From the San Jose Mercury News:
the Toledo Blade:"You can walk up stairs and count them or collect leaves," said Stipek. "There's no excuse for not spending a lot of time outside in California, and some kids are over-structured. But a lot of kids have too little structure, and they don't have anything to do after school."
Bird's Tender Tracks preschool is totally outdoors: Parents drop off their children at a Palo Alto park with lunch and a change of clothes. The kids then pile into Bird's rumbling white van for adventures. The parents who sign up tend to be outdoorsy types themselves.
"When I was a kid, we ran in a pack. There were about 16 of us, and we played games like hide-and-seek and found turtles and frogs in the creek," said Natalie Simison, who grew up in Palo Alto.
But we need to find a way to transfer that same youthful passion to the great outdoors. It's depressing to think that our national and state parks are increasingly becoming places for old people to go, while many of those same folks of a certain age are intimidated by the crush of young humanity at the shopping malls.and Blue Ridge Now, from North Carolina.
Such lessons are central to Muddy Sneakers, which takes local students out of the classroom and into the great outdoors. The program's goal: Helping children combat "nature deficit disorder."
