How fitting is it that National Anti-Boredom Month is the same month as Parks & Recreation Month!? We think it’s on point! Parks and recreation spaces are the perfect way to combat boredom while spending time outdoors moving, socializing and playing! Our top five ideas of fun things to do outdoors will help get kids, families and communities having fun together. Who has time to be bored anyway? Take a picture outing! Not only will this flex your creative muscle, but it encourages movement and helps us really see what’s around us. Use phones or disposable cameras for a fun time for all ages and abilities. Exercise! There are so many ways to exercise outdoors. Run, bike, hike or use a local outdoor fitness space to get your daily exercise. ELEVATE® Fitness Course is a great way to involve people of all ages and fitness levels in a workout. With three different levels of challenge, people from fitness beginner to fitness mature can get their move on. Get on or in the water! When it’s hot outside, the water can feel so ...

Movement and fitness are so important and parks, playgrounds, recreation and outdoor fitness spaces are the perfect places to move. Getting everyone moving is crucial to the physical and mental wellbeing of the community and gives us healthy ways to connect, engage and play together. In our home community of Fond du Lac, WI, we’re celebrating Family Health and Fitness Day on Saturday, June 11 at Walleye Weekend – a local festival held every June in the beautiful Lakeside Park! Some of the Burke “family” is taking on the five-mile run and we’re sponsoring a scavenger hunt that provides outdoor enjoyment for the entire family. The Burke playgrounds and the ALL-NEW MOVMNT™ provide a place for children and families to find movement and fitness that is also playful and FUN. MOVMNT is as the name implies – a way everyone to compete with each other or themselves on this outdoor electronic game that you can only play by moving and using your agility. The advantages of movement and time spent outdoors are endless and include a variety of benefits from increased ...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and to mark this important month, we want to talk about mental health and how exercising – and exercising with a community – can positively impact well-being. There isn’t one answer or one way for everyone but study after study shows that regular movement and exercise helps us feel better both physically and mentally. This doesn’t mean we have to run marathons (although you can!), it just means that if we replaced 15 minutes of sitting with 15 minutes of running (high intensity activity) or an hour of walking (low intensity activity), we could reduce our odds of becoming depressed by 26%. This is all according to a study done by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. And the good news is “exercise” can be something fun like doing an obstacle course, playing with our children at a park or playground or walking or running on a trail. One might ask why exercise is one way to prevent and treat depression. Exercise promotes changes in the brain that include neural growth and ...