OutGrown Blog

You may have heard about the Leave No Trace movement, but what does it mean to “Leave No Trace”? Is that even possible when you have kids in tow? The answer is yes, sort of. The mission of Leave No Trace is to educate and inspire everyone to protect the outdoors by teaching people to enjoy the outdoors responsibly. It isn’t about leaving zero trace; it’s about reducing our environmental impacts whenever possible. That may seem daunting when attempting to wrangle a toddler on a trail, but we are here to help! We have listed each principle below, along with some tips and tricks for following them when you have little ones in tow. Photo by Jessica Human Principle 1: Plan Ahead and Prepare – Know Before You Go Getting lost on the trail or caught in a storm while hiking can be a stressful experience. Add a few little ones to the equation, and things can get downright harrowing. While these experiences aren’t always avoidable (like an unexpected rainstorm), planning ahead can help you avoid most of these stressful experiences. Here are some tips to involve your kiddos in this step: Have your kids check the weather forecast with you and help them decide what clothing they should wear. Look at a trail map with your kiddos (a paper map, an online map, or a phone app) and decide which route you want to take. If they are old enough, let them pick out their own snacks to bring along. Older kiddos can pack their own adventure pack to take along with things like a snack, water, and adventure tools (like a journal and a pocket microscope). Principle 2: Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces – Stay on the Trail Keeping kiddos on the trail can be challenging. They are natural explorers and want to investigate every little thing they discover. However, exploring off trail can lead to trampled vegetation, increased erosion, and damaged animal habitats. A durable surface includes established trails and campsites along with areas with rock, sand, gravel, snow, and dry grass. If you need to go off-trail (like for potty breaks that just can’t wait), seek out these durable surfaces whenever possible, and walk lightly, avoiding as much vegetation as possible. Here are some tips for keeping kiddos on the trail and decreasing your impact on the trail. Take a potty break when you get to the trail to reduce the number of off-trail excursions. Play silly games with kiddos with the primary goal of staying on the trail. For example, you can pretend that the vegetation on either side of the trail is lava, and they have to stay as close to the trail's center as possible to avoid the heat. You can also play the “ninja” (sometimes referred to as “secret spy”) game, in which kids have to step as lightly and quietly as possible and disturb as little as possible to avoid “detection.” Have a conversation with your kids about what happens when many people go off-trail. Point out signs of erosion and destroyed vegetation along the trail. Photo by Jessica Human Principle 3: Dispose of Waste Properly – Pack it in, Pack it Out Kids are messy creatures. Aside from their affinity for mud puddles, there are also spilled snacks and the occasional diaper explosion. It’s a good thing to remember that anything that wasn’t found in nature (like the mud) should be packed out. This includes spilled snacks. It may seem harmless, but those snacks usually end up in the stomachs of wildlife. This can lead to illness (I doubt any animals have fishy crackers as part of their natural diet) and increased dependency on humans. Once animals depend more on humans, they lose their fear of humans, which can be dangerous for them and us. Here are some tips for disposing of waste properly with kiddos in tow. Always have a bag on hand to collect your trash (and any other trash you may find) along the way. This could be as simple as a plastic grocery bag or a specific reusable trash bag. Whenever you stop for a snack or meal break, have everyone use their “owl eyes” to find any trash left behind before heading back out. Principle 4: Leave What You Find This is another tricky principle to follow with little ones. Especially if you have a rock collector like I do! While taking natural objects, picking flowers, carving on trees, etc. may seem harmless, it can damage the ecosystem, especially when a lot of people are doing it. Rocks, sticks, flowers, and even pine cones serve as shelter and food sources for various organisms. If the plant you pick is invasive to the area, you could inadvertently spread the species as you transport it. That being said, you don’t want to stifle the curiosity of a budding geologist or botanist. Here are some tips and alternatives for keeping your nature collector happy while leaving nature in nature (or at least most of it): Use “do” language to help little ones understand how to interact with nature. Use statements like “let’s be nice with the flowers” or “touch softly”. Encourage your kiddos to use their senses to experience the object IN nature. For example, let them take a few minutes to feel, see, and even smell the object. You can talk about it and then have them replace the object where they found it. Take along some paper and crayons to they can do some leaf or bark rubbings. Have them draw a picture or take a photo of the object. When all else fails, allow them to choose one or two favorite nature finds to take home and replace the rest where they found them. Photo by Jessica Human Principle 5: Minimize Campfire Impacts Improperly tended campfires are one of the leading unnatural causes of wildfires. If you are camping be sure you know the local regulations on fire and seek out established fire rings when possible. If you need to gather wood, use dead and downed wood that is no larger than the diameter of your wrist and can be broken easily by hand. When leaving, douse the fire with water until it’s cool to the