Explore the outdoors on Kids to Parks Day
Published: April 28, 2022
If you can’t remember the last time your family kicked a ball, had a picnic or rode a bike at a park, there’s no better time than May 21st.
Every year, the third Saturday of May marks National Kids to Parks Day. The effort is designed to connect families with local, state and national parks and encourage them to explore the great outdoors. Many parks celebrate the day with special events and activities to inspire kids to go outside and play, including some locally.
From 9:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 21st, Doral Meadow Park at 11555 NW 58 St., will host a play day with a morning of games, music, obstacle courses, arts and crafts and other activities. In Broward, the City of Pembroke Pines has a full day of fun planned from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at a variety of city locations including free tennis clinics at the Pembroke Lakes Tennis Center, and free swimming at Towngate Pool, Rose Price Park Pool and the Pembroke Lakes Pool. Specific times and details can be found at http://www.ppines.com.
For those looking for additional options, the National Park Trust’s ParkPassport mobile app on Apple and Google Play provides users with a list of participating parks, marine sanctuaries and national monuments. A special event category also allows park-goers to choose a current location and find celebrations and activities nearby. Through the app, you can collect badges for parks visited and activities completed, record outdoor excursions and share trip photos.
Of course, if you can’t make it out to play on May 21st, there’s plenty to do at South Florida parks and natural areas throughout the summer and beyond. For instance, the Green Cay Nature Center in Boynton Beach hosts a Bird Talk and Walk for all ages from 9:30 to 11 a.m. on May 14th and has a naturalist-led program where you can learn all about Florida’s reptiles and amphibians scheduled from 10 to 11 a.m. on May 28th.
In Davie, Long Key Nature Center invites kids, and their favorite plushy, to a Teddy Bear Picnic on May 8th. For a fee of $5 per person, participants can enjoy games, bear-themed crafts, activities, stories, bear face painting and even a teddy bear beauty contest. At the same location on May 20th, there will be a World Bee Day Hike. A naturalist will lead hikers on a guided tour along the nature trail while teaching about the different species of bees that call the nature center home.
Miami-Dade has a host of things to do too, including a music jam at Miller Drive Park on May 6th and Food Trucks on the Bay on May 25th.
If finding your own fun is more your speed, there’s plenty you can do at neighborhood, city, county and state park locations. Pick a place and choose your own adventure.
