"The Play Out": Encouraging Youth to Spend Time in Nature
Lake Forest Open Lands’ hosted a successful event, “The Play Out” to encourage youth to spend time in nature on April 22, 2011 from 10 am - 1 pm at Mellody Farm Nature Preserve. Despite wet blustery conditions over 100 participants braved the elements to attend and celebrate outdoor nature play. “The Play Out”, sparked by Chicago Wilderness’ Leave No Child Inside initiative, District 67 Earth Day celebration and the city of Lake Forest’s 150th anniversary, encouraged families to get outside and enjoy a variety of activities promoting creativity and exploration in nature.
The event offered activities for a variety of ages and interests. The Care of Trees hosted a tree climbing station and a natural obstacle course. DK Organics hosted Mud City where children became mud engineers. Older attendees searched for hidden garden gnomes and built shelters out of natural materials. Other activity stations focused on metamorphosis, pond netting, insects, music, drawing and bird watching. Before leaving, participants planted a native prairie plant in the Earth Day garden and received a complimentary oak tree courtesy of the City of Lake Forest.
An integral part of the event was “The Pledge” – a signed commitment by students to spend 150 minutes outside during Earth Day weekend. Over 100 pledges were received from District 67 and other local schoolchildren including:
| Nathan Anderson
Connor Armstrong
Julie Barber
Owen Bauder
Elliot Berry
Ryerson Birkerts
Claire Boyle
Grace Boyle
Hollister Brohan
Emily Chow
J.D. Collins
Heather Conover
Patrick Corrigan
Luke Corsiglia
Peter Corsiglia
Sophie Dave
Quinn DiTomasso
Holly Doyle
Patrick Droege
Peter Elliott
Evelyn Gehrig
Irene Gehrig
Tommy Gibbons
Wyatt Gould
Alex Graves
Emily Hait
Katie Hait
Tommy Hait
Erik Hill
Brandon Hinkle
Taylor Hinkle
Ethan Holmes
Morgan Holmes
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Grant Huebner
Govanna Incisa
Ippo Incisa
Vivian Jiao
Clare Kaiser
Jack Kaplan
Ben Keller
Josh Keller
Lauren Keller
Eagan Kennedy
Charles Kuhns
Jack Kuhns
John Kuhns
Ellie Lazzaretto
Jack Lipkowski
Nicholas London
Timothy London
Henry Lunn
Jack Lunn
Ava Manelis
Parker Manelis
Gus Marchese
Luca Marchese
Sydney Martens
Yusra Mekki
Grace Mockus
Madeline Moritz
Jane Mockus
Delaney Newman
Lorenzo Nottoli
Vincent Nottoli
Cathal O’Sullivan
Lorchan O’Sullivan
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Donovan Perry
William Pike
Harry Proech
Jennifer Proech
Lily Rappel
Jonathan Richmond
Samantha Richmond
Emily Robinson
Keller Ryan
Ruthanne Sandner
William Sandner
Ian Schuler
Owen Schuler
Erica Sotos
Liam Stewart
James Swartout
Thomas Swartout
Joe Thomas
Truman Thuente
Carley Walker
Carson Ward
Nina Weeks
Ainsley Wiesner
Lindley Wiesner
Jack Wildman
Redding Worth
Alexandra Zarek
Haley Zarek
Jessica Zarek
Lauren Zarek
Keira Zoghlin
Lauren Zoghlin
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