touch. A better alternative would be to use a camp stove for heat and cooking, or a simple lantern for light. Here are a few tips for minimizing campfire impacts with kiddos: Keep flammable objects far away and out of reach from curious hands, and don’t allow kids to play with sticks near the fire. Have children help collect firewood. You can make it a game to see who can be the first to find 5 pieces of dry, downed firewood no larger than the diameter of their wrist. Photo by Deanna Curry Principle 6: Respect Wildlife Observing animals in the wild is fascinating for both adults and kids alike. Whether you see a deer dash across the trail ahead of you or a woodpecker busily searching for food, there’s just something awe-inspiring about watching wildlife. To keep having these encounters safely, we need to teach our little ones how to respect wildlife. That means keeping a safe distance, never feeding wild animals, and storing food and odorous objects securely while camping. Here are some tips for teaching our kiddos to respect the animals they encounter on their outdoor adventures and to keep the wildlife wild. To help young ones understand what it means to keep a “safe distance”, have them stand with an arm raised to shoulder height with their thumb pointing up. Then have them look at the animal with one eye closed and try to cover it with their thumb. If they are a safe distance away, their thumb should completely block sight of the animal. Remind your kids that insects are wildlife too, and we need to be careful not to harm them. We can admire an intricate spider web or a long line of ants without destroying what we find. Bring along some adventure items such as binoculars and a magnifying glass so that kiddos can observe wildlife safely. Contrary to popular belief, bird feeders can follow the Leave No Trace Principles IF they follow the Audubon Society Guidelines. These include avoiding seed mixtures and cleaning the bird feeders at least every season. If you want to attract a variety of bird species, it is best to have different bird feeders at different heights with different types of seed/food in each of them. Principle 7: Be Considerate of Other Visitors Respecting other people you meet on the trail helps ensure that all can enjoy nature. Modeling and encouraging behaviors such as staying to the right on the trail to let others pass or taking breaks on durable surfaces away from the trail goes a long way to preserving the experience for other visitors. Other good practices include avoiding talking on cell phones or making excessively loud noises while on the trail (when possible). Here are a few tips we use to encourage being kind to others on the trail: If your kids are like mine, they like to pretend to be wild animals when they are on the trail (particularly howling wolves). This can get extremely noisy, so I started challenging them to be quieter animals, such as a bunny or squirrel, or pretend that they are sneaking around like a cheetah. Practice “moving to the right” with your kids while on the trail or on a neighborhood walk. When you practice ahead of time, it can avoid confusion when you ask them to move to the right to let other people or cyclists pass on the trail. It is important to note that these principles are GUIDELINES, not strict rules. As parents, we know that it is extremely unlikely that we will be perfect at following these principles all the time, and that’s okay! The point is not to strive for perfection all the time. It’s to decrease our impact on the environment whenever and wherever possible and to teach our children to do the same. The tips above can help your family make fewer environmental impacts. You can also check out these other fun resources from Leave No Trace to help your kiddos understand the impact their actions can make on the environment: Fun Resources from our friends at : Learn the Leave No Trace Hand Motions to help kiddos remember the 7 principles. Check out the Leave No Trace and Bigfoot Activity Booklet for some fun, education activities for older kids. This Trash Timeline Game can be played with kids (and adults) of all ages. Here is a free Online Awareness Course for parents and caregivers who want to learn more about Leave No Trace. How do you practice the Leave No Trace Principles with your family? Let us know in the comments below! Created in partnership with About OutGrown OutGrown is a national nonprofit working to ensure that every family, especially those with babies and young children, can experience the benefits of time outside. Since our grassroots beginning in 2013, we have supported more than 300,000 families with the help of thousands of volunteers across the country. We believe nature belongs to all of us from the very beginning. That means creating opportunities, removing barriers, and supporting families in finding their way outdoors, whether that starts with a stroller walk, a community outing, or a quiet moment under the sky. You can learn more and explore our programs at WeAreOutGrown.org. Editor’s Note Thank you for reading. At OutGrown, we believe content should offer more than information. It should create a connection, support real-life caregiving, and reflect how families grow together through nature. Everything we share is made with care by our team and volunteer community. If this piece inspired you or helped you feel more confident in your outdoor journey, we invite you to support our work by donating today. Your contributions help us keep resources free and accessible to all families. Please remember that the experiences and tips shared in this article are for general information only. They are not a substitute for professional medical, mental health, or safety advice. Always consult with a qualified provider if you have specific concerns or questions. We are glad you are here. We are growing something meaningful together.

