by Rita Robinson, ENC Communications Intern
What is the greatest gift we can give our children?
Maybe it’s the same thing we happened to enjoy the most — the fun of having free time in nature.
In these times of increasing high technology, kids are being handed iphones and ipads to distract them and occupy their time. It’s the precursor to a robotic babysitter. The problem is the child is fixated on an electronic screen, their mind mesmerized and manipulated and their bodies stagnant. Is that what we remember from our childhood? The television was bad enough but at least it didn’t go with us to the beach.
Isn’t it true that once you simply step outside your door with skies above, ground beneath and animals of all kinds crawling, running and 
flying among plants short and tall, you feel instantly better, without ever having a thought? It’s a pure sensory experience.
That’s the healing power of nature we can provide for our children.
“Kids who don’t have a sense of awe and just feeling
the exuberance of being out of doors and free
are missing a major experience
of what it’s like to be human early in life.”– Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD, Jungian analyst, psychiatrist, author and speaker
Preschoolers through 6th-graders will see, learn and delight in the awesomeness of nature at the Environmental Nature Center’s Presidents’ Week Nature Fun Camp for Kids. The camp engages the children with age-designed outdoor crafts and activities and plenty of exploration on their own within the confines of a safe and supervised environment (while still being safe and supervised, of course). What a positive and fun way for them to spend the day. And what stories they’ll have to tell each night!
The camp will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting Monday, Feb. 19, to Thursday, Feb. 22. The four-day camp costs $265. A half-day camp is also available, which ends at 1 p.m., at $180 for the session. There’s a 10% discount for ENC members so become a member today!
At the Environmental Nature Center, campers will be given the freedom to explore, imagine and make their own fun. They’ll be given boundaries, a few supplies, a set of ground rules and supervision. They’ll be able to talk, laugh and have a great time while creating 
balanced rock towers, stick-and-leaf boats and their own forts. Materials will be provided for campers to draw, paint, and more.
The week will fly by and they’ll leave with renewed energy, more alert minds and happier spirits to take home and back to school. Summer won’t seem so far away.
For more information, become an ENC member or to register your child, please go to ENCenter.org. The ENC is located at 1601 16th St., Newport Beach.