Take It Outside: Tips for Youth and Families

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Take It Outside



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Tips for Youth and Families

We invite you and your family to "Take It Outside," have fun, explore, and celebrate the great outdoors!
Recent trends reflect a decrease in outdoor activity in our Nation's youth in favor of indoor, sedentary activities. The lack of outdoor activity is creating negative impacts on cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development.
When young people become disconnected from natural environments, they lose a basic understanding of the impacts humans have on the environment; the air we breathe, the water we drink, the species we share the world with, the natural resources we use and need.

The Facts:

Unstructured outdoor activity is down by half from the previous generation.
Children in the USA average just 30 minutes a week of unregulated time outdoors; however, their weekly electronic media exposure is almost 45 hours a week.
Visits to National Parks have been decreasing since 1987.
The amount of outdoor, environmental education programs offered in our local schools has been decreasing in the last 10 years.
The average American child can recognize 1,000 corporate logos but can't identify 10 plants or animals native to his or her own region.
71% of adults walked or biked to school when they were children and only 22% of kids do today.
Approximately 16% of US children aged 6-19 are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has doubled over the past 30 years for preschoolers and adolescents and more than tripled for children aged 6-11.

BLM Youth Initiatives

Looking to the future, BLM’s youth initiatives feature a variety of programs that engage, educate, and inspire. Focusing on youth from early childhood through young adulthood, BLM youth programs build on the spark of childhood wonder about the natural world, sustain interest through hands-on education and volunteer experiences during the school-age years, and develop into long-term engagement and stewardship, as well as pursuit of natural resource careers. More >>

Easy Ways to Take It Outside

Take a hike
Explore a park and have a picnic
Go for a bike ride
Volunteer outside
Climb a tree
Play in your backyard
Sit beside a creek
Take your family camping
Attend a nature walk
Visit a lake and go for a swim
Look at the stars
Go snowshoeing or cross-country skiing
Identify a flower or an insect
Investigate signs of wildlife

Links

BLM Recreation and Visitor Services
National Landscape Conservation System
Take It Outside Resources
Take It Outside Idaho
Take It Outside Imperial Sand Dunes
BLM Oregon Environmental Education
BLM Arizona Education Programs
BLM Colorado Environmental Education
BLM Eastern States Environmental Education
BLM Eastern States Meadowood Special Recreation Management Area

Take It Outside! Explore Your Public Lands