Hearty Roots is all about meeting kids where they’re at developmentally, and now they mean it literally. On the campus of Edgecomb Eddy School, Hearty Roots is offering a fall “Leave No Trace Outing Club,” a series of weekly outings for kids in the fifth and sixth grades. Participants will explore the natural spaces behind Edgecomb Eddy while learning and practicing Leave No Trace skills to help promote safe, responsible, and sustainable outdoor adventures.

“Seeing your backyard, school forest, and local trails in a new way can be a really great adventure,” says Jess Ruhlin Donohoe, deputy director and adventure mentor for Hearty Roots. “This program helps kids intentionally connect to their school’s natural spaces, while helping them develop important outdoors skills. Skills that transfer to adventures in backyards and on local trails with friends and families. We’re only in week three, but we have eight budding environmental stewards who are proud of caring for our natural world and its inhabitants.”

Hearty Roots is dedicated to getting kids “off the grid and into their heart,” with programming designed to build resilience and foster mindfulness through unique outdoor adventures. According to lnt.org, “‘Leave No Trace for Every Kid’ is a program that helps young people learn how responsible actions can help protect the outdoors. The initiative is shaped and inspired by the rich diversity of young people and their communities that have found joy, discovery and learning through the outdoors.”

Learn about all the ways Hearty Roots is meeting up with local kids, from Outing Clubs to Pop-up Camps to Taproot Programming to exciting news on the horizon. We’re on this journey with you at heartyroots.org.