By Emma Bouthillette 

Staff Writer

As daylight hours shorten, temperatures drop and precipitation in the forecast turns from rain to snow, Mainers settle in for winter, but the non-profit Winter Kids organization is encouraging kids — and their parents — to get out and enjoy the fluffy white stuff. 

Winter Kids was founded in 2000, and now offers free or discounted tickets at more than 50 outdoor recreation centers throughout Maine to fifth, sixth and seventh grade Maine students. Winter Kids Executive Director Fran Mullin said the organization expects to see more students than last year’s 4,725 students take advantage of this year’s program.

“Winter is long in Maine,” Mullin said. “It is important for kids and families to get outside so they aren’t on the couch all winter, a time when people are more inclined to be sedentary.”

Paula Mahony of Portland became a volunteer for Winter Kids the year after her oldest son, now a junior in high school, used his first passport from the organization. She said the passport got both of her children outside and active, and now they are “avid outdoor winter sports lovers.”

 “We could all go skiing with the passport,” she said. “With the cost of taking two kids and getting them started skiing, it is expensive, but the passport made it affordable.”

Mullen said the idea for the organization began in 1997 through the Ski Maine Association in an effort to help kids learn how to ski so they could potentially become customers at area ski resorts.

Now, a Winter Kids Passport offers access to downhill skiing, as well as cross country skiing, ice skating and snow tubing at recreation centers, providing fifth, sixth and seventh graders with a learning experience and a chance to enjoy the outdoors. 

“When kids enjoy being outside, they are more active and become more healthy,” Mullin said. “When they get outside as part of the day, it becomes a normal thing.”

One of the participating recreation areas includes Harris Farm in Dayton, featuring 26 miles of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Owner Dixie Harris said they have been a participating area since the inception of the program hoping to attract more children to cross country skiing. She said she is excited for another season and the trails will open as soon as four to six inches of snow falls on the ground.

“Last year was our best year for participation, and we love our “winter kids.” They are also getting their parents back into skiing,” Harris said.

She said parents who used to ski lapsed when they had