Enjoy some Outdoor Play this Spring + a GIVEAWAY!

Spring is finally here! This year, mother nature seemed to trick us into thinking it was Spring early, then flipped right back into Winter mode (at least where I live in Central Canada).  And although we've been dealing with colder than normal weather and lots of Spring showers, it's clear that Spring is here to stay and Summer is on it's way! 

At the first sign of Spring, both my husband and I couldn't wait to get outside and enjoy some of our favourite outdoor activities.  We've finally been able to enjoy geocaching (our absolute favorite warm weather activity) and evening walks.  Both of these activities allow us to stay active and are activities that we'll be able to continue enjoying and share with our little one when he or she arrives.  These are activities that we can enjoy as a family and that allow both my husband and I to role model healthy living and the importance of physical activity.

I recently read an article titled the Benefits of Outdoor Play, written by Dr. Kathleen Alfano, Director of Child Research at Fisher-Price®.  Dr. Alfano says that children are naturally inclined to enjoy outdoor play.  And, thinking back to my childhood, I agree 100%!  Although my parents weren't very active, I spent most of my free time playing outside with friends or by myself in our backyard.  As a child, I didn't think of outdoor play as work or physical activity, I just knew I loved it and it was fun!

As fun as outdoor play is, there are many benefits such as:
*allows for environmental exploration
*helps with fine and gross motor skill development
*increases strength and endurance
*and more!

So, try to follow your child's lead and get outside and play!  It creates great memories that will last a lifetime, it helps your child meet developmental milestones, and it provides your children with an attitude that physical activity can be fun - an attitude that they'll hopefully carry into their adult years and pass on to their future children!

 *GIVEAWAY*

How many winners are there? One.

What can you win? One winner will receive a Barbie Tough Trike, great for children ages 2-5.

To enter, Tell me what outdoor activity your family enjoys most in the Spring. This question must be answered to gain an entry in the giveaway.

Each of the following will give you one extra entry in the giveaway (unless stated otherwise). If an entry option is worth more than one entry, please leave the according number of comments.  Please make sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do to gain the proper number of entries:

- Read the article titled 'The Benefits of Outdoor Play' and tell me one thing you learned or an idea you took away from the article.
- Tell me if your parents were 'active' when you were a child and whether you are now 'active' as an adult.- Subscribing to my blog via email or RSS feed. 

- Adding my main button to your blog sidebar.

- Following me on Twitter (@ihchicky) and tweeting about the giveaway with a link to this page. Please leave a link to your tweet or your twitter name. You must follow AND tweet to gain 1 entry.  You can tweet up to 2x a day (at least 6 hours apart).

Learn the importance of outdoor play + #Win a Barbie Tough Trike from @ihchicky ! Ends June 17. #Canada #playpanel http://bit.ly/WinBarbie

- Following me on Blogger / Google Friends Connect (publicly).
- Entering one of my other giveaways (one bonus entry per giveaway entered).
- 'Liking' Everything Up Close on Facebook.  Please leave your name (First name and last initial) that is shown on Facebook for verification. 

- Blogging about this giveaway on your blog. Please leave a link to your blog post in your comment. 2 ENTRIES!

- Talking about and linking to this giveaway in any public forum or on Facebook. If you do this, please leave your user-name and a link to the post. 3 ENTRIES!

Important Entry Details: The above entries (main and bonus) can only be submitted once per person (except for the tweet entry, which can be done daily). Please do not use more than one blogger account or add additional anonymous comments to gain extra entries. This is not fair to everyone else and this practice is strictly prohibited. If a person is found to be using more than one account to enter the same giveaway, they will be disqualified from that particular giveaway, as well as all future giveaways.

This giveaway will end on Friday, June 17th at 11:59pm (Central Standard Time). After the giveaway has ended, the winner will be picked randomly using random.org. EMAIL RULES: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. I will be notifying the winner by email only. Please make sure your blogger profile includes your email address and make sure that it is visible. If you do not have a blogger account, please make sure you have included your email address in your post. If there is no email address provided, to contact the winner, another person will be chosen. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning email notification with their complete mailing address (I will be forwarding all this information to the sponsor), If this information is not received within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.  

This giveaway is open to residents of Canada!

Disclosure: I’m part of the Fisher-Price Play Panel and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.