Join Us for a National Wildlife Federation #BeOutThere Twitter Party on 8/20

This is a compensated campaign. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As you know, I've teamed up with National Wildlife Federation's Be Out There movement and The Motherhood to encourage families to spend time outdoors, even in the summer heat. Some amazing parent bloggers contributed to an e-book packed with great ideas for fun-filled summer days and nights with your kids! Using the e-book as a resource, you can say goodbye to summer boredom, as you'll have plenty of activities for all different occasions to suggest for kids of all ages.

To celebrate the launch of our awesome Be Out There eBook, join us for a fun Twitter party tomorrow! In addition to getting some tips for getting the kids outside you will also have a chance to win prizes. Check out all of the details below.
 

What: We're celebrating the release of this remarkable e-book with a Twitter party! Join us to chat about tips for being out there, and share new ones of your own. Getting outside can be fun for the whole family, but sometimes we just need some inspiration from other like-minded moms.

Read the e-book here: http://issuu.com/themotherhood/docs/be_out_there?e=6112495/4367026

When: Tuesday, August 20, at 1p ET / noon CT / 10a PT

Where: We’ll be on Twitter – follow the #BeOutThere hashtag to track the conversation. You can see the details and RSVP via this Twtvite: http://twtvite.com/beoutthere

Hashtag: #BeOutThere

Prizes: Five prizes will be awarded throughout the party to participants who respond correctly to trivia questions. Each winner will receive a $25 Visa gift card and a Be Out There t-shirt.

Hosts: @theMotherhood, @CooperMunroe, @EmilyMcKhann, @BeOutThere

Co-Hosts: 

Andrea Updyke, Li'l Kid Things, www.lilkidthings.com
Brett Martin, This Mama Loves… www.thismamaloves.com
Caryn Bailey, Rockin' Mama, www.rockinmama.net
Elena Sonnino, Live.Do.Grow., www.livedogrow.com
Fadra Nally, All Things Fadra, www.allthingsfadra.com
Heather Hopson, Diary of a First Time Mom, www.diaryofafirsttimemom.com
Holly Ambrose, Tropic Home and Family, www.tropichomeandfamily.com
Jennifer Matuska, Mommy Instincts, www.mommyinstincts.com
Kimberly Coleman, Mom in the City, www.mominthecity.com
Louise Bishop, MomStart, www.momstart.com
Marianna Nichols, Green Mama's Pad, www.greenmamaspad.com
Molly Balint, MommyCoddle,www.mommycoddle.com
Nickida Stephens, Nicki's Random Musings, www.nickisrandommusings.com
Piera Jolly, Jolly Mom, www.jollymom.com
Tiffany Merritt, Stuff Parents Need, www.stuffparentsneed.com

I'm an Author in the National Wildlife Federation's #BeOutThere eBook!

This is a compensated campaign. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Are you running out of ideas to keep your kids active during summer break? Now you can tips from experts and other mom bloggers like myself in the National Wildlife Federation's Be Out There eBook!

In my section, I discussed ideas for summer nighttime activities with your kids. Here is a snippet of what I wrote about:

One of our eight year old’s favorite activities is star gazing. We head out onto our deck with his telescope and my iPad to sit down and wait for the stars to appear. A child’s telescope might not be super strong, but they still like looking at the moon and stars through it. The perfect accompaniment to this is using a constellation app on your mobile device. For 99 cents I downloaded the Night Sky app onto my iPad and it was money very well spent. We just hold it up to the sky and the app will show us which stars and planets we are looking at as well as outlining the constellations. If you start your star gazing around twilight, only a few stars may be visible. Those are the brightest ones. For us, the only star we could see initially was Vega (thank you app for telling us the name!). As the sky darkened, more stars seemed to pop up. My son was really excited every time he spotted a new star. Ultimately, watching the stars and learning about them proved to be a great activity not only for the kids, but us parents as well.

To read about more fun ideas from myself and the other eBook contributors, you can scroll through the eBook below or click on this link: http://issuu.com/themotherhood/docs/be_out_there?e=6112495/4367026

Please use a moment to take the Be Out There Pledge to spend more time outside the rest of the summer (and year round really)!

