Coastal Camp

Marin Mommies is pleased to present another great guest article, this time by Ally Kushin, Camp Director for Coastal Camp at Headlands Institute. She discusses the increasing problem of nature deficit disorder and highlights local opportunities to connect children to the natural world. Ally has worked in the field of environmental education for the past 9 years as a naturalist, park ranger, and camp director.  Read the entire article at marinmommies.com

If you have a child between the ages of 3 and 11, now is the time to book your 2010 summer camps. An outdoors summer camp would be an even better choice. With busy controlled scheduled lives, few families really enjoy the nature that's available to them and the outdoors take a back seat, becoming a distant vacation dream. This is why outdoors camps are so important for our children. They offer them the possibility to enjoy a rare pleasure: running wild outside.  Read the full story at www.examiner.com

Here is the lowdown on the "local and seasonal" version of outdoors camps: camps with a solid dose of environmental education and Bay Area nature. These camps all have one thing in common. Since they are based on exploration of our immediate environment, they will take your child outside a lot. The idea is precisely to discover nature's little secrets in a fun way.

"We seek to inspire and cultivate a meaningful connection to the natural world in the lives of our campers through outdoors explorations, hands-on learning opportunities, creativity and play," says Christina Loehnig of the Headlands Institute. Bring on the next green generation!  Read the full article at www.examiner.com.