Nature + fun = healthy kids. Modern research proves that getting children outdoors hedges against obesity, diabetes, attention-deficit disorder and other growing problems among our youth today. The Fort Myers Sanibel area provides a giant dose of the prescription for keeping kids nature-healthy with its “medicine cabinet” full of green and eco-based activities.
Here are some tried-and-true ways to engage even the most nature-blasé and electronics-plugged-in kids:
Creature Meet-and-Greet
Meet creatures from bugs to gators up close in the exhibits and on the trails at Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium in Fort Myers. The Insectarium is crawling with live bugs. Kids can even dress up like an insect. There are also snake feedings, baby gators and live turtles inside the nature center. Outside, the trails take you to a butterfly house, aviary, touch tank and an area with a bobcat and foxes.
Playing Hooky
If your kids think they don’t like school, they’ve gotta try Sanibel Sea School. Here kids learn about the marine environment and ecology by exploring beaches and estuaries for a hands-on “touch, feel and understand” experience that will put them at the head of their class. For its Nature & Sealife Cruises, Tarpon Bay Explorers on Sanibel Island boats passengers into bird rookeries and finishes with a touch tank encounter.
Shell Factory Fascination
Pan for fossils and cool rocks, feed nectar to lorikeets, explore hands-on exhibits in the eco-lab, and visit, pet and feed animals at the Shell Factory and Nature Park in North Fort Myers – part wildlife experience, part amusement park.
Beach Scavenger Hunt
Challenge kids to turn up conch shells, egg cases, crab holes, sea stars, turtle grass, clams and more on the miles of white sand spread throughout The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel. Programs offered by Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation and Adventures in Paradise help them identify their beach and inshore findings.
I Spy Wildlife
Start with a visit to the new eco-friendly, interactive visitors center at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve in Fort Myers before heading out on the boardwalk trails to see how many birds and other creatures they can spot. Need help identifying? Volunteers lead 90-minute guided walks daily and often bring along a spotting scope for zeroing in on bald eagles and gators. Also in Fort Myers, Manatee Park’s “Eye on Nature” self-guided activity is a hit with families – kids receive a magnifying glass upon completion.
Geo-Caching Cool
Older kids like the gadgetry and techie feel of geo-caching, where hikers follow GPS points to find small planted treasures and replace them with others. There’s booty to be found throughout the county, including some of the barrier islands. Lee County Parks & Recreation facilities also feature many caches waiting to be found – a permit is required to place a cache in a Lee County park (click here for requirements). J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge has an “earth-cache” program – national public lands do not allow introducing non-natural treasures, so it uses other clues and rewards. You can download it and other established geo-caches throughout the region at www.geocaching.com.
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