A series of beloved free evening events (6:30-8 p.m.), presentations, and workshops with cool outdoor swag and occasional free ice cream at the Bowl & Pitcher at Riverside State Park is back again for June 2022.

Save the date for your favorite programs and find more info at Facebook.com/Riversidestateparkfoundation. (Discover Pass required for vehicle parking at Riverside State Park.)

• Hoot Show – June 1: Join the West Valley Outdoor Learning Center and experience the incredible world of raptors.
• Riverside History – June 8: Riverside State Park Ranger, Paul Neddo, will educate and enlighten us on the history of the Pacific Northwest and the fur trading encampment that settled on the Little Spokane River.
• Moose, Cougars, and Bears, Oh My! – June 15: Being outdoors with wild animals doesn’t have to be scary—learn how to deal with animal encounters.
• Camp Cooking – June 22: Learn how to make a delicious camp dinner of camp nachos and camp crepes with just a little effort and minimal cleanup.
• Wilderness First Aid – June 29: Join the experts at Spokane County Search and Rescue to learn the basics of how to avoid injury while out in the wilds, plus how to treat minor injuries.

Find stories about Riverside State Park in the OTO archives.

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The concept of “summer break” feels mostly irrelevant with schools closed and distance learning in place. As I write this, there are still many unknowns about summer camps, campgrounds, public pools, and playgrounds. Our children have endured prolonged social isolation and many losses.

Despite the uncertainty of traditional summer activities, June is Great Outdoors Month and kids need adventure. Here are 10 ideas to help you get them out there in the age of COVID-19. 

1. Engage nature at home with creative hands-on activities, games, and seasonal crafts. The website Firefliesandmudpies.com offers free ideas, requiring minimal, low-cost supplies for ”connecting, crafting, and playing at home.” Summer activities include making a bug hotel, origami boats, water balloon piñata, water blaster games, and squirt gun painting. (“7 Nature Books for Kids” – March 2020 Out There Kids column.)
2. Paint rocks and hide them. This is an informal activity, purely for fun. Join a group on Facebook such as Spokane Rocks (The Original!). The concept is simple: Paint rocks and hide them around the city, usually at public parks, and leave a clue on the group FB page if you’d like. When you find a painted rock, post a photo on the group page and re-hide the rock. 
3. Go fishing. Avoid a crowded dock and head to a local lake with a watercraft, or head to a river and teach your kids how to fly-fish. (Additional resources: Inland NW Lake Guide 2019; Kids Fishing: 5 Family-Friendly Lake Destinations.)
4. Hike to water. Just outside the urban core of Spokane you can hike down the ravine to Indian Canyon’s Mystic Falls and play in the creek. You can hike Trail #100 starting from the trailhead located off the Centennial Trail near T.J. Meenach Bridge, which goes along the Spokane River to a big eddy that can serve as a swimming hole. There’s also Tubbs Hill at Lake Coeur d’Alene, Fishtrap Lake Recreation Area near Cheney, and alpine lakes in national forests. Wherever you go, please practice Leave No Trace principles. (Resource: 5 Family Favorite Hikes to Lakeside Fun.)
5. Snorkel. Though not a tropical adventure, it’s still a fun way for kids to explore the underwater world of a lake or river. 
6. Bike a new trail. Whether it’s a paved path or dirt trails, load up the family bikes and visit a new destination, like the Ferry County Rail Trail near Republic in northeast Washington or the Trail of the Coeur d’ Alenes in North Idaho. (Additional resources: Best Family Bike Rides – Inland NW; 8 Family Bikes to Fun Destinations in Spokane and North Idaho.)
7. Go geocaching or letterboxing. Both are treasure hunt activities in public parks and along trails. Geocaching uses GPS to find hidden caches, while letterboxing requires following cues and cracking codes to find a hidden “letterbox” that includes a hand-carved rubber stamp for kids to mark their personal journal. Kids also bring along their own personal stamp for the box’s logbook. Learn more at Atlasquest.com. 
8. Paddle or float the Spokane River. By early to mid-July, the river’s flow is usually low enough for paddlers and tubers. The Spokane River Water Trail website, Spokaneriver.net, provides a map and list of water access launch sites and what style of watercraft it accommodates: canoe, kayak, SUP, raft, personal pontoon, or drift boat. If you need to rent gear, check out what local outfitters Fun Unlimited and FLOW Adventures hope to open sometime this summer.  
9. Go sailing. With any luck, you’ll be able to rent a sailboat at Sunsport at Yap-Keehn-Um Beach at Lake Coeur d’Alene (also known as NIC Beach) along the North Idaho Centennial Trail. Managed by North Idaho College’s Outdoor Pursuits program, the rental shop is typically open daily from June 1 through Labor Day, 10 a.m.-6 p.m, but please check for updates at Nic.edu or call 208-769-3290. Canoes, kayaks, and stand-up paddleboards are also available. 
10. Camp in your backyard: June 27 is Great American Backyard Campout night. Go all out—pitch a tent, string party lights, make a campfire (if not restricted where you live), and do all your usual family campsite traditions with meals and games. 

This summer, I’m reminding myself to maintain realistic expectations and that the perfect is the enemy of the good. Do what you can, my fellow parents. Simple and easy outdoor adventures are better than none at all. 

Amy McCaffree endured quarantine with her two children during spring-summer 2020 with the help of gardening, crafts, and walks with her beloved 12-year-old dog, Kenai.