How Will You Get Your Kids Outside This Summer? #BeOutThere

By 1:00pm this Friday (June 21) my children will officially be done with school until they return for the start of the next year at the end of August. The two months of summer break is something I both look forward to and dread at the same time. I enjoy having my kids home and I really enjoy not having to get the four of them ready for school everyday. I dread the nonstop sibling fighting that will ensue after the first week (or first day, who am I kidding?) and coming up with ideas to keep them active and entertained. It is so easy to fall into the trap of handing them an electronic and telling them to have a good time, but I try my hardest to not go that route. I want my boys to get outside and be active and healthy.

The National Wildlife Federation's Be Out There Initiative wants to help us all get our kids off the couches this summer and out into the great outdoors? Here are just a few reasons why:

Children are spending half as much time outdoors as they did 20 years ago. (Juster et al 2004); (Burdette & Whitaker 2005); (Kuo & Sullivan 2001) Today, kids 8-18 years old devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes using entertainment media in a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). (Kaiser Family Foundation) In a typical week, only 6% of children ages 9-13 play outside on their own. (Children & Nature Network, 2008) Children who play outside are more physically active, more creative in their play, less aggressive and show better concentration. (Burdette and Whitaker, 2005; Ginsburg et al., 2007) Sixty minutes of daily unstructured free play is essential to children’s physical and mental health. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2008) The most direct route to caring for the environment as an adult is participating in “wild nature activities” before the age of 11. (Wells and Lekies, 2006)

The bottom line? It is healthy for your kids, for you and for our planet if we all spend some more time outside. As part of this initiative, the National Wildlife Federation is putting together an e-book that will help parents find solutions for getting outdoors with the kids during the summer. Some of the ideas in this book will be coming from mom bloggers, including myself. They have asked me to contribute to the Be Out There e-book and I am so excited to be a part of it!

The theme for my contribution is "Nighttime Activities" - how you can avoid the heat of summer days by getting outside with the kids when the sun goes down. So I want to know: what does your family like to do outside at night together? Share your favorite activities in a comment below, and you just might make it into the e-book with me!


This is a compensated campaign with The Motherhood and the National Wildlife Federation. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. If I use your idea in my e-book contribution, you will be credited accordingly.

Get Wild at Your Local Parks this July!

There is no question that the current generation of children do not spend enough time outside. This is something I struggle with myself. I think that what many of us fail to realize is that regardless if we live in a rural area like I do or in a major city, there are many local parks available in almost every community. July is National Park & Recreation Month and there is no better time to "Get Wild" and get outside with your family then now.

"The world of parks and recreation reaches more than 300 million people in this country. The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) is dedicated to advancing parks, recreation, and environmental conservation efforts that enhance the quality of life for all people."

Our favorite park to go to is a town park that is on the lake. It offers a nice beach area for swimming and playing and during the summer, you will find me there Monday through Thursday, every week, with my four boys. This is also the second year in a row that my boys are taking swimming lessons there and it has been great for them. Now in this heat, believe me there is nothing more that I would like to do then stay inside in the cool air conditioning. But I know that my kids (and myself) need to get out and enjoy nature.

 

Kids these days are spending way more time inside in front of electronics then they do outside playing. In fact, on average, kids are only spending 7 minutes outside. It is not hard to see the connection of this inactivity to the alarming child obesity rate. According to the National Recreations & Park Association, Children that have easy access to a playground (less than 2/3 of a mile from their home) are five times more likely to have a healthy weight. In addition to health benefits, parks help boost the economy and contribute to the value of surrounding residential properties, as well as helping make the local community a safer place to raise a family.

This July, the National Recreation & Park Association wants you to get outside to your local parks and Get Wild! I took the Get Wild Pledge, as you can see by my proudly displayed banner above, and you should too! Once you make the pledge, you can download the official toolkit, which includes various graphics and a customizable calendar, and check out the calander of local events to see what is happening in your area.

There is also a cool Get Wild Geocaching Contest they are running. Go on a geocaching treasure hunt with your family and snap some photos of you with the cache you find. Then upload the photo to the National Recreation & Park Association Facebook page for a chance to win one of 5 Magellan GC eXplorist GPS Devices!

Southford Fall State Park, Southbury, Connecticut
Where my husband and I had one of our first dates.

So go ahead and take the pledge and then go Get Wild at your local parks this summer!


I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of National Recreation and Park Association and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.