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The following was produced with my friends at L.L.Bean, who believe that, on the inside, we’re all outsiders.

There are so many things to do outdoors as a family, and there are plenty of chances for our girls to learn and grow. We find places to hike that are easy enough for our kids to manage, and we always make up our own fun along the way.
This summer we’re really trying to spend more time connecting with our children. As our oldest has gotten older we’ve started to realize how fast it all goes by. We have so few summers with our children being little, so it’s all about creating meaningful moments with our daughters

5 Simple Activities Families Can Do Outdoors

1. Get outside and take a hike. There are parks and trails all over this country so get outside and explore. Visit your local state parks website to find a trailhead near you.
2. Make a simple craft. We love to pack crayons and paper for drawing and making leaf art. These are simple and fun ways for our kids to explore the forest and have a little fun. Your kiddos can also draw the things they see along the trail.
3. Find a sand pit. Nature provides so many chances to learn and explore. We often find dried up streams in the summer and they provide the perfect sandbox for stopping to play. Also allow your kids to take off their shoes. We’ve found everything from streams to grassy fields along the trail.
4. Play a word game. We love to play nature ABC’s. Each person takes turns finding something in the forest that correlates with a letter of the alphabet. You can also sing a song or play a simple math game. My husband always seems to find entertaining games to play that keep our girls busy.
5. Play hide and seek! We only allow our girls to stay on the trail but they often run ahead and step behind a tree to try to surprise us. This allows us to explore the forest and have fun. My girls always love to play hide and seek and what better place to play than outside?

Of course whenever we are outdoors we want our girls to stay safe and be comfortable. What I like about L.L.Bean is that the clothing is meant for the outdoors. When we hike it’s always a safe bet to put my kiddos in long pants, especially during mosquito season. What I like about the denim from L.L.Bean is the reflective piece it has along the hem of their pants. If we’re walking to a trail head, or in a campground, I like that it’s an additional thing that helps to keep our family safe. We pack a backpack with everything we need to stay hydrated. We also pack healthy snacks, and we always carry basic first aid products in our first aid kit. L.L.Bean has stylish clothing for kids and the entire family. Our oldest even has a pair of boots that are not only perfect for the trail but also keep her feet dry when we come to a stream.
This summer it’s all about making meaningful moments happen with our girls. Whether it’s singing our favorite song on a trail or stopping to play in the sand of a dried up riverbed. There are adventures to have, and we want to spend more moments this summer making them happen! If you ask our girls about their favorite trips it’s not always about fancy hotels and swimming at the pool. Sometimes the best moments happen when you’re hot and tired and having an adventure.

You can find out more about the products seen in this post at L.L.Bean.com.

What are your favorite simple activities to do outdoors with your kids? 

Our family lifestyle is simple we just want to be active with our girls and spend meaningful moments together. With summer in full swing it’s also important that we keep their busy little hands busy. We are always looking for girls crafts for our girls to do and it seems this year they are all about getting their hands messy. Making slime and play doh is a lot of fun for our little ones and they enjoy making play doh.

This summer why not have a little fun with your kids and make your own mermaid play doh. It gets even better when you make your own mermaid tails!

4.   Separate the dough into 4 even sections.  Press your finger into the middle of each piece to create a ‘well’.

MAKE YOUR OWN MERMAID TAIL

Create mermaid tails out of the playdough and place on dolls for hours of creative and role-play fun!  Add beads, jewels and glitter to embellish each mermaid in their under-the-sea world!

Your kids are going to not only have fun making their own mermaid play doh but also making their own mermaid tails! 

*Keep your mermaid playdough in an airtight plastic bag or container for up to 3 months.

This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/Prudential.

I find it important to understand that my time is important. With the work I am in, I get a lot of emails from different people representing all sorts of interests, many times they want free work from me.

With 3 daughters, I not only want to make sure they make just as much as their male counterparts, but also can save more financially than I am currently able to. I had to rely on myself for many of my financial milestones and it has been an eye opening experience.

With 3 kids, running a tiny business, and of course, being there for my husband, I have learned a lot. Right now I am in my early thirties. I have young kids, a successful tiny business, and live in Southern California. It is not cheap and it is important to make the best financial decisions that I can. Not only for my future, but for my kids. I wasn’t handed much of anything as I aged into an adult, so it has not been a very easy journey for me.

With the right planning, I have been able to do okay financially. My kids have everything I would have liked to have had. They get to do activities I was not able to try. I now understand truly how much kids cost to raise. So it’s important to save money and plan expenses wisely. The best advice that I can give and what I give my daughters, is to plan ahead. Not only to save, but to figure ways to save, or maybe avoid unnecessary costs.

Prudential has been researching the financial challenges women face for several years. For example, Women don’t invest to the same degree as men¹ because of feelings of discomfort, which causes us to delay investing or invest more on lower risk, lower return investments. Its important to make sure I spend wisely, but also save and invest for my future goals and retirement. Being a young parent, the future is what I can make of it. Saving for old age is a priority that I am starting more and more to focus on after learning that women are more likely to run out of money in retirement.

For my daughters, I want them to recognize that they have a lot of control and power over their futures. I educate them on what is going on in the world, and remind them that they deserve to be equal to boys when it comes to being paid. Although, it is important to note and understand another challenge women face financially: the average woman working full-time will earn 79% of the income earned by her male counterpart.² My daughters understand that hard work should determine pay, and not gender.

Prudential wants to inspire women to talk to one another and to become more financially aware. Women are outliving men by an average of 5-6 years, so we need to prepare accordingly.³ Continuing to talk about wages and income gaps as our next generations take leadership is also important. It’s critical that we better educate ourselves and find the tools to help us along the way.  Prudential has created a tool called the “Value of all you do” that allows you to quickly quantify the value of all the household chores you do on a daily basis. On average, women in the U.S spend 28 hours per week on household choirs- 65% more than the average of men.⁴ Women may feel they do not have enough time for financial planning.

Are you ready to take control and own your financial future? Learning more on Prudential website and working with a financial professional is a great place to start.

Have you had any moments in your life that have made you become more aware of the need to have a financial plan?

Sources:

1. Source: http://fortune.com/2016/05/11/sallie-krawcheck-ellevest-launch;
2. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Historical Income Tables Table P-40: Women’s Earnings as a Percentage of Men’s Earnings by Race and Hispanic Origin, 2016
3. Source: Prudential Retirement analysis; National Center for Health Statistics, Health, United States, 2015: With Special Feature on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Hyattsville, MD. 2016

Source: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, October 2016, http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?queryid=54757