If you'd like to learn more about Leave No Trace, check out the other posts on this topic: Part 1: Plan ahead and Prepare and Part 2: Choosing the Right Path I lived a fairly simple childhood I was among a generation of children born from parents who were lucky enough to grow up in the 60's and 70's. Parents who can recall building their very own tree house in the old oak tree. Parents who spent summers playing baseball in the nearby sand lot by day and caught fireflies at night. And, lucky for me, my parents wanted to give me a childhood like they had. They wanted me to savor the simple things. Like a bike ride on a Saturday afternoon to the beach. Each spring on the first nice Saturday, my Dad and I got on our bikes and headed toward the Audubon. Making the 1.5 mile trek down Milford Point to the Coastal Center was something I loved sharing with my dad. Pedaling easily down a maze of tree-lined side streets, we made our way together, singing and laughing until the sky opened up and there was just blue. And salt air. We’d park our bikes in the gravel lot before heading toward the beach. Living in this Connecticut seaside community, we have grown used to the beaches. Which ones to visit with toddlers or which to play volleyball. Which one has a snack bar and which has the best sunset. Our town is lined with beaches from one end to the other, Gulf Beach and Silver Sands, Woodmont and Wildemere. Still, there was nothing quite like this beach. Our beach. Buffered by an expanse of sea grass dunes, stretching to the end of the point, the sandbar extends into a curved peninsula, offering a safe haven for shorebirds like piping plover and egrets to nest. I would spend hours combing this shoreline, marveling at all of the seashells glimmering like tiny beach tokens. Oysters and Conch shells, Sea Scallops and Mermaid’s Toenails. Harboring a treasured collection of shells, driftwood and seaglass, this particular beach is part of a nature preserve protected by the Audubon. And, as a protected nature sanctuary, there are boundaries. There are rules. Visitors are asked to leave the beach as they found it, taking nothing with them and leaving no trace. As a kid Leave No Trace was a hard ethic to follow I would plead with my Dad to let me take just a handful of these shells home with us. I begged to pocket just one piece of the cobalt blue seaglass I had carefully plucked from the mountain of oyster shells. But please Dad, just one little Periwinkle? For the longest time, I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t able to collect these tiny treasures. Surely there were enough? And wouldn’t the tide just wash more ashore in six hours? Only later in life was I able to really understand the phrase, “Take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints.” If you tend to spend a lot of time in the great outdoors, whether near the shoreline, in the mountains or in the desert, you’re likely to hear the phrase “Leave No Trace.” What does the three-word slogan really mean? Simply put, it’s the best practices we should follow to enjoy and protect our natural spaces. With well over 100 million visitors on more than 10 billion outings in the U.S. each year, our love for the outdoors can take a toll. Take the collecting seashells. It’s a staple of summer vacation: Head to the beach, pick up a few seashells, and take them home as keepsakes. What’s the problem with taking a few shells? Well, if you multiply this harmless little beach activity by trillions, we’ve got a serious global problem on our hands. With skyrocketing numbers of beachcombers pocketing seashells come increased environmental implications ranging from increased erosion to fewer building materials for bird nests. Seashells, believe it or not, play an important role in ecosystems. They are shelter for algae, building materials for birdnests, and armor for hermit crabs. Sure, we want our kids to explore the outdoors, play in the mud, climb trees and build forts, but there are too many heavily used and environmentally sensitive areas that need our protection. Teaching our children the Leave No Trace will help instill a lifelong respect for nature and develop environmental awareness and action in the next generation. Take your kids outside. Lead by example. And teach these lessons every chance you get. You’re changing the world, together, with your kids. Leave No Trace Tips for Kids Know Before You Go As a kid, you often don’t have a lot of choices. Finding opportunities to give your child a choice helps build buy-in and confidence. How does this apply to Leave No Trace? When planning your outdoor adventure, have your child research the weather forecast and plan the best clothing to wear, provide trail choices, and allow them to choose their lunch and snack food for the trip. