Back in the day when I was in elementary school, scouting was the road most traveled by children wanting to explore the great outdoors. These days, scouting is still around, but it’s hardly the draw it was in past decades. Instead, we rely on costly summer camps to help wean children off the Wii controls and laptops and get them into the woods, challenging their bodies and imaginations.

But if you’re like me, you don’t want camp staffers to have all of the fun teaching your kids about their natural world. We need to put on our own counselor caps and lead the way to the redwoods, caverns and caves. We should be the ones pointing out the planets and stars in the night time sky. Our family trips to Yosemite (below) without the intrusion of toys and TV have afforded us precious quality time we will always treasure.

Mapping out these adventures is now much easier, thanks to a new family outdoor campaign called Nature Rocks.

The four founders – all experts in recreation and conservation – designed a website that guides parents on where to go and what to do, from camping at national parks to pitching tents in your own backyards. Many include the “F” word. Don’t be silly, of course I mean free.

When given the choice, these fresh air proponents want you to choose outdoor recreation over indoor hibernation because air and wind and surf and mountains make humans feel more alive.

You don’t have to be  John Muir to make these choices.

Whether flying kites on the beach instead of flying on planes…

paddling your kids down the river instead of dropping them off at the mall…

or looking at life forms rather than looking up images via Google…

the experience of  family bonding amid the beauty and mysteries of nature has tremendous rewards, including the kind of toasty, S’Mores round-the campfire memories that last a lifetime. Scout’s honor!

“The benefit of nature for children are fundamental,” says Richard Louv, co-founder of  The Children & Nature Network, one of the four sponsors of the Nature Rocks campaign. ”As families look for lower cost vacation options, we hope they will discover that nature offers families a personal stimulus package, letting them save money while improving the physical and emotional well being of their children.”

Louv’s organization is fostering an international movement to connect children with nature. An author who has written for the New York Times, his most recent book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, sees the urgency in nurturing a future relationship between children and nature.

After all, the next generation will inherit a planet rife with pollution, water and energy shortages, and a loss of habitat and wildlife – the plagues of modern civilization.

Just as committed are the other three leaders in the campaign: The Nature Conservancy, REI, and ecoAmerica. Their Nature Rocks launch was timed to coincide with the beginning of summer when parents are searching for activities that will keep children busy – but not so busy that they miss the joys of the season.

“As a working mom with two young children, I appreciate the useful ideas that improve my and my family’s lives,” says Meighen Speiser, VP of Marketing for ecoAmerica. “The Nature Rocks website offers loads of easy-to-use tools, tips and over 100 fun activities like nature art, weekend camping, hiking at a nearby park or an impromptu neighborhood nature scavenger hunt. The added bonus is that these activities are either inexpensive or free.”

The tips are available on the 2009 Summer Nature Staycation Planning Guide, which is chalk-full of fun suggestions for planning family recreation close to home. The site is very user-friendly. Just input your zip code and designate what you’re looking for. The Nature Finder map points you in the direction of nearby activities, such as horseback riding, swimming and snorkeling, camping and skiing. There are hundreds of activities to choose from.

The Nature Conservancy – which works to protect ecologically important lands and waters – says its goal is for a people to feel they are a part of all living things. “Now, working on the Nature Rocks initiative, we’re able to help the next generation better their health and reconnect with nature,” says M. Sanjayan, Lead Scientist, who adds that the Conservancy is dedicated to supporting conservation work that will not only enrich the natural world but also better our health and our lives.

So dust off those sleeping rolls and rinse out the sticky cooler. To quote Joni Mitchell, who wrote Woodstock about her generation’s desire to end war and take stock in nature, “It’s time to get ourselves back to the garden.”

Image: Fabian Bromann

You might get a buzz from hurtling down the ski slopes or exploring underwater worlds as a SCUBA diver. I know that I do. Yet while these sports bring me closer to nature and help me appreciate the beautiful planet I live on, they are not exactly green. Take into account the equipment, distance to travel to a suitable location and in the case of skiing, the construction and maintenance of necessary infrastructure in otherwise wild places.

I’ve been looking for new ways to enjoy nature without putting so much strain on the planet. While I love hiking, sometimes I’m looking for something more immersive and exciting. Enter kayaking.

I started kayaking in 2006 when I was lucky enough to join a trip to Spitsbergen in the Arctic. Sea kayaking was an absolutely stunning way to explore this environment. You might think it would be cold, but the exercise keeps you warm and there’s no wind chill factor. The beauty is that you can cease paddling at any time and glide silently, so it lets you get up close and personal in a way that you simply can’t in a motorized boat. I was hooked.

Now it clearly wouldn’t be very green if we all had to fly to the Arctic to try kayaking. But the beauty of the sport is that it can be done anywhere there is water, from the ocean and rivers, to harbours and lakes. You can probably do it close to your home – whether that be San Francisco or Manhattan, Sydney, Australia or London, UK.

You might have tried open cockpit kayaking – where you sit on top – on holidays but it’s worth investing the time to learn a proper closed cockpit kayak. You’ll stay warmer and drier for starters but these “proper” kayaks are also faster and easier to maneuver so you will ultimately get more out of the sport this way. You can try river or lake kayaking, sea kayaking in a longer, more stable boat that sometimes has two people paddling, and people even play games such as polo in kayaks.

Kayaking keeps you fit – incidentally it’s more about core strength so pilates and yoga are more helpful in training for yoga than upper body weight lifting. It’s a sport that can be enjoyed equally well if you are single or you have a growing family – especially since many sea kayaks are built for two. It gets you close to nature and helps build eco-consciousness. It’s not motorized, so the only pollution comes with the construction of the kayak itself. Very often an individual kayak will be used by dozens of people and be housed in a club house by the water, minimizing transport hassles.

And when you go on holidays, there are many wonderful places to try out your new kayaking skills, from the seal-filled lochs and isles of Scotland to the sun-drenched aquamarine waters of Greece. Search for kayaking holidays on ResponsibleTravel.com for more great holiday ideas around the world that won’t cost the earth.

As Ratty said to Mole in Kenneth Graeme’s The Wind in the Willows (you did read that book when you were small, didn’t you?): “There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” I quite agree.

Image: zevotron