New Contest from CLIF Challenges Backyard Rippers

Remember the days when all the kids in the neighborhood would gather in someone’s yard for massive games of Man Hunt, Kick the Can, and SPUD? This was back before play dates and carpooling soccer moms, before parents decided it was insane to let their kids ride bikes home from school alone, when “game” meant something you played outside, not on a screen, and if you asked your mom for a ride to the mall, she said “walk.” It was true then, and it’s still true now: You don’t have to get all fancy about raising outdoor kids. Especially now that the days are warmer and longer, keeping kids active outside is as easy as shooing them out the backdoor to play. 

Giving kids unstructured fresh-air time isn’t just good for the body, it’s good for the brain, too. It’s simple and proven: Creativity flourishes outside. “New research suggests that children are more likely to invent their own games in green play spaces than they are on flat cement or playing fields,” says Richard Louv, bestselling author of Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle. “Kids are healthier, happier and more creative when they spend more time outdoors.” 

Crows vs. Eagles in a epic game of Eagle's Nest

Everything's better in the backyard

 —Katie Arnold
@raisingrippers