WDNR – Get Outdoors and Play! Wisconsin State Parks will offer a number of activities at locations around the state as they launch their Family Play Days program in 2011. The play days offerings are part of the ongoing “Get Outdoors! Wisconsin" promotion designed to provide a wide range of state park-based outdoor activities for families and individuals, all intended to encourage healthy outdoor activity.
In all, 17 state parks will offer nature-based recreational programs on either June 5, which is also Free Admission Day for all state parks, or throughout the summer on scheduled weekends. Family Fun Day events are listed under the Parks, Forest, Trail and Nature Center Events calendar on the DNR website.
Programs include nature art, eco-scavenger hunts, fishing, animal tracks, nature building, wildcard games (wildcards are business-card sized information keys to Wisconsin flora and fauna) and geocaching. Participating parks will have materials available and events will be led by park staff or volunteers.
More Green Time, Less Screen Time
The Wisconsin State Park System has a new initiative aimed at getting children and families to spend more time outdoors with nature. It's fun, and it's good for you!
"Get Outdoors! Wisconsin" addresses a growing problem, what author Richard Louv terms “nature deficit disorder:”
- Kids today spend an average of 6.5 hours per day with television, computers and video games.
- In fact, a child is six times more likely to play a video game than to ride a bike.
- Childhood obesity rates for children ages 6-11 have risen four-fold since 1971.
- The number of kids on prescription medication to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has increased 100-fold in less than 50 years.
- Prescriptions for antidepressants for children have doubled in five years.
Nature Is Good for Kids
- Children who interact regularly with nature have better cognitive and creative skills and a better ability to deal with stress.
- Regular experiences in nature may alleviate ADHD symptoms and reduce the need need for medication.
- Kids who spend time outdoors tend to show improved test scores.
- Kids who grow up connected to nature are good for the environment. They develop positive behaviors toward the environment and tend to become life-long supporters of the environment and the conservation of nature.