June is Recreation and Parks Month

Did you know that Alberta has a whole month dedicated to Recreation and Parks? How fantastic is that? June, in fact, is “June is Recreation and Parks Month” (JRPM).

Organized by the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA), June is our official month for getting ourselves, our kids, our spouses, our dogs, and our neighbours outdoors and active.

The purpose of observing June as “Recreation and Parks Month” is to draw public attention to the important and varied benefits of recreation and parks to individuals, families, neighborhoods, communities and the province as a whole!  Want to know just what the benefits of recreation and parks exactly are (like… does being active so I can eat more chocolate count)? Well, you can easily look them all up at the online National Benefits Hub.

I know that I will be partaking in some of the events advocated by ARPA. Check out, for example, these great resources on hiking and the old age standard – kite flying. Now you can tell someone to go fly a kite and actually mean it… in a positive way! Hurrah!

June is also a perfect time to get kids outdoors and engaged in the natural world as it blooms and grows around them. It’s particularly timely as awareness about the importance of connecting children and youth with nature grows.

To help communities get children and youth active in nature, ARPA has created two activity passports with fun ideas for children and youth to get outside, engage with the natural environment, and be active. The activities may be completed with friends, at a day camp, or individually. Click this link to see how!

And for those who might need some assistance planning, ARPA is also providing inspiration and guides for your June events and celebrations. These resources include activity suggestions, media releases, posters, and newspaper ad templates. All of these are either available now on the JRPM website, or will be in the very near future. 

The ARPA Twitter and Facebook accounts will also be providing one benefit of recreation and parks every day in June, as well as a link to the National Benefits Hub. We encourage everyone to follow ARPA on Twitter and 'like' ARPA on Facebook.

So I look forward to seeing you outside this June!