Families in Nature

Families in Nature (FiN) is a federally tax exempt 501c3 non-profit organization in its 12th year as an outdoor education program. It is our vision to inspire ALL families to fall in love with nature and foster the next generation of conservationists. We strive to engage families of all backgrounds with children of all ages.

Families in Nature offers a holistic approach to getting your community out into nature to play and learn together. Our Programs are all part of a larger whole. Each program is one of our menu of options that allows you to tailor your participation in FIN to meet the needs of your family, your community or your school. As you are the expert on what your own community needs to overcome the barriers to spending time in nature.

Our Ecologist School Program is the backbone of what we teach and how we teach. It is currently under publication by Texas A&M University Press and will be released soon as a book and an ebook. Samples of the 1400+ lessons contained in the Ecologist School Guidebook are available in both English and Spanish at the link above. A badge can be earned in each of the 16 branches of science. Badges and Nature Journals to record your experiences can be purchased on this website. The Ecologist School Program also includes an emphasis on Youth Leadership with the option of planning and implementing a Humboldt Project for older youth and adults. Check out our blog to learn about the Young Conservation Leaders that have gone through our programs.

Our Guide Development Program allows us to support parents, teachers, and leaders to get families out into nature in their own communities. Participating in a Guide Development weekend in person or virtually will give you the training and resources to get your family or community outdoors and will give you access to our Ecologist School Guidebook, access to mentoring from our staff, and inclusion in our community of practice that is filled with like-minded conservation leaders. You are invited to attend a Guide Training in Central Texas, or bring our staff to you to train leaders from your own organization, city, school district, or collaborative of organizations. Due to COVID19, we will also begin offering Guide Development online this spring (2020).

Our Austin, TX Gear Lending Library supports our local schools, organizations and Nature Communities with camping gear and science teaching materials that can be borrowed at no cost for under-resourced schools and communities and for a minimal fee for groups that have access to financial resources.

We encourage all of our Guides to help their own community get out into nature together though the formation of Nature Communities, a group of families that explore nature together.

Our Guides are also encouraged to support Campus Campouts at their local school or organization. Campus Campouts eliminate many of the common barriers to spending time outside such as transportation to parks and fear of going to unfamiliar places. During a campus campout, FIN Guides will teach their community the basics of camping starting on their own school or organization or company’s campus. They emphasize Nearby Nature and help families gain comfort, confidence and competence in the outdoors while staying close to home in a familiar place.

Our Nature Immersion Travel Program takes families or students out into wild nature to explore, participate in experiential science (formerly called Citizen Science), and feel the hope that comes from seeing that there is still a lot of wild nature left to love. We offer trips at least once per year all over the globe, frequently in partnership with inspiring locally-run organizations such as Mision Tiburon in Costa Rica.

All FiN activities are aimed at teaching children and their parents about ecology and conservation through hands-on experiences in nature, while they spend quality family time together. The activities include nature walks, field science experiences, service projects, camp-outs, lessons in outdoor skills, S.T.E.A.M. aligned lessons and more. Each activity has time for learning and time for playing outside. It is amazing what a group of kids (and parents) will come up with when they have unstructured time outside together.

We strive to create confident, capable, independent, curious, engaged, interested and connected children and families. The physical and mental health benefits, as well as the educational benefits of time spent in nature are well documented in Richard Louv’s books “Last Child in the Woods” and “The Nature Principle.”

FiN teaches field science through the use of hands on learning. FiN families experience hands on field science with local biologists and ecologists throughout the year. For example, families have the chance to volunteer with Texas Parks and Wildlife to band wild birds at Guadalupe River State Park. We also study water quality and aquatic insects with the City of Austin. We go birding and learn marine biology on the Texas Coast, and we have many other educational adventures. Our goal is to educate children and their families about the world around them and to create environmentally literate students. “In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.” – Baba Dim

Families in Nature promotes strong families and a strong sense of community through shared experiences in nature. We hope to provide a “tribe” as described in Michael Gurian’s “The Wonder of Boys.”

FiN creates scheduled family time as a restorative part of our busy, over scheduled lives where every member of the family is probably headed in different directions all week long.

FiN works to instill confidence in families so that they will feel safe and capable taking their children hiking and camping. We teach camping using the principles of Leave No Trace.

FiN provides opportunities for volunteer service to families who want to do volunteer projects with their children.

Participation in FiN can help children and their parents reduce stress by spending time outdoors without the distractions of screens, phones, bills, laundry, and all of the other minutia of everyday life. FiN activities create emotionally accessible time with family and community.