Getting your Family out of the house...and radically engaged with Nature!

 “An imperative call to action” to get children off their screens and into nature, with tips for bonding activities that teach the importance of outside time and build tough, curious, competent kids.

“A revelation for families struggling to get kids to GO OUTSIDE, or to just stop using the darn smartphone.”

In the era of screens and devices, North American children are now spending more time indoors, than outdoors...much less just unstructured time playing outside! Not only does this phenomenon have consequences for kids’ physical and mental health, it jeopardizes their ability to understand and engage with anything beyond the "built" environment.

OUTDOOR KIDS IN AN OUTSIDE WORLD has encouraging examples of how families can find beauty, meaning, and connection in a life that includes daily time spent outdoors.

 Author Steven Rinella shares the parenting wisdom he has garnered as a father whose family has lived amid the biggest cities, and wildest countryside. Throughout, he offers practical advice for getting kids radically engaged with nature in a muddy, thrilling, hands-on way, with the ultimate goal of helping them see their own place within the natural ecosystem.

No matter their location—rural, suburban, or urban—caregivers and kids will build tolerance for dirt and discomfort while camping,...and savour the timeless pleasure of swapping stories around a campfire... or, no less important, from climbing trees, and running around in your local park!
Learn the importance, and actually enjoy the feeling, of growing a vegetable garden to develop a capacity to nurture and an appreciation for hard work...even a few pots in the backyard!
For families able, or interested in, he also offers guidance and examples of hunting and fishing, and talks about the enjoyment found fishing local lakes and rivers, and the real connection found in hunting wild game. His approach here is just to normalize something that has become completely unfamiliar to most of us!

Playing outside, much less living an outdoor lifestyle, fosters in kids an insatiable curiosity about the world around them, confidence and self-sufficiency, and, most important, a lifelong sense of stewardship of the natural world. This book helps families connect with nature—and one another—as a joyful part of everyday life.

Some ideas from our Outside Fun! Collection. Sold Separately.

Softcover. 265 pages. Published in 2023.