Connecting Children to Nature

Inside the Outdoors' programs are more than just bringing students to the outdoors. Sometimes, letting those students experience nature and learn valuable environmental science lessons means coming to them.

That's exactly the thought behind our Traveling Scientist program, which brings an experienced naturalist directly to campuses for small, in-classroom sessions.

This fall, Inside the Outdoors will be traveling to neighborhoods of Anaheim that have been plagued by gang violence, poverty and, in some cases, a feeling of hopelessness.

Juan, a fifth-grader on Anna Drive, lives just a few yards from where a suspected gang member ran from police and was fatally shot last summer. Juan's neighborhood is riddled with graffiti and trash that piles up along fences and in gutters. His parents, immigrants from Mexico who came to Anaheim for a better life, are afraid to let him play outside. So Juan stays indoors, rarely traveling even to a city park. He's never been to the mountains that he can clearly see in the distance outside his apartment window.

He's exactly the kind of student Inside the Outdoors plans to reach with a message of hope and empowerment. A Traveling Scientist from the program will come directly into schools near Juan's neighborhood to develop an increased awareness about environmental issues such as pollution, trash and graffiti.

More than 200 K-6th grade students will work with mentors to identify and analyze a community problem, then plan a community event such as trash cleanup and/or graffiti removal for some 500 community members. Several middle-school and high-school students will work with those younger students to help plan and serve as mentors in the community.

The goal: To educated students and make them aware that they have a strong collective voice and the power to make positive change in their own communities. In short, to give hope.

This is all possible only with the generous support of donors like you. For more information, please visit us at insidetheoutdoors.org.

Links:

• http://www.insidetheoutdoors.org

Summer is definitely heating up at Inside the Outdoors. And just because kids are out of school doesn’t mean the learning has stopped.

Our Summer Day Camp is getting kids outdoors to stay active – physically and mentally. Inside the Outdoors’ camps are designed for fun and education, to prevent the traditional “summer slide” in learning, keeping kids engaged through hands-on fun in nature’s classroom.

For some of the kids, it’s their first time away from Mom and Dad and a chance to meet new friends. At the same time, sessions focus on a variety of hands-on activities students can enjoy while building science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills.

Camp themes include:

• Survival of the Kiddest: Students become survival experts, building shelters, constructing a compass, going fishing and learning trail safety and crucial skills to stay safe.
• “AMAZE”ing Scientists!: Junior Scientists explore archeology, marine biology, zoology and more while they meet live animals, do experiments and crafts.
• Eco-Avengers: Ready, set, save the planet! Campers become planet protectors, designing solar-powered boats, discovering worm power and learning how to help endangered animals.

Because more than 60 percent of students who attend an Inside the Outdoors program come from disadvantaged neighborhoods, generous donations help send more kids to our programs – all year long.

Thank you for checking out more about what we do at insidetheoutdoors.org.

Links:

• http://www.insidetheoutdoors.org