Kids to Parks Day is May 20 How will you Celebrate?

The weather is getting warmer, the trees are starting to get some green back, and flowers are blooming all beautiful and wonderful signs of the spring season coming.  It seems like its been a long time since we have had sunshine and bright flowers in bloom.

Last year I talked about how important it is to get kids out to parks, both for them and ourselves, I think after a dull and drab winter that it is even more important.  Close to our house, we have a National Parks in all kinds of regions, from the ocean to the mountains and everything in between.  We are very lucky indeed to have most things within a day’s drive or even to go for a day trip, including our National Parks.

Did you know that there are 59 National Parks and 417 National Park units and that 305 million people visit the national parks every year? 

That is incredible to me.  Did you know that going to any park is important to kids, especially kids that live in a city environment? There are state parks, local parks, playground parks, and even sports complex parks. There are so many to choose from and yet it seems like all too often we just drive by them or even just around them without giving them a second thought.

Near our home,  we have a park called Crystal Cove and it is so incredible, the kids just love this place.  It is about an hour away, and all we really need is some good shoes and a picnic lunch to have a fabulous time of learning and playing.  We have all got Northside shoes to play in the sand and water and they are great. The sandals dry so quickly and don’t hold sand or water inside, but the traction is terrific on the sand and slippery rocks.

Crystal Cove State Park is one of Orange County’s largest remaining examples of open space and natural seashore. It features 3.2 miles of beach, 2,400 acres of backcountry wilderness and an offshore underwater area.

It has these amazing tidepools that are full of creatures to explore and look at.  One of the best things about taking our city-dwelling kids to Crystal Cove is just for a little while they get to feel like they are part of something bigger, they can see things in real life that they have only seen in magazines and on TV or movies.  The incredible feeling of seeing their faces when they see something they never saw before is indescribable.  They just love it and going there is fun for us all, it does not cost much we don’t need special equipment, we don’t even have to eat out!

Kids need nature, they need to see something other than cars and concrete, and even though there are a million things to love about city life, we don’t get to see much nature in action.  Kids get to explore, discover, learn, and experience new and different things at parks. I think one of my favorite parts of watching the kids at the cove is watching them interact with other kids their age and learn new facts from them as well.

National Kids to Parks Day  is May 20, you have time to make some epic plans to celebrate.  You can find more information about Kids to Park at their website.

Northside shoes is helping us celebrate this year. Northside is a lead sponsor of Kids to Parks Day and you can win a pair of shoes to go explore with.  Check out the giveaway here!