Central Park at 57th street, the closest entrance to Times Square. Immediately, they found an old tree with twisted, low branches to climb. Upon making my husband nervous that it was too close to the road, he said, “Hey look, there is a playground!” The kids ran joyfully toward the playground and looked like they had every intention of entering.

Here is where the contrast occurred. Standing twenty feet from the playground entrance, my sons ran straight past the playground and up the face of an enormous rock. “This is so cool!” they exclaimed, climbing up and down over and over again. There was no one climbing the rock, placed there by Mother Nature. In contrast, the man-made playground was packed with children.

My children’s excitement eventually attracted more kids and their parents. After more rock climbing, my boys went into the playground. They ran through the playground and played on the swings. But eventually, they asked to search for more rock formations to explore, and they didn’t have to go far.

Our morning of rock climbing reminded me of how exciting it is just to explore different parks. Certainly the play equipment may be different, which will be fun for kids. But the different landscape of every park could bring some more surprises – and a natural “playground” that offers even more fun than those that are man-made.

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. For her free list of 50 Outdoor Activities for Busy Families as well as Rebecca Plants’ Curiosity Cards, a set of 50 portable and no-cost activity cards for families, visit http://www.rebeccaplants.com/outdoorliving.asp.

Forcing fun isn’t really possible, but when my kids are having trouble peeling themselves away from video games, I have been known to put my foot down and take them outside.  After just a few minutes, they forget that I forced them to do it.

A friend of a fellow garden designer and writer, Starla J. King, http://www.rebeccaplants.com/wordpress coined the term “forced family fun,” and with that concept in my head this past weekend, I looked forward to putting it into practice when the time was right.  

Sure enough, late Sunday morning, my two boys, 5 and 7, were clinging to their cartoons.  In conspiracy with my husband, we created a ballot of two choices for family time outside:  fishing or renting a small boat, both of which were new to us.  Each of the four of us submitted our anonymous ballot.  Upon reading the small pieces of paper, we discovered that my husband and I picked something different.  But, the boys each changed their ballots to choose both fishing and renting a boat.

We didn’t need to pack much for our spontaneous adventure:  life jackets for the kids, a small backpack with retractable kids’ fishing rods that I bought from a big box retailer last summer, and a picnic lunch.  And we didn’t have to go far.  We found a public fishing lake just 10 minutes away through NWF’s Nature Find http://www.nwf.org/naturefind, where you just enter your zip code to find nearby parks.

Our lunchtime fishing trip turned into wonderful family time that lasted five hours.  The excursion was such a hit, seeing dragonflies, fish, geese, and even a heron, that we all decided we would go fishing once a week from now on.  Try your hand at forced family fun, and see just how fun it can be.

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.  For her free list of 50 Outdoor Activities for Busy Families, visit http://www.rebeccaplants.com/outdoorliving.asp

Expensive family vacations were not on the agenda for us this Summer, so when we were asked by some neighbors to camp with them by a nearby lake for the Fourth of July, the adventure sounded like a great idea.  At this time last year, my husband and our two young boys visited Mount Rushmore and Badlands National Park.  But even if we were close to home this year, I still wanted a wonderful family memory of the holiday.

Packing up the car, we had enough to keep us comfortable for one night:  two tents (just in case the five kids wanted their own to sleep together); hot dogs, s’mores, and breakfast snacks; our pillows, sleeping bags, and a favorite stuffed animal for each child; toothbrushes, toothpaste, and toilet paper; a picnic blanket, magnifying glasses, binoculars, flashlights, battery-operated glow sticks for fun (and for safety to keep track of the littlest ones in the dark).

My neighbor, a teacher, brought along a brilliant idea:  clipboards for each of the kids with a pencil for each and print out of a scavenger hunt.  My seven-year-old son and her eight-year-old daughter got a more advanced list of 10 things to find (a pattern in nature, something hanging, animal tracks) and the three, four, and five year-olds got a list that had more pictures:  six pinecones, three birds, one acorn.  The older and younger kids worked in teams and guided themselves through the activity.

Our neighbor’s husband brought along fishing gear and he and his oldest daughter taught my boys how to fish, which they loved, and the rest of the time, the kids explored nearby.  They came across small and big toads and waded in the water, playing with rocks and even found a crayfish.  Not once did they say they were bored or scared, and when the last fireworks died off in the distance around 10:30p.m., after some giggles and talking in the tent, they fell asleep with ease. 

Whether the back yard or nearby park, it’s easy to have a fun adventure close to home.  And the convenience of the location makes it easy for new campers to try it out, especially with some friends, and create memories that will last a lifetime.

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.  For a free list of 50 Outdoor Activities for Busy Families, visit http://www.rebeccaplants.com/outdoorliving.asp