Empower Youth to Grow Outdoors!

This summer, our Super Stars climbed aboard the "Steward Ship." Equipped with trash-grabbing oars, we set sail from West Baltimore to Druid Hill Park—playing, learning, and leading together in the heart of our city.

This summer at Arlington Elementary, InDiGO's enrichment program gave children the chance to dance, explore, create, play, and be kids. We began each day in a big circle to warm up our bodies and review our norms. Friendships soon formed as students splashed in the sprinkler, filled the sidewalks with chalk, and played games they couldn't get enough of. 

Each week carried a theme that shaped how children played and learned together. The first week focused on kindness, as kids practiced playing nicely together, keeping the focus on fun rather than winning, and enjoying each game no matter the outcome.

Week two built resilience, as children encouraged one another to try again after setbacks, cope with the summer heat, and persevere through challenges. Week three centered on grounding, helping kids calm their bodies and emotions through regulation and co-regulation. Week four highlighted stewardship, from tending the gardens to caring for shared spaces.

Week five wrapped up the summer with integrity. Children reflected on aligning thought, word, feeling, and action, and what it means to do the right thing, no matter who is watching. It was a summer of learning through joy, where play, care, and creativity became pathways to growth and connection. 

The weather station, part of the Baltimore Social‑Environmental Collaborative (BSEC) network, became a steady feature of summer learning. Children tracked temperature, rainfall, wind, sunlight, and humidity with scientific tools that feed into a citywide system of data. By watching the skies and seeing the numbers shift in real time, they began to notice how weather shapes daily life in their own neighborhood. This simple routine helped kids appreciate the shade of trees on hot days, think about where water and food come from, and start building the awareness that will guide them as ecological stewards of the future. 

The Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative (BSEC) is filling critical data gaps by placing weather stations in city neighborhoods, helping us understand and address urban heat, flooding, and air quality where they impact communities most. By showing which neighborhoods face the most extreme heat and pollution, this weather data will guide Baltimore Forest School’s fight for the Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights, so that every child can breathe clean air, find cool shade, and play safely in their own city.

Studies from organizations like the Children & Nature Network and the American Psychological Association show that when young people take part in stewardship, they gain a stronger sense of purpose, responsibility, and belonging. Caring for gardens, trees, or even their own schoolyard gives children the experience of making a tangible difference in their community. Over time, these small acts build habits of care and reinforce the belief that their choices matter. By practicing stewardship now, students begin to see themselves as leaders who can shape healthier communities and a more sustainable future.

Research also highlights the power of creativity. Studies from the National Endowment for the Arts and the World Health Organization show that engaging in art, music, and dance strengthens self-confidence, emotional expression, and social connection.

At Arlington, children worked with clay, drummed, sang, and danced. These moments of creativity offered safe ways to express feelings, build coordination, and find joy together. Through art and music, students discovered new voices and rhythms, and learned that creativity itself can be a pathway to healing, belonging, and growth.

The smoothie bike showed how fun and learning can blend together. As children pedaled to make their drinks, they discovered how movement creates energy and how good nutrition can taste. Choosing fruits and flavors that nourish, they saw firsthand that physical activity and healthy choices go hand in hand. The lesson also reflected a bigger shift in education. Across the country, research and policy point to the need to adapt educational approaches and pedagogy to students rather than force them to fit outdated systems.

InDiGO takes education a step further with our unifying approach. Instead of centering on subjects and disciplines, we begin with the children and allow subjects to emerge through their lived experiences. Rather than a milkshake model that mixes unhealthy ingredients, the smoothie becomes a metaphor for natural, relevant, and nourishing learning. On the bike blender, children connected their favorite flavors with health, sustainability, farming, planetary cycles, and even math. It was playful, integrative learning at its best—showing how joy can power both the body and the mind.

Fridays carried the magic even further. Each week, children set out for Druid Hill Park to explore the forest, notice its creatures, and take part in yoga and sound healing led by Women of Color Outdoors (WOCO). These Forest Friday mornings were a collaboration between Temple X and InDiGO as members of Baltimore Forest School. These mornings invited calm, movement, and a more profound sense of connection with nature. Afterward, the InDiGO crew hiked across the park to the pool, ending the day with laughter and splashes. Over the summer, schools were closed on Fridays, and families needed dependable options. Forest Fridays answered that need, becoming a bridge between children and nature, city and forest.

As Baltimore Forest School, InDiGO, and our partners are working to reclaim the park for children and families. This involves removing illicit activities and repurposing forest spaces for community use, constructing outdoor classrooms, and transforming fallen logs into play and learning structures.

It means posting signs that declare the Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights (COBOR) alongside clear messages like “No Dumping – Children Play Here.” It means better coordination between the Zoo and the surrounding park, and stronger connections between organizations across the street, like Third Space and Parks and People.

The challenge is to break down silos and work together. The opportunity is to make Druid Hill Park a safe and welcoming sanctuary for children, where the promise of COBOR becomes a lived reality at the very center of Baltimore, rippling out across the city and beyond.

During Forest Fridays, children not only played and explored but also learned about the living world of Druid Hill Park. They spotted squirrels and birds, glimpsed deer moving quietly through the trees, listened to the buzz of cicadas, and noticed flowers blooming along the paths. With curiosity, they discussed decomposition, searched for insects under logs and noticed how trees, soil, and streams fit together as part of a larger ecosystem.

The pool, while not exactly part the natural ecology, but it is an essential feature of our park system. It gave children a safe place to cool off and celebrate after mornings of learning and exploration. We look forward to the day when children can exercise all of their rights in the city, including the right to splash in clean streams in Druid Hill Park. As of now, none of the streams in the park are safe enough for that simple joy.

They also heard stories about the park’s history, from its role in the city’s past to its importance as Baltimore’s central park. These weekly journeys tied play to science, history, and stewardship, helping children see themselves as part of the park’s ongoing story.

This work is already taking root. In partnership with Towson University and the Upward Bound program, we carried out another major clean‑up in the Hillway section of Druid Hill Park. Our spring and summer efforts in this one section of the park have removed more than 500 pounds of trash thus far.

We are coordinating with the Disc Golf Association and continue to work with Baltimore City Recreation and Parks (BCRP) leadership to keep progress moving. Four new park rangers have been hired so far, yet with thousands of acres of parkland, more resources are still needed. Investment must support not only recreation centers and pools, which we value deeply, but also the parklands themselves. Through Baltimore Forest School, we are building the collaborations needed to make the Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights real, beginning with the city’s heart at Druid Hill Park.

InDiGO and Temple X are members of the Baltimore Forest School, a cooperative inter-agency, cross-sector coalition dedicated to making the Baltimore Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights a lived reality.

Our work begins in Baltimore, but its impact is rippling across the country. Through a growing national network of educators, organizers, researchers, and faith leaders, we’re building a movement that connects place-based action to system-wide transformation.

The Baltimore Forest School’s child-centered, quad-sector model shows how we can reimagine systems by putting children at the center—integrating education, health, environment, and economy into one cohesive, community-driven approach to long-term wellbeing. Making the Baltimore Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights real means turning powerful language into infrastructure, policy, and lived experience.

If this work moves you, help us move it forward. Share this newsletter with anyone who might align with our mission or be inspired by our work. 

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