A Little Fresh Air: Kids and Nature

The Columbus Dispatch interviewed our family last week at our favorite Metro Park!:

To three young girls, the woodlands and lawns of Inniswood Metro Gardens in Westerville are one giant playground.

The Orsborn sisters create adventures along every bend in the trails: hunting for frogs in a dried-up pond, tossing sticks into the trickling stream and rolling down a grassy hillside.

This fall, the girls' parents are inviting other families to join them on hikes and other outings they will organize each month through an outdoor explorer club.

Nature clubs are emerging nationally as a way for today's overscheduled families to reconnect children with nature, said Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. The best-selling book has inspired parents and educators to take action through local grass-roots campaigns.

"This is a cultural change," Louv said. "It's people doing it themselves. We don't have to wait for big organizations to do this."

On September 26th the Leave No Child Inside Central Ohio Collaborative is hosting a summit at the Ohio Governor's mansion.  For more information visit KidsandNature.org.