Tweens in the Woods

Back when I was a tween, well, we didn't call ourselves "tweens," for starters. But we did spend a lot of time out in nature... playing, fishing, riding our bikes, and just general lollygagging. We had fun.

That's just not a given anymore. Last February, we told you about a study that found a steep decline in youth participation in outdoors activities (16 percent in girls ages 6 to 12 in just one year).

Young hikers on Maiden Peak along the Obstruction Point Trail, Olympic National Park. By Luba Fetterman.

“Fun” was cited as the largest motivator for getting young people outdoors.

In an effort to encourage tweens (ages 8-12) to spend more time in nature, the U.S. Forest Service has partnered with the Ad Council to bring on the fun. They've just launched an interactive photo/art sweepstakes called Where the Other You Lives that is meant to engage families in experiencing nature first hand. As an extension of their "Re-Connecting Kids with Nature" public service advertising (PSA) campaign, which first launched in June, the photo sweepstakes encourages tweens to head into the forest, explore and find their "other you."

Sweepstakes participants provide a photo or an original piece of artwork that represents their journey in nature. The sweepstakes winners will be chosen at random on a weekly basis from the pool of validated entries, and prizes include gift cards for North Face gear.

Kids can visit www.DiscoverTheForest.org to search for local forests and parks and downloadable activities to take with them.