Children enjoy a "green hour" using binoculars. The South Carolina Wildlife Federation has teamed up with the City of Columbia Parks & Recreation Department and Sesquicentennial State Park to offer two guided family nature walks this summer, July 25 at the north entrance to Riverfront Park at 7 pm, and August 8 at Harbison State Forest at 10 am. There is no fee for the walks, but advance registration is required, 256- 0670 or sara@scwf.org.

Naturalists will lead families on short walks through the parks and point out plants, rocks, insects, and wildlife.

Staff from the SC Wildlife Federation will be on hand to talk about what families can do in their own backyards to make a better home for wildlife.

These nature walks are being offered as part of the National Wildlife Federation's Green Hour program, designed to get kids outside, and away from electronics, for at least one hour every day.

Richard Louv, author of

Last Chi ld in the Woods,

refers to this nature- child disconnect as "nature deficit disorder." One of the primary symptoms is the replacement of the green space by the screen space as the occupier of children's free time. A Kaiser Family Foundation study found that the average American child spends 44 hours per week (more than six hours a day) staring at some kind of electronic screen. Studies have linked excessive television viewing to obesity, violence, and even lower intelligence in kids.

The National Wildlife Federation recommends that parents give their kids a "Green Hour" every day, a time for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world. This can take place in a garden, a backyard, the park down the street, or any place that provides safe and accessible green spaces where children can learn and play.

A growing wave of research indicates that children who spend time outdoors are healthier, overall, than their indoor counterparts. Children who regularly spend unstructured time outside play more creatively, have lower stress levels, have more active imaginations, become fitter and leaner, develop stronger immune systems, experience fewer symptoms of ADD and ADHD, and have greater respect for themselves, for others, and for the environment.

For more information on the Green Hour program, visit www.greenhour. org.