National Get Outdoors Day

It is National Get Outdoors Day! I hope you will celebrate by getting outside with the kids in your life today. Reading and playing outside don't seem to go hand in hand, but an outdoor story sharing with some of these great titles might be just the ticket!

• Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe by Vera B. Williams
• When We Go Camping by Margriet Ruurs
• S is for S'mores by Helen Foster James
• Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping by Peggy Parrish
• Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots? by Carmela LaVigna Coyle
• I'm as Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood
• We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury and Michael Rosen
• It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw
• In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming
• Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Elhert
• Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert
• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

Here are some great resources for grown-ups who would like some inspiration to get outside.

• 15 Minutes Outside by Rebecca P. Cohen
• The Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
• More Kids in the Woods - US Forest Service

If it's a crummy weather day in your neck of the woods, and getting outdoors just isn't going to happen, why not bring the outdoors in? Here are some fun outdoor activities to bring inside.

• Plant herbs, flowers and/or beans in pots. If you have the time, it is also fun to paint and decorate the pots before planting.
• Have a scavenger hunt. Hide clues all around the house for the kiddos to find leading to a prize like fresh baked cookies or homemade popsicles.
• Go camping. Set up your family tent indoors or build one of your own out of sheets and furniture. You can put a "yule log" video on to have a fire, or just use an electric lantern. Make smores in the fireplace or microwave. Tell scary stories. Project constellations on the ceiling with a flashlight covered by construction paper with constellation patterns punched in it.