Help your kids experience the world outside your door in a brand-new way. Our 10 activities will have them exploring and having fun in no time!

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Brenda Chapman
5 years ago
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1 FUELED BY BAC K YA R D A DV E NT UR E F IE LD G UIDE Help your kids experience the world outside your door in a brand-new way. Our 10 activities will have them exploring and having fun in no time! What's Inside 1. Stick-Stack-Go 2. Sense-ational Stroll 3. O utdoor Adventure Checklist 4. Geo Catch 5. Quaker Quest 6. Flower Power Petal Pals 7. D ot-to-dot Nature Rubbings 8. Paper Boat Race 9. Backyard Bingo 10. Color Cards

2 Stick-Stack-Go Ditch the indoor Tic-Tac-Toe game and get outside to play this stick-stacking race that gets the whole family moving. What You Need: 2+ players 20+ sticks collected from your backyard or a nearby park. How You Play: 1. Divide into 2 teams (the Xs and the Os) and give each team the same number of sticks. 2. Set up a straight raceway with team members on one end and the stack of sticks on the other end. Each team should have a clear path to their stack of sticks. 3. Start the race by designating one person to yell Stick! Stack! Go!" 4. Players on each team take turns running to the stick stack, relay-style, collecting a stick, and bringing it back to the start line, making a new stack of sticks. 5. The team that returns all of their sticks to the start line first wins the round and gets to enter their team letter on the Stick-Stack-Go board. 6. Race again, repeating steps 3-5 until one of the teams has 3 in a row on the game board. Don t let your dog run off with the game pieces!

3 Sense-ational Stroll Take a walk around the block, in the woods, through the park, or across an open meadow with your child. Use your five senses to point out and record the interesting sights, sounds, smells, and textures along the way. Then stop for a rest and a Chewy taste sensation. I smelled I saw I heard I felt I tasted

4 Outdoor Adventure Checklist Don t forget these essentials when heading out for a day of active fun. Backpack Hat Sunscreen Water Bottle Chewy Snacks Bug Spray Protective Gear (helmets, sunglasses, etc.) Notepad or Journal Pencil or Pen Camera First-Aid Kit Favorite Adventure Pal Your Imagination ( Add Your Own Essential Items) Adventure Bucket List Top 10 things to see or do this season! Visit a waterfall Climb to the highest spot in your town or state Fly a kite Play in the sprinkler Splash in a puddle Roll down a big hill Have a jump-rope contest Identify 10 different birds in your backyard or nearby park Learn a new sport, like riding a unicycle, skateboarding, disc golf, or standup paddle boarding Climb a tree

5 Geo Catch Go on a hunt for geometric shapes in nature. Find a circle or sphere (an apple or rock, perhaps) and play catch with it. Count how many times can you throw the ball back and forth before dropping it. Then search for more shapes in the natural world around you. Draw or write your findings inside each shape! Circle/sphere Oval (Look at ponds, puddles, and knots on trees) Heart (Flower petals and leaves are great places to look.) Triangle (This one is triple tricky. Look for 3 trees positioned in a triangle and run the triangle track between them.) Rectangle (Look for shapes in the clouds and on the ground.) Square (Stones and animal markings can sometimes be square-ish!) Hexagon (Hint: This shape makes a sweet home for the nectar of buzzing insects.) Star (Do you think stars in the sky are really shaped like this?)

6 Quaker Quest Use this backyard map template to lead your snack search party on a hunt for Chewy treasures. 1. Customize your map by adding a few details from your own backyard (e.g. a few trees or bushes, the edge of your house or driveway, the swing set, etc.). 2. Next, hide individually wrapped Quaker treats around the yard, making sure you place an X on the map to mark each hiding place. 3. Have a race to see who can find the most snacks the fastest. Show players the map if they are having trouble locating them all. 4. Finally, encourage everyone to share their bounty with the group for a tasty reward.

7 Flower Power Petal Pals Help the park pals on the following pages get ready for their outdoor adventures by dressing them in fresh or dried clippings from your own trek outdoors. Collect fresh picked flowers, petals, and leaves to decorate the Petal Pals outfits, gear, and surroundings. Be creative with colors and textures as you tape or glue the flower parts in place. Then take your well-dressed friends with you when you cycle, trek, skate or twirl around town. To create a vibrant, longer-lasting wardrobe for your Petal Pals, dry your flowers and leaves first. Here s how: 1. Find an old book that is ready to be recycled. Old telephone books work great. 2. Place your collected flowers, petals, stems, leaves, etc. between the sheets of paper in the book. If a flower bud is too thick, consider cutting it in half so that it lays flat easier. Flower parts should be placed between separate pages throughout the book so the moisture is distributed. Place a weighted object or a stack of books on top and leave it for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Thick fleshy flowers will take longer to dry than thin wispy ones. 3. When your flowers are dry, carefully remove and arrange them on your Petal Pals. Use small dots of glue to attach them. Once dry, your Petal Pals are ready to go along with you on your next outing!

8 Flower Power Petal Pals Twiggy Twirler needs colorful flowers on her swirly skirt ruffles.

9 Flower Power Petal Pals Outback Jack likes grass green striped shirts.

10 Flower Power Petal Pals Sandy Scooter wants her skateboard to look like a tropical beach scene.

11 Dot-to-Dot Nature Rubbings Connect the dots to reveal this quiet giant found in backyards, parks, and woods. Then take your picture outside to decorate it with nature rubbings. Hint: Use a pencil to rub on tree bark textures and try different colored crayons to create rubbings of leaves. Can you find other textures to use as rubbings for your picture?

12 Paper Boat Race When warm breezes blow, navigate to the nearest pond, pool, or rain puddle for a spirited paper boat race. Invite all your first mates to your regatta and serve a Chewy snack as the boats reach the finish line. 1. Start with a rectangular piece of paper, colored side up. Fold vertically, then open. 2. Fold in half horizontally. 3. Bring corners in to center line. 4. Fold ubottom edge upwards & do the same to the back. Crease well. 5. Pull the sides out and flatten. 6. Fold bottom corner up to top, then do the same at the back. 7. Pull the sides apart and flatten. 8. Gently pull the top parts of the model outwards, making a boat shape. 9. Flatten well to crease all folds. Then open out slightly, forming a boat shape. 1. Have each boat captain fold his or her own paper boat. Inventive designs welcome! 2. Add a passenger to each boat (an acorn, stone, or other found object) to serve as an identifying marker. Sailors may also want to decorate or give their boats names. 3. Carefully place the vessels in the water and watch them bob and float across the open sea. 4. Experiment with different ideas that affect how the boats move. Are boats with heavier passengers more or less stable? Can you add wind or water currents to push your boat along? What are some ideas for waterproofing your paper craft?

13 Backyard Bingo Search for backyard objects that start with each letter. The first person to find 5 in a row and yell BACKYARD BINGO wins. If you can t find enough items close to home, venture out to a nearby park, playground, beach, or even a city sidewalk. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X/Y Z

14 Color Cards Head outside to explore the rainbow of colors found in nature. List or draw the items you find that match each of the colors. If possible, tape bits of the matching items to the correct rectangles. Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Pink

15 Color Cards Head outside to explore the rainbow of colors found in nature. List or draw the items you find that match each of the colors. If possible, tape bits of the matching items to the correct rectangles. Purple Brown Beige Gray Black White

MOVING TO THRIVE: ACTIVITIES FOR AGES 10 TO 18 YEARS

MOVING TO THRIVE: ACTIVITIES FOR AGES 10 TO 18 YEARS WHO AM I One pack of post it notes, a timer, and a pen to write. Write down any famous characters or celebrities on a post it note. Stick the post it note on one person s forehead, making sure that everyone