1.Tell your children stories about your special childhood places in nature, and then help them find their own.

2. Plan a family (or neighborhood) camp out in your backyard. Join the NWF Great American Backyard Camp out (www.nwf.org).

3. Keep a "wonder bowl" of special things you find in nature.

4. Make a daily "green hour" for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world.

5. Choose a spot for "outdoor homework" and encourage kids to use it often.

6. Learn to track animals. Check out www.Takeachildoutside.org

7. Savor the seasons ~ make a leaf pile in fall; build a snow fort in winter; plant a garden in spring; go fishing in summer.

8. Challenge your family to identify every tree in your neighborhood. Then move on to plants.

9. Explore your "backyard" ~ hike the Metacomet ridge; swim in the Farmington River; bike the rails-to-trails.

10. Bring back the simple fun of kick the can, capture-the-flag, fort building, butterfly raising, insect collecting, star gazing, and rock skipping.

11. Walk or bike to school, to work, or to the store.

12. Picnic, picnic, picnic!

In short, help your child(ren) live the kind of unencumbered childhood YOU lived.