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Connect the fam challenge day 2

Connect the fam challenge day 2

As a child we sometimes don’t know how good we have it. Remember how we complained to mom or dad when we were sent outside because we wanted to watch TV or play video games and thought we were being sent outside as a punishment. Now, as an adult who doesn’t wish we could we could spend the day playing outside!

Today’s #ConnectTheFam challenges is all about getting outdoors and connecting with your family and with nature.

There is something therapeutic about being able to connect with the natural world around us. Spending time in nature has been proven to:

 

  • Increase creativity
  • Increase concentration
  • Improve our mood
  • Increase our self-esteem
  • Improve our health—just wear your sunscreen
  • Heals our body and soul
  • Decreases stress
  • Improves sleep
  • Increases energy
  • Improves memory
  • Makes us happier
  • Makes us feel connected to the world around us
  • Can help relieve depression
  • Makes us more optimistic
  • Improves productivity
  • Can increase our longevity

 

Not too shabby. Many of these benefits come from as little as 10 or 15 minutes outside so just think of the good that spending an hour outside will have.

Nature walk treasure hunt

Who doesn’t love a good treasure hunt? As a child, I loved it when my parents would load us all into the van and we’d head up the canyon to our favorite hike—Stewart Falls. We’d race up the trail to be the first ones to the fall because there were trilobite fossils to be found. Some days we were successful and we’d each come away with a multiple good fossils. Other days we were lucky if one of us found one. Our family still heads to Stewart Falls and I still spend a few minutes looking for trilobite fossils. Unfortunately I find myself coming up more and more empty handed these days. If it was a race up, we took it at a much slower pace on the way down. With our pockets full of fossils, my parents would point out plants and tracks and unique features. They didn’t always know the names of everything, but they taught us to slow down and appreciate the beauty that is to be found.

There’s something about having a list of things that to find that takes a normal activity—a walk—and turns it into something fun. That’s the purpose of our Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt. It’s to have your kids be just a little bit more aware of many of the small things we overlook—the first sign of spring, sunlight playing on the trees, and how rain creates a beauty all it’s own.

Print out our Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt and head to the mountains, marshes, or sea side trails. You’ll probably won’t check everything off on your list, but we can guarantee that you’ll have a great time trying. And if you don’t get everything that’s just an excuse to go out again and again until you do!

Download Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt

DIY water rockets

This activity still gets you and your outside, but in a little different way. Your children will have a blast making these homemade water rocket—teenage boys. These water rockets will remind your children to look up and to dream.

Watch the video for the instructions on how to make your homemade rocket.

Materials needed:

  • one 2-liter water bottle
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup white vinegar
  • a board with a screw (at least 2 inches)
  • cork
  • duct tape
  • paper towel
  • 2 tablespoons baking soda

Additional things to do with this activity:

Have each family member decorate their bottle. Give prizes: most creative, most artistic, most colorful.

Turn it into a competition. Give prizes for which rocket went the highest or stayed up the longest.

Take turns guessing how long before the rocket will go off.