Danielle Leitao
Are you missing your friends and adventures beyond your home’s four walls? Fear not! The Seattle Youth Team is here to help you with some clever ideas on ways to have the best time while sticking close to home with the members of your household.
Inside your house
- Have a campout in the living room. Set up your tent and maybe some stars (have you seen the fairy lights at the Seattle program center? Those would be perfect!). Roast your favorite treat on the stove or grill and eat your favorite trail food. Enjoy spending time together telling stories and planning fun hikes to go on soon.
- Learn to draw with Mo Willems, author of a favorite book The Pigeon HAS to Go to School. He has daily classes during lunchtime, all with fun themes!
- Cook or bake. Lookup a new recipe or create a family favorite from memory. A favorite from camp is homemade tortillas. We loosely follow this recipe and then form the tortillas by hand and cook them outside on a camp stove, learning the basics of outdoor cooking along the way. Camp’s favorite toppings are hummus or chocolate chips (sometimes campers even try those toppings together because they're adventurous eaters!).
- Hold on to those egg cartons! ThisGrass Seed Caterpillar is a fun way to bring nature inside. You can decorate the future grass caterpillar, implant the seeds, and watch it grow.
In the backyard or around the neighborhood
- Try backyard birding. It's spring and all the birds are coming back. Learn about the birds residing in your backyard through this great resource shared by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. They sure know their birds.
- Garden. Inside or out. This month is a good time to start peas and greens indoors or plant some carrots and beets outside.
- Learn the trees in your neighborhood. Next time you're out for a walk to find the biggest, widest, tallest tree and take a picture of the bark, as well as the overall tree, to identify at home using the handy tool linked above.
On your computer or devices
- Climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park virtually with Google Maps. We are really missing our favorite outdoor places so virtual-cams and experiences are a great way to connect.
- Yoga with Adrienne just for you!
- Practice your knots. Here's a great place to start. Practice that clove hitch and we will have a new knot for you next week!
Thanks for tuning in to Stuck Inside! We're really missing getting outside with you, but it’s been fun finding creative and new ways to stay connected inside and around our neighborhoods.
The Mini Mountaineers and their families roast marshmallows together. For some, this was their first time having s'mores! Photo by Katie Love.
“I'm loving walking around my neighborhood right now,” says Hannah Tennent, our Gear Library Coordinator and an exceptional bike rider. “Those walks can look very different. Sometimes, if I feel really restless, I try to challenge myself physically so I'll go for a jog or I'll do laps up big hills. If I need to distract my mind, I'll do a mindful walk where I'll pick a color, like red, and then try to notice everything that is red in the next three blocks. Other times, I'll put on a favorite podcast and meander down new streets I've never been on before!”
What are some ways you’re staying sane and connected during this challenging time? Leave your ideas in the comments, and we can share them in our next edition of Stuck Inside.
Stay safe, have fun, be joyful. See you next week!
about youth programs
The Mountaineers is committed to bringing outdoor experiences to today’s youth through our outdoor youth and family programs. We introduce young people to the benefits of outdoor experiences: a healthy lifestyle, outdoor recreation skills, perseverance, self-confidence, self-reliance, an appreciation for the natural world, and a commitment to protecting the outdoor experience. We offer year-round clubs, break and summer camps, outreach programs through Mountain Workshops, a youth gear lending library and even programs for our smallest members: Mini Mountaineers. Learn more about the programs we offer.
Learn more about Hannah and the Gear Library on our Gear Library page.
Check out all Stuck Inside blogs for more ideas!
