Join the Club
We know finding time to get outside can be tough and that figuring out what to do once outside can be even more difficult. That’s why Riveredge Nature Center has started a community based Family Nature Club series visiting locations throughout Ozaukee, Washington, and Sheboygan Counties.
What’s a Family Nature Club?
- Family Nature Clubs provide scheduled family time during the week, where members can work and play together outside without distractions.
- Family Nature Club gatherings will take place monthly from September to June, and our club leaders take charge of all the organizing of trips and activities and allow families to focus on bonding, instead of planning.
- Not only will you connect as a family, but you’ll meet other families with similar values and interests and experience natural areas and activities throughout your community that you can return to again and again!
Ready to join the club? Check out all the meeting dates below and just fill out the one minute Google Form to RSVP! The club is totally free, and you can join at any time- no long term commitment needed!
When We Meet:
Meeting Locations:
The places we choose to meet and explore each month change based on season and activity!
Upcoming Meeting Dates & Activities:
Please check out our Facebook Page specifics and for all the nitty, gritty details- be sure to check out the RSVP form for each date!
Want to head out on an Adventure on your own?
Check out our new Family Nature Club interactive Google Map. We’ve mapped and added some basic details to some of our staff’s favorite locations to spend time together in nature with their families!
Our Leaders!
Rachel Feerick
Scientist in Residence
Rachel Feerick grew up in Wisconsin where her passion sprouted for the great outdoors; started with day trips to Riveredge, overnight YMCA camps, camping with her family, and backpacking adventures. Eventually this love grew for the outdoors expanded to working in the outdoor/wilderness industry in Alaska, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Nunavut, Canada. Rachel is thrilled to share her excitement of being outside and exploring with the Family Nature Club. She is looking forward to sharing moments that promote new experiences and growth within others. In her spare time she enjoys cooking and baking yummy food, creating art, writing letters, reading in wooden rocking chairs, canoeing, and being in her fruit and vegetable garden.
Cassie Bauer
Family & Community Programs Manager
Cassie is an instrument of collaborations, connections, and community engagement. She works to welcome all families from surrounding communities to the wealth of programs at Riveredge. Coordinating seasonal family festivities that are organically awesome (such as Fall Family Festival, Frog Fest, and Handmade for the Holidays) are her forte! She is quick to high five local scout groups for their achievements, create a clamor about a birthday celebration, and extend a hand to other community entities committed to the health, development, and merriment of local families and the environment.
As an environmental educator she believes that it is up to her to bring to light each individual’s link to our world and the elements of the world that surrounds us. By fostering natural exploration and hands-on outdoor experiences for personalities of all ages, she strives to peak their curiosities about the natural world and their place in it.
Jessica Jens
Executive Director
Jessica Jens is the Executive Director of Riveredge Nature Center and lives near Cedar Grove with her family: James (husband), Aspen (12), and Ian (8). Together, they love planning epic adventures for family vacations. On a daily basis, they raise chickens, pigs, and turkeys (sometimes) and have a couple of horses on their hobby farm while doing their best to tend to the land. Aspen and Ian typically help out at the Family Nature Club outings and particularly love fishing, frog catching, kayaking, rock collecting, swimming, campfires, and snow-filled adventures. As a laid back, and rather spontaneous family, they all believe that the best adventures are the ones that aren’t planned, but present themselves in the moment.
What’s the big deal?
Between soccer practice, orchestra recitals, homework, jobs, and everything else your family’s schedule has to throw at you, we know that finding time to breathe, let alone spending quality time together as a family, can be extremely difficult. That’s why we’re here to help.
These days, the average family spends just eight hours a week together, while the average child spends less than 30 minutes a day in unstructured outdoor play (compare that to six to eight hours a day in front of a screen!). So what’s the big deal? The research is clear:
- Spending time together as a family increases emotional bonding and communication between family members and significantly reduces behavioral problems in kids.
- Time spent outside, meanwhile, has huge health, happiness, and wellness benefits for every family member.
- Even better? Spending time together as family outside combines the benefit of both into one potent boost of family bonding, as a brand new study shows.
