Laura

When I was young, our parents would let us play outside until it was dark! They took us to the creek to play in with our cousins - one of my greatest memories. We would go to the zoo and swimming pool, and playgrounds. I have a lot of memories playing outside.

I always have some sort of interactive activity or craft that I carry out with youth. I provide them with a nature journal and Crayola products and tell them to draw their favorite animal or flower in nature, or tell them to draw something they might find in a stream. A popular activity is rock painting. You can tell children to draw something in nature, even a word, on the rock, have them take it home and place it in their yard or in the community to spread the word about the environment.

When I was younger, our parents would take us to the creek with our cousins and we would play for hours. I still have photographs of it and can remember those moments exactly! In our neighborhood, we would play outside from morning until night. We had a cornfield behind our house, where we would walk for hours. We built forts outside in the neighborhood from natural materials and played capture the flag with just ourselves and hand-made flags. Now that I am 41, I crossed an item off of my bucket list. We drove to the Everglades last summer. It was one of the coolest experiences I have had. Driving down the road and seeing nature and alligators, exploring their habitat, and riding on a boat where they live. I will be crossing another item off of my bucket list in a few weeks - we will be visiting the Grand Canyon. I can't wait! I take my children outdoors as much as possible. They enjoy it so much, and I am having fun re-living the memories I had as a child.