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces: A good camp site is found, not made Always use established trails and campsites whenever available to avoid trail erosion. Walk in single-file in the middle of the trail, even when wet or muddy and avoid trails where impacts are just beginning. Encourage your children’s imaginations while directing their powers of awareness and conscious foot-stepping with the power of role-playing. Try a game of secret spies to teach children to leave no evidence of where they have been. Parents, you can play “detective” to follow your "ninjas" trails as they navigate the forest remaining unseen and unheard. Pack It In, Pack It Out Accept the challenge of packing out all trash, leftover food, and litter when visiting the outdoors. Play “I spy” with trash by creating a competition among kids (or between kids and parents) to see who can collect the most litter. This activity gets kids thinking about the accumulation of trash and its impact on parks and communities. Respect Wildlife Animal encounters are a natural fascination for kids. Help your children understand how to keep a safe distance from wildlife by asking them to stand with one arm raised straight out at shoulder height with their thumb up. Ask them to look at the animal with one eye closed and try to cover it with their thumbs. If they are far enough away, their thumbs will completely block sight of the animal. Quick movements and loud noises are stressful to animals. Teach your child to be a considerate camper. Be sure to store food securely and keep garbage and food scraps away from animals. Never feed wildlife. Keep wildlife wild. Be Careful with Fire True Leave No Trace fires are small. Use dead and downed wood that can be broken easily by hand. Turn gathering firewood into a fun activity by playing a firewood relay race where the objective is to gather the most dead and downed firewood of appropriate size. Any firewood larger than kids’ wrists cannot be used and be sure to explain that firewood should be no larger in diameter because it takes too long to burn into ash, hindering the decomposition process. Whenever possible, use an existing campfire ring in a well-placed campsite. And even better, consider using a lightweight camp stoves which are fast, eliminate the need for firewood, and make cleanup after meals easier. Leave What You Find This can be difficult for kids. When your kid discovers a cool rock or finds the perfect hiking stick, it can be really difficult for them to part with at the end of your hike. Try giving your child a camera to take photos of treasures they find on the trail. Create a nature journal, scrapbook or use a photo collage application to encourage creativity and save and share their outdoor adventures. This reinforces that they can keep the memory of their adventure while leaving the objects themselves in nature. Be Kind to Others Encourage kids to be respectful, courteous and polite when playing outdoors. Model and teach good manners, such as sharing the trail with others and taking breaks away from trails and other visitors and avoid bad behaviors, such as making loud sounds and noises and talking on cell phones. We can teach our children about the natural world. Kids can learn to tell time using a stick and the sunshine. We can take our kids for walks. We can teach them about the seasons. As parents, we can let them play with sticks and climb trees. Watch clouds and gaze at stars. We can teach them to Leave No Trace. Our world depends on it. Do you have any tips on implementing Leave No Trace with your kids? Share with us below! Photos courtesy of Ali Chandra and Melissa Hollingsworth