60 Ways (and one to grow on) to Get Kids and Adults Hooked On the Outdoors!

January 27, 2010 By Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed

In honor of the 60th Birthday of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed, here are 60 ways (and one to grow on) to get kids and adults hooked on the outdoors.

1. Walk in the rain and jump in puddles
2. Make mud pies
3. Jump in a pile of leaves
4. Look for shapes in clouds
5. Open your windows and breathe the fresh air
6. Go barefoot in the park… or your yard
7. Watch fireflies (Register your family for our Firefly Parade in the summer)
8. Get down on your belly and explore a mini-landscape
9. Crack open nuts to see what is inside
10. Go fishing
11. Have a picnic
12. Eat weeds (Register for the Wild Edible Walk on April 17)
13. Play old-fashioned games like tag, Red Rover and Hide and Seek
14. Go swimming
15. Fly a kite
16. Wake up early and watch the sun rise
17. Go camping
18. Put on a show in your backyard and invite the neighbors
19. Nap in a hammock
20. Make a paper boat and sail it down the Stony Brook
21. Go on a scavenger hunt and pick up litter
22. Take a sensory walk
23. Plant a garden – vegetable, flower or butterfly!
24. Go orienteering, letterboxing or geocaching (Check out our Winter Exploration Geocache event on Feb. 6)
25. Cook outside over a fire
26. Ride your bike
27. Try archery
28. Play in the dirt (Summer Camp begins July 5 – make sure you sign up!)
29. Write on the sidewalk with chalk
30. Make a whistle from a blade of grass
31. Wade in a running stream
32. Build a fort or treehouse in your backyard
33. Go birdwatching (Boy Scouts – register for our Bird Study merit badge workshop on March 27)
34. Take a night hike (Register for Explore the Night lecture and hike in May)
35. Stargaze
36. Attend an outdoor festival (Butterfly Day 2010 is August 14)
37. Start a collection of things you find outside
38. Use people-power to get to school, store or work - WALK
39. Climb a tree
40. Skip stones
41. Chase and catch butterflies (Kate Gorrie Butterfly House opens on June 12)
42. Make a bird feeder or birdhouse (Register your family for Build a Birdhouse on March 27)
43. Run through a sprinkler
44. Watch ants
45. Paint or draw outside
46. Hug a tree (and register for our Maple Sugar Brunch/Hike on Feb. 27)
47. Learn how to tie different knots
48. Look for spider webs
49. Play catch
50. Walk your dog
51. Look for geometric shapes in nature
52. Count the different kinds of trees in your yard
53. Listen to sounds and find out what makes them (Register for the Frog Slog on April 23 and learn the sounds of amphibians)
54. Go canoeing or kayaking
55. Look under rocks
56. Dig in the dirt for worms
57. Keep a naturalist journal
58. Build a snowman
59. Watch water ripples in ponds
60. Roll down a hill
61. Sing like a bird

60 Ways (and one to grow on) to Get Kids and Adults Hooked On the Outdoors!
January 27, 2010 By Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed