By Kari Svenneby
Remember that local park or ravine in your community. Little explorers are not born to skiing on Whistler or hiking the Rocky Mountains. Exploring starts in your neighborhood, in your backyard and in the many natural space you can find around you.
Organizing outdoor playgroups
Debra, Mari, Kristen and Cinza are all organizing outdoor playgroups in their communities in Toronto. Free and open to anyone who wants join. Why do they do it?
Debra organizes so she makes sure that she has one set day that she gets out of the house.
Mari is an active woman and loves to spend time outside. Her passion in life is skiing and wants to meet 
like minded parents and kids.
Designer Kristen has a quite connection to nature that she wishes to foster in her children. She is a walker and loves to discover bugs and create nature art.
Cinza is a new mom and a runner who looks forward to connecting with other moms for a high energy stroller tour around her neighborhood.
Grassroots without any rules
Outdoor playgroups get organized differently for individual reasons. Some have one activity when they meet while others are constantly changing. An outdoor playgroup is not meant to be a program or service to any particular parent, it is suppose to be a place where parents discover nature, play together and build connections between parents, their kids and nature.
It is not any different than a indoor playgroup, other than it is just outside. The beauty of an outdoor p
laygroup is that it is inherently grassroots. There are no rules how you are suppose to do it.
At Activekidsclub.com we like to believe we are living dangerously when we live our motto; no bad weather, only bad clothing. Basically we see ourselves as a part of nature and bad weather is... well it is natural.
Making sure that you get your outdoor time
Whether you love to be outside or maybe just want to live healthier and give your kids some much needed green time, being part of an outdoor playgroup is an excellent way to make sure that you get your daily nature time. It is more fun in groups. As an added bonus, it can create friendships among both the kids and the parents.
Wanna start an outdoor playgroup where you live?
Join Debra, Mari, Cinza and Kristen here at Activekidsclub.com and start your own outdoor playgroup. Collectively we know a thing or two about organizing a group and what to do outside so we have created some useful tools for you. We bet you have lots of other ideas that we would of never though of without your input. Together we can move mountains.
Join our community for tools, sharing ideas, creating groups and blogs
Tips about how to start an outdoor playgroup
Workshop : Get Outside!: an All-Weather Guide to Outdoor PlaygroupsOutdoor playgroups in the news
Relearning the lost art of child’s play in Globe and Mail
How-to: Start an outdoor playgroup by Bunch Family
How to start an Outdoor Playgroup by National Wildlife Federation
Last Child in the coach by Backpacker
Raising Playful Tots #17 Create Outdoor Playgroups
Group encourages kids to be outside by Toronto Star
