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.

Join Us for the National Wildlife Federation #RRtreehouse Twitter Party on June 5

I was compensated for this post and my participation in the Twitter party. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The National Wildlife Federation has some great tools to help get kids involved with animals and nature. In the past we have had subscriptions to both their Wild Animal Baby and Ranger Rick Jr. children's magazines and the boys really enjoyed the. Being the tech addict that I am, I got excited when I learned that there is a new Ranger Rick's Tree House app for iPad. The app features interactive games, animal photos and facts and is both fun and education for kids ages 7 - 12.

Twitter Party Time!
Join us for the #RRtreehouse Twitter party with the National Wildlife Federation to spread the word about this exciting new app. We'll talk about the Ranger Rick's Tree House app, along with other fun ideas and helpful tips for building excitement about nature among kids and families!

When: Wednesday, June 5th at 1:00mp EST

Where: Follow the #RRtreehouse hashtag on Twitter to track the conversation. You can see the details and RSVP via this Twtvite: http://twtvite.com/RRtreehouse

Hashtag: #RRtreehouse

TweetGrid for the party: http://bit.ly/14DnrRi

Prizes: Five prizes will be awarded throughout the party to participants who respond correctly to trivia questions. Each prize will include a basket of goodies from Ranger Rick for your little explorer:

• Ranger Rick Plush
• Ranger Rick Nature Notebook
• Ranger Rick Drawstring Backpack
• Ranger Rick yellow binoculars
• June/July issue of Ranger Rick print magazine

Be sure to follow all of the hosts and co-hosts on Twitter so you don;t miss any of the fun!

Hosts: @theMotherhood, @CooperMunroe, @EmilyMcKhann

Co-Hosts

Amber, Parent Palace - @ParentPalace

Angela, About a Mom - @aboutamom

Donna, Blog by Donna - @DonnaChaffins

Kasandria, Southern Bella's Ways To Save - @waystosave

Kate, The Guavalicious Life - @guavalicious

Kim, Two Kids and a Coupon - @2kidsandacoupon

Mariana, The Domestic Buzz - @ohMariana

Marianna, Marianna - @GreenMamasPad

Mickey, A Helicopter Mom - @ahelicoptermom

Shannon, The Mommy-Files - @themommyfiles