O.K. Kids Mission
To provide multiple outdoor recreation opportunities for Kansas youth with adult partnering and mentoring to encourage outdoor recreational opportunities, and promote and provide an active lifestyle as an alternative to sedentary activities.
Program Scope
O.K. Kids covers the entire state of Kansas. Primary sites are at the Kansas State Parks, but other organizations and venues such as City and County Parks and Recreation Departments and private sites also hold O.K. Kids events.
O.K. Kids Program
Across the state of Kansas each year, over 50 sites sign up to host the O.K. Kids Program. Participation has steadily grown through 2010 with over 13,000 Kansas youth and their parents/grandparents enjoying their day outdoors at 46 different sites across Kansas. Events are free to all participants and open to all.
The O.K. Kids Program offers the opportunity for participants to experience the outdoor beauty of Kansas and to learn a little about its natural resources and wildlife through games and activities.
Each site determines the specific activities it will offer participants based on the site’s resources and perceived community interests and needs. Kansas Wildscape Foundation provides the operating manuals, event signage, free participant caps or t-shirts, gifts, prizes and overall organizational, promotional and marketing support.
Kids participate in outdoor games and activities including:
All events are free and provide a great way for families to spend time together outdoors. For many of these Kansas kids, this O.K. Kids Day will be an introduction to the beauty and enjoyment of the outdoors, for others a reawakening or reinforcing of their outdoor interests.
O.K. Kids Program Impact & Involvement
The first year of the program was 2001, and was limited to a single day of activities at every Kansas State Park. Between 4,000 and 5,000 attended the first O.K. Kids Day. As the program has grown, it has become an annual program with most events held between May and September on a day selected by the site host.
The Kansas Wildscape Foundation and the O.K. Kids Program understands that this is a generation of children full of technology, constant activities and expectations, strict boundaries set by parents and society to protect, and a shrinking sensory world. Today’s children are not “missing” nature, because they cannot miss something they have never truly had. It is our goal to help show our Kansas children the beauty of nature, an appreciation for nature, and a desire to seek out more nature in their life. By making this impact, we hope to help a child find a place of imagination, a place of fantasy, a place of peace, a place of discovery, a place of freedom, a place of privacy, a place of transformation.
Below you will find 2010 O.K. Kids Day events throughout the state. Included is the name of the event as well as a contact number for more information (time, location, activities, age group, etc.). If the name of the city involved is not part of the event name, it is included after the event name.
April:
17 - First City TRYathlon, Leavenworth - (913)58-6629
17 - Lovewell State Park O.K. Kids Day, Webber - (785) 759-4971
17 - Timber Ridge Open Park Event, DeSoto - (913) 592-3235
21 - NW KS Conservation Alliance Kids’ Conservation Roundup, Thomas Co. - (785) 899-3070 ext. 35
22 - Cross Timbers State Park Earth Day, Toronto - (620) 637-2213
23 - Hillsdale Watershed Festival - (913) 829-9414
24 - Cheney State Park & Lake Association O.K. Kids Day - (316) 540-0411
24 - Ernie Miller Nature Center La Grande Birding Fiesta, Olathe - (913) 764-8580 ext 27
24 - Gardner Bike Rodeo - (913) 856-0936
24 -Spring Hill Fishing Day - (913) 592-3235
May
1 - Baldwin City O.K. Kids Day - (785) 594-2285
1 - Camp Wood YMCA Open House, Elmdale - (620) 273-8641
1 - Great Plains Nature Center O.K. Kids Day, Wichita - (316) 683-5499
1 - Meade State Park O.K. Kids Day - (620) 873-2572
1 - Pittsburg Parks & Rec O.K. Kids Day - (620) 230-5538
2 - Winfield O.K. Kids Fishing Derby - (620) 221-2160
8 - Gardner Fishing Derby - (913) 592-3235
8 - Lansing Fishing Derby - (913) 727-2960
8 - Lawrence Kids Fishing Derby - (785) 832-7949
9 - Bonner Springs Parks & Rec Youth Fishing Derby - (913) 422-3404
15 - Webster State Park O.K. Kids Day, Stockton - (785) 425-6775
22 - Garnett Fish Trot for Kids - (785) 448-6549
22 -Tonganoxie Summer Kickoff Party - (913) 845-3502
22 - Watson Park O.K. Kids Day, Wichita - (316) 529-9940
June
4 & 5 - Arkansas City Sgt. Jerry Mills Jr. Fishing Derby - (620) 441-4301
5 - Clearwater Rec Commission Fishing Derby (620) 584-2323
5 - Dillon Nature Center/Wal-Mart O.K. Kids Fishing Derby, Hutchinson - (620) 663-7411
5 - Fall River State Park O.K. Kids Day, Toronto - (620) 637-2213
5 - Glen Elder State Park 6th Annual Fishing Tourney - (785) 545-3345
5 - Lake Scott State Park O.K. Kids Day, Scott City - (620) 872-2061
5 - Milford Nature Center Kids’ Fishing Clinic & Derby, Junction City - (785) 238-5323
5 - Mulvane Rec Commission Adventure Day - (316) 777-0858
5 - Pomona Lake Kids Fishing Derby, Vassar - (785) 862-7711 ext 205
5 - Prairie Dog State Park O.K. Kids Day, Norton - (785) 877-2953
5 - Spring Hill Youth Fishing Derby - (913) 592-2214
5 - Turner Rec Commission Fishing Derby, Kansas City - (913) 287-2111
6 - Lakewood Fishing Derby, Salina - (785) 826-7335
12 - Cedar Bluff State Park Kids Outdoor Adventure, Ellis - (785) 726-3212
12 - El Dorado C.A.S.T. Catch a Special Thrill - (913) 592-3235
12 - Elk City State Park O.K. Kids Day, Independence - (620) 331-6295
19 - Wilson State Park O.K. Kids Day, Sylvan Grove/Wilson - (785) 658-2465
20 - Hillsdale State Park O.K. Kids Day - (913) 783-4507
24 - Edgerton Casting Contest - (913) 592-3235
26 - Rose Hill Recreation’s O.K. Kids Day - (316) 776-9880
July
3 - Haysville O.K. Kids Fishing Derby - (316) 529-5922
10 - DeSoto Casting Contest - (913) 592-3235
31 - Lenexa Waterfest - (913) 477-7684
August
14 - Clinton State Park O.K. Kids Day, Lawrence - (785) 842-8562
21 - Olathe Aquafest - (913) 971-9005
28 - Holton O.K. Kids Day - (785) 364-5911
28 - Tuttle Creek State Park O.K. Kids Day, Manhattan - (785) 539-7941
September
10-12 - Coffey County O.K. Kids Day, Burlington - (620) 364-8484
15 - Phillips Co. W.A.C.K.Y Day, Phillipsburg/Kirwin, (785) 543-2518
25 - Edgerton Fishing Derby - (913) 592-3235
25 - Garnett Fall Fish Trot for Kids - (785) 448-6549
October
2 - Eisenhower & Pomona O.K. Kids Day, Osage City - (785) 528-4102
2 - El Dorado State Park O.K. Kids Day - (316) 321-7180
9 - Shawnee County O.K. Kids Day on the Trail, Topeka - (785) 286-0676.
