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Go Outside!: Over 130 Activities for Outdoor Adventures
What ever happened to free time? Today's kids are plugged in, turned on, and pitched to—with no time or space to feed the birds, collect star dust, or watch the tide come in. Here's a simple way to give kids those out-of-door experiences that shape childhood, create memories, and forge lifelong bonds with nature and family.Chock full of 120 activities to play and projects to make, GO OUTSIDE! provides year-round fun for urban, suburban, and rural kids alike. Step-by-step directions and detailed black and white photos will inspire young adventurers to create luxurious leaf crowns and crazy compasses or to spend afternoons filled with silly snow paint and riotous pool relays. Let GO OUTSIDE! open the door to a world of free, unstructured playtime! Sidebars give insight into natural science topics linked to the activities Fun projects and activities targeted for all four seasonsReviews“GO OUTSIDE! offers many hours of fun for kids and will be a welcome resource for scout leaders, parents, teachers and adults . . .” —Chicago Parent
- GenresNonfictionOutdoors
144 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2002
30 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Blakey
9 books13 followersNancy is a parent educator and the author of five books in the Mudpies Activity Book series that promote creativity in kids. She lives on an island in Puget Sound with her husband.
Nancy had her first baby in 1980. Jenna’s birth dazzled her and opened up a whole new world. Nancy and her husband went on to have 3 more children in quick succession. It was chaos. It was rich.
While raising their spirited tribe Nancy wrote a column called Mudpies for dozens of regional parenting magazines across the country, including Seattle’s Child and Byron Bay Parent in Australia. The column was based on hands-on science, art, and craft projects that developed creativity in kids. The activities were simple and self-directed.
Her four children were the shrewd project managers who guided her directly into the premise that the more a parent interfered (“HURRY! I am on a writing deadline!”) the less imagination and creativity emerged. Benign neglect spilled over into parenting, and proved to be a good thing. It got columns finished and Mudpies books written, the children grew up independent and resourceful. Advocating the benefits of benign neglect–from creativity to fostering resiliency–moved her into parent education.
Though her children are grown and raised, Nancy continues to share her enthusiasm for empowering parents through her speeches. Best of all, she is now the grandmother of Finn and Poppie where she indulges her passion for mixing kids, creativity, and the outdoors into the rich soup of memory all over again.
Nancy is an avid public speaker and popular lecturer.
~Selected quotes from author bio on her website: http://www.mudpiemamas.com/nancy-blakey/
Nancy had her first baby in 1980. Jenna’s birth dazzled her and opened up a whole new world. Nancy and her husband went on to have 3 more children in quick succession. It was chaos. It was rich.
While raising their spirited tribe Nancy wrote a column called Mudpies for dozens of regional parenting magazines across the country, including Seattle’s Child and Byron Bay Parent in Australia. The column was based on hands-on science, art, and craft projects that developed creativity in kids. The activities were simple and self-directed.
Her four children were the shrewd project managers who guided her directly into the premise that the more a parent interfered (“HURRY! I am on a writing deadline!”) the less imagination and creativity emerged. Benign neglect spilled over into parenting, and proved to be a good thing. It got columns finished and Mudpies books written, the children grew up independent and resourceful. Advocating the benefits of benign neglect–from creativity to fostering resiliency–moved her into parent education.
Though her children are grown and raised, Nancy continues to share her enthusiasm for empowering parents through her speeches. Best of all, she is now the grandmother of Finn and Poppie where she indulges her passion for mixing kids, creativity, and the outdoors into the rich soup of memory all over again.
Nancy is an avid public speaker and popular lecturer.
~Selected quotes from author bio on her website: http://www.mudpiemamas.com/nancy-blakey/
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 30, 2008
Go Outside! presents outdoor activities and creative projects, organized by the seasons, providing year-round fun for urban, suburban and rural children alike. The book is written to motivate kids, but also to inspire their parents to get involved.
This wonderful book, Go Outside!, has loads of great play ideas. Open to any page and you will soon be smiling with inspiration. There are things to do at home, the beach, the pool, and every season of the year. The photographs are full of smiling school-aged children. Most can be done with everyday items and comes with a "What You'll Need" list so you will be sure to have all your materials gathered and any adult assistance necessary.
Interest Level:
3th grade+
Age:
9yrs+
Genre:
Non-Fiction
Subject:
Nature Activities
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-Creative outdoor activities for urban and country dwellers are grouped by season. Each spread describes one project, listing all of the supplies and/or equipment needed and offering safety considerations and step-by-step instructions. Some spreads include "Explore More!" sections with additional ideas. Activities range from cooking to games to crafts and sports; adult assistance is recommended for a few of them. Numerous, large black-and-white photographs show youngsters participating in the fun and visuals of the projects. Adults and children looking for some different outdoor activities will find this book helpful.
Janice C. Hayes, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 3-7. Few activity books for children present ideas that look and sound as appealing as the ones described in these pages. Each of the four seasonal chapters explains more than a dozen suggested activities for fun outside, most requiring little in the way of materials or preparation. Some of the projects explore science, others bring in nature lore or outdoor cooking skills, while many more are simply fun. Among the latter are such promising ideas as playing sponge tag, extinguishing candle flames with squirt guns, and painting on snow with Kool-Aid-filled spray bottles. A typical double-page spread presents one or two activities, including supplies, clear directions, and perhaps some related ideas. Throughout this treasure trove black-and-white photos focus on procedures indicated in the directions and, more notably, on children happily engaged in the activities discussed. Some activities--for example, making a portable tin can stove--may require adult oversight. Carolyn Phelan Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
This wonderful book, Go Outside!, has loads of great play ideas. Open to any page and you will soon be smiling with inspiration. There are things to do at home, the beach, the pool, and every season of the year. The photographs are full of smiling school-aged children. Most can be done with everyday items and comes with a "What You'll Need" list so you will be sure to have all your materials gathered and any adult assistance necessary.
Interest Level:
3th grade+
Age:
9yrs+
Genre:
Non-Fiction
Subject:
Nature Activities
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-Creative outdoor activities for urban and country dwellers are grouped by season. Each spread describes one project, listing all of the supplies and/or equipment needed and offering safety considerations and step-by-step instructions. Some spreads include "Explore More!" sections with additional ideas. Activities range from cooking to games to crafts and sports; adult assistance is recommended for a few of them. Numerous, large black-and-white photographs show youngsters participating in the fun and visuals of the projects. Adults and children looking for some different outdoor activities will find this book helpful.
Janice C. Hayes, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 3-7. Few activity books for children present ideas that look and sound as appealing as the ones described in these pages. Each of the four seasonal chapters explains more than a dozen suggested activities for fun outside, most requiring little in the way of materials or preparation. Some of the projects explore science, others bring in nature lore or outdoor cooking skills, while many more are simply fun. Among the latter are such promising ideas as playing sponge tag, extinguishing candle flames with squirt guns, and painting on snow with Kool-Aid-filled spray bottles. A typical double-page spread presents one or two activities, including supplies, clear directions, and perhaps some related ideas. Throughout this treasure trove black-and-white photos focus on procedures indicated in the directions and, more notably, on children happily engaged in the activities discussed. Some activities--for example, making a portable tin can stove--may require adult oversight. Carolyn Phelan Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
April 9, 2014
Definitely not the best I have read on the subject, but I did get a few fun ideas.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews