Tips and Information for Visiting a National Park During COVID-19

CREATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OUR FRIENDS AT Fifty/Fifty. Summer is here and with it comes more sunlight! These longer days mean many of us have more time to explore nature and spend time together as a family outside. Whether you are hiking, biking, walking through your neighborhood, swimming, enjoying summer sports, or meandering tourist attractions, you know it will be hot. And with the hot weather comes the need to drink lots of water.  Unfortunately, the need to stay hydrated and the desire to run, play, and explore often do not go hand in hand with our kids. With this in mind, we have a few tips to help keep your family hydrated all summer (really all year) long! 5 Easy Ways to Keep Your Kids Hydrated in the Summer Get everyone their own water bottle. This is such an easy way to not only encourage your children to drink more water (who doesn’t love a fun water bottle?), but it also helps you monitor how much water they are drinking each day. Fifty/Fifty has a ton of really beautiful water bottles available that are not only perfect for keeping you and your family hydrated all year long but are priced well too! Pro-Tip: When adventuring with younger children, leave your child’s water bottles in the car and just carry extra water with you to share. This way, when you are done they have an easy source of water to drink on the drive home.  Make fruit-infused water. Adding a little fruit to water is sure to encourage everyone to drink more water simply because it tastes good and it's different. Berries, cucumber, mint, and citrus all taste amazing when added to water. Serve lots of high-water-content foods. Foods like watermelon, berries, citrus, and cucumbers have a lot of water in them and will help keep you and your children hydrated. Pack these foods when you go adventuring and use Fifty/Fifty’s insulated containers to keep those water-filled foods from leaking. Add a straw. This is such an easy way to encourage kids (and some adults) to drink more water. Not only do people generally drink more sips of a beverage when it comes from a straw, but straws also allow us to take larger sips than we would without them. Model drinking water all day. We know children watch our every move and want to do what we do, so use this to your advantage. Drink water from your new water bottle all day long or refill your water glass more often and drink it in front of your kids. Make sure to take water breaks when hiking or exploring and ensure your children not only drink water but see you doing it too. Model the behavior you want to see and you may see it more from your kids.  Photos by Jenn Canjar and Kim Ives What are some ways you help keep your kids hydrated? ABOUT OUTGROWN OutGrown is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works to create a world where everyone can enjoy the physical and mental benefits of spending time outside. We are focused on creating opportunities and removing barriers to access so families with babies and young children can take their first steps outside. We believe all families have the right to connect with nature, benefit from spending time outdoors and be inspired to a lifelong love of nature. Since its grassroots inception in 2013, OutGrown is a growing community of 280,000 families and over 300 volunteer Branch Ambassadors. More information on all of our programs can be found at WeAreOutGrown.org  EDITOR’S NOTE: We hope you enjoyed reading this article from OutGrown. We’re working hard to provide our community with content and resources that inform, inspire, and entertain you. But content is not free. It’s built on the hard work and dedication of writers, editors, and volunteers. We make an investment in developing premium content to make it easier for families with young children to connect with nature and each other. We do not ask this lightly, but if you can, please make a contribution and help us extend our reach.

While wandering through nature, we take in our surroundings using our senses. We smell flowers, touch tree bark, listen to bird calls, see details (like an ant trail on a tree), and even taste some of the natural objects we come across (think berries or edible flowers). And, while investigating nature in this way comes naturally to most children, sometimes we forget to allow children the time and space they need to do it. We are sharing five different ways to explore each of the five senses with your children! So get outside as a family, slow down, and explore nature with your senses together! Exploring Nature Through Hearing Listening to nature can quite literally ease the stresses of daily life. And there are so many sounds in nature; the chirping of birds, the rustling of wind on a blustery day, the scream of cicadas, the rushing of water, and so many more. Any walk outside (yes, even in the city if you stop to listen) will provide you with some distinct nature sounds. So take your children outside and explore nature through hearing together. Photo Credit: Ashley Schneider Five ways to slow down and experience sounds in nature together: Find five sounds. Find a comfy spot, or at least a spot free of sharp rocks and pokey plants, and lie down. Close your eyes and put a fist in the air. Now listen carefully to the nature around you and put a finger up each time you hear a new nature sound. Once all five figures are raised, sit up, wait for everyone else to finish, and then share what you heard.   Listen to bird calls. As you sit for a picnic or hike a favorite trail, listen to the birds around you. If you want, spend time trying to match the bird calls to the bird, or try to count the number of different birds you hear. There is no wrong way to listen to the sounds of birds, even if it is just listening to them and nothing more.   Hear your footsteps. As you walk through nature, listen to the sounds of your footsteps. Do you hear the crackle of dried fall leaves, the snapping of twigs, the splashing of water, or the crunch of snow? There is a different sound for every season or ground cover—and the sounds even change depending on your footwear.   Listen like an animal. Find a quiet place in nature, somewhere you won’t be disturbed. This activity is better for older children but could be fun for younger ones too. Basically, you listen to the sounds of nature but do so as if you were an animal. Pick an animal, either a predator animal (fox, wolf, bear, etc.) or a prey animal (rabbit, squirrel, deer, etc.), and listen to nature from their perspective. Do you hear humans talking, a squirrel chattering in a tree, a coyote howling, or a dog barking? What does that mean for your animal? Are you listening to keep safe or using your ears to help you hunt for your next meal?   What’s that sound? For this activity gather some easily found nature items, like sticks, dried leaves, rocks, sand, water, acorns, pinecones, etc., and place them in a box or somewhere your children cannot see them. Have your children close their eyes (or use a blindfold) and then use the items to make noise and have your children guess what nature item you are using. For example, hit two rocks together, crinkle fall leaves, shake a few acorns in your hands, or rub two pinecones together. Want to learn more about exploring nature with your senses? Check out our other posts on using your sense of smell, taste, touch, and sight!      ABOUT OUTGROWN OutGrown is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works to create a world where everyone can enjoy the physical and mental benefits of spending time outside. We are focused on creating opportunities and removing barriers to access so families with babies and young children can take their first steps outside. We believe all families have the right to connect with nature, benefit from spending time outdoors and be inspired to a lifelong love of nature. Since its grassroots inception in 2013, OutGrown is a growing community of 280,000 families and over 300 volunteer Branch Ambassadors. More information on all of our programs can be found at WeAreOutGrown.org    EDITORS NOTE: We hope you enjoyed reading this article from OutGrown. We’re working hard to provide our community with content and resources that inform, inspire, and entertain you. But content is not free. It’s built on the hard work and dedication of writers, editors, and volunteers. We make an investment in developing premium content to make it easier for families with young children to connect with nature and each other. We do not ask this lightly, but if you can, please make a contribution and help us extend our reach.