Last year, Colin Harris, founder and executive director of Take Me Outside ran over 7600 kilometres, the equivalent of 181 marathons from St. John’s, NL to Victoria, BC. Along the way, he went into 80 schools and chatted with almost 20,000 students about the importance of finding better balance with the amount of time they spend outside compared to the time they are spending in front of screens.
His final day of this cross Canada run was October 25th. To celebrate the end of this 9 month initiative, Take Me Outside Day was established. Over 15,000 students across the country committed to spending 30 minutes or more outside on this day, not only to support Colin, but also to raise awareness about the importance of unplugging and spending time outside – being active and connecting with nature.
This year, Take Me Outside Day is hoping to have 50,000 students show their support for taking it outside. And it would be great if some adults joined in too!
We’re trying to keep it simple, so here’s how you can get involved:
1. Get Outside!
Commit to spending 45 minutes outside on October 25. (Ideally, it’s during class time, but outside recesses and lunches seem to be dwindling, so anything goes!)
2. Join!
Confirm your participation by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . All we want to know is where your school is, how many students and teachers are taking part, and maybe some of the activities you’re planning to do.
3. Share your stories!
Visit our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/takemeoutside) and post pictures or stories of what you’re going to do on that day. As well, we’d love for you to post some pictures and stories after the fact. What did you do? Was it fun? Tell your story and share it with other schools across the country! If Facebook isn’t your thing in the classroom, no worries. You can still email us those pictures and stories, we’ll skip Facebook and just put them up on our website.
4. Get Creative!
Last year, some schools grabbed onto TMO Day and made it their own. If you want to organize something unique for your school, go for it! The doors are wide open for how you spend those 45 minutes outside. And really, there’s no time limit. Some schools last year spent a whole morning or afternoon outside doing activities! We’d love to hear about whatever you do, so let us know. It’s your to be creative with!
5. Spread the Word!
If you have connections to media, maybe this is a great opportunity to have the local newspaper or tv station come out to cover the story. This is an important issue with the increasing rates of obesity, diabetes and generally poorer health that is resulting from these sedentary lifestyles.
