By Outdoor Afro contributor Kevin Gordon
Now that the grass is greening, the birds are returning, and the smells of spring are in the air, it gets more and more exciting to prepare for camp. It’s really magic contemplating what will happen this summer. What child will experience the first-time joy of doing something she didn’t think she otherwise could do…from the “I can’t” to the “I did!”. And carrying that over to her life—whether it’s 5 days, 5 months, or 5 years forward, when another “impossible” task arises, and she has …

From sea to shining sea, on every plain and foothill, leaders in every community will stand together and have FUN OUTSIDE as part of the Children and Nature movement’s month long youth-led initiative!
As you know, my own family recently had a terrific time at a local Wild Zone. Now I am thrilled to help support such a wonderful opportunity for kids to enjoy the outdoors once again in my native Oakland, California:

Family Play Day in the Wild Zone
April 2, 1-4 pm
PAL Camp, Skyline Blvd, Oakland

Family Play Days are …

Our newest Outdoor Afro contributor, Justice Fergie, recalls fondly her years at camp, and what it means for her own children today.

My Girl Guide troop at sleepaway camp.
That’s me in the bottom left-hand corner.

Don’t laugh!
Ok, go ahead.

Remember sleep-away camp? Some of my best childhood memories are from spending summers making friends, singing campfire songs, and making friendship bracelets at sleep-away camp.  My Girl Guide troop (the Canadian version of Girl Scouts), was very active and one summer we had the opportunity to camp at a site owned by a Hungarian couple out in the …

A New Form of Social Space
Last weekend my family joined dozens of others for some fun in a Wild Zone, a place where adults, children and adolescents can co-create a new form of public space that is dedicated to creativity and play in nature. Wild Zones differ from parks and play areas because they offer opportunities to interact with the environment rather than leaving it untouched.
Here is what we walked into:

David Hawkins and Karen Payne, are the co-founders of this roving system of play, and are passionate advocates of …

Brother Yusuf’s Green Tech Charter High School students are working with private grants as part of an urban renewal project in the city of Albany. An innovative approach to urban renewal. Check them out!

Physical and emotional benefits are emphasized
How to like insects. Honeybees. Trout in the classroom. These were just some of the topics addressed Saturday morning at a conference designed to introduce youngsters to the natural world — and to the physical and emotional benefits that a strong connection with nature brings.
Parents and children gathered at the Baltimore Montessori Public Charter School, where they listened to lectures and attended workshops as part of the second annual Greater Baltimore Children and Nature Conference, which was sponsored by several local organizations.
“Through these …

What are the consequences of a childhood removed from nature?
One generation from now most people in the U.S. will have spent more time in the virtual world than in nature.
I had the good fortune of screening the eye opening PLAY AGAIN locally with my own kids, and meet the passionate filmmaker Meg Merrill. Her film makes a case, against a backdrop of contemporary teen life, about how more time in front of screens than in natural spaces bodes troubling outcomes individually and for our society. Here is more:
Kristin and Paige …

Green Tech High Student Climate Change Ambassadors (SCCA) attend
Adirondack Youth Summit on Climate Change.

Green Tech Climate Change Ambassadors (from left to right) Qua Shawn Van Tull, Brother Yusuf Burgess, Ms. Amanda Wilson, Jabbar Johnson, Aaron Cassidy and Lionel Mann.

Adirondack Youth Summit was held at The Wild Center (Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks) in Tupper Lake, 2010 on November 9&10. The two-day summit was a successful means for students, educators, administrators and staff to work together to …

The Nature Conservancy is doing some terrific work to help youth connect to the outdoors and foster the next generation of environmental leadership though its LEAF program — Leaders in Environmental Action for the Future, a comprehensive environmental leadership program for teenagers and their educators.
Brigitte Griswold, Outdoor Afro friend and Director of Youth Programs says, “The Program brings students from all different backgrounds to work together towards a shared set of conservation goals. For many of these urban youth, it’s their first time living outside of the city, their first …

Contributed by Blogger, Author, and Speaker Denene Millner of  My Brown Baby a weekly blog that provides thought-provoking, insightful, wickedly funny commentary on motherhood, for moms who love their brown babies, by moms who do the same. Through their posts, our MyBrownBaby bloggers lift the voices of African-American moms looking for the 411/advice/a high-five on everything from pregnancy and childrearing to sex, work, and relationships—all filtered through the lens of the African American experience.

So my baby Mari survived her first sleepaway camp. More specifically, I survived Mari’s first sleepaway camp. She …