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Parents and caregivers can harness this opportunity with an intentional focus on nature-based activities. Here are seven how-to books, all published by Quarto Books, that focus on STEAM principles—Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. (Titles listed in alpha order.) 

Forest Club: A Year of Activities, Crafts, and Exploring Nature, by Kris Hirschmann, mother of two. This hardcover book for teachers and parents—with a forward by Anna Sharratt, founder of Free Forest School—makes a great addition to a nature school-themed home library. Organized by seasons, the spring chapter includes eight environmental learning concepts, like flowers and animal homes, and eight related activities, like flower pressing and building a bird nest.  

Gardening Lab for Kids, by Renata Fossen Brown, vice president of education for the Cleveland Botanical Garden. 52 experiments are organized into six topical units, to “learn, grow, harvest, make, play, and enjoy one’s own garden.” It includes practical, hands-on activities to make, for example, a rain gauge, birdfeeder, or clay pot water fountain.  

Herbal Adventures: Backyard Excursions and Kitchen Creations for Kids and Their Families, by Rachel Jepson Wolf, a homeschooling parent of two kids and owner/founder of the body care company LüSa Organics. Wolf is a dedicated herbalist (her children’s names are Sage and Lupine). Her book is organized like a cookbook, with recipes for elderberry gummies, dandelion fritters, chickweed salad, and many more. There are also botany lessons, a field guide with text and photos to identify plants, and directions for DIY crafty projects like how to make seed bombs.  

My Great Outdoors Book: The Kids’ Guide to Being Outside, by Josie Jeffery, horticulturalist, garden designer, and mother of three kids. 34 hands-on activities are organized according to weather, location, and season, such as rainy or sunny days, in the woods or at the park. The illustrations and layout seem tailored especially for kids in grades three and younger. 

Outdoor Science Lab for Kids: 52 Family-Friendly Experiments for the Yard, Garden, Playground, and Park, by Liz Lee Heinecke, a molecular biologist and creator of Kitchen Pantry Scientist website and KidScience app. Organized into 12 topical units, such as Playground Physics, Picnic Table Chemistry, and Garden Hose Science, kids use a science journal for recording their learning experiences. Teens and intermediate elementary-grade youth (grades four+) would be able to complete these labs solo or with peers with minimal adult guidance.  

Outside Exploring Nature, translated into English and written by a group of Portuguese authors. Subtitled as “a first introduction to weather, geology, and the night sky,” the graphic layout is reminiscent of an education primer, particularly appealing to grades three and younger. Includes 10 chapters, from trees and flowers to oceans and weather. It is organized as a “take along” for family excursions, with probing questions and activities to engage children in hands-on, experimental learning. There’s also a glossary of scientific terms and timeline of global natural history. 

Sticks and Stones: A Kid’s Guide to Building and Exploring in the Great Outdoors, by Melissa Lennig, a former outdoor educator and elementary school counselor. “Research shows that a daily dose of unstructured, outdoor play is essential for the physical and social-emotional health of kids,” writes Lennig in the introduction to her book of 30 STEAM projects that all require the use of logs, sticks, or rocks. Ideas include building a survival shelter and simple seesaw from logs, crafting catapults and fences from sticks, and creating rock campfire rings and stone tools. Kids can take this sturdy book with them outside and play and build for hours.

Originally published as “Books for Outdoor Exploration“ in the March 2020 print issue.

Amy McCaffree is mama to two elementary-age kids, and together they enjoy camping, paddling, biking, and alpine skiing. She was in 4-H as a kid and grew up “free range” on a farm near the western foothills of the Cascade Mountains.  

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 Witnessing Santa swooshing down the slopes is just one way to experience Christmas magic (and your kids can have that opportunity again this December at local ski mountains). And there are many ways to experience the magic of winter, from the whimsical to the spiritual to natural wonders—like ice crystals glistening in the sunshine, or catching big, fluffy snowflakes on your tongue. For me, anything that inspires awe feels like magic: a dramatic sunset viewed from the summit of Mt. Spokane during night skiing; untracked powder and looking back to see my S-turn artwork; or my young son and daughter, instead of fighting, snuggling together under a blanket to watch “Polar Express.”

One of the best settings for soothing our senses is nature. Exploring a forest trail on cross-country skis or fat bike. Riding the chairlift to a mountain summit and carving your way down a black diamond. Gazing at a starry night sky. The great outdoors inspires peace of mind, and our souls need, even crave, beauty and silence. So, whatever brings you peace and joy, do more of that this season. 

Whether you celebrate Winter Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or any combination of these, the spirit of this holiday season should make our hearts grow bigger, just like what happened to the Grinch. And I’m sure we can all agree that our world needs more shared love, joy, and kindness these days. Intentional expressions of caring, generous giving and sharing—these become contagious throughout our communities. We find ourselves being more patient with everyone—the whiny child, the grumpy Boomer, the group of snowboarders sitting in the middle of a run. 

This year’s holiday guide features ideas and ways for you to find and enjoy your own winter magic, participate in joyful giving, experience new outdoor adventures, and relish this festive season. May you seize as many days as you can from what’s left in 2019; but even though the year is ending, winter is just beginning.Cheers & happy holidays! See you on the mountain! 

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Once kids get familiar with the basics of Nordic (cross-country) skiing, they move beyond the flat learning area to the rolling trails. After a few sessions, many groups will venture off-track to explore the forest or head out as far as the Nova Hut for a break in front of the warm glow of the wood stove. The season is capped off with a Snow Carnival of games and food. The cost for the program is $80 per child with financial aid available. More details are available at Spokanenordic.org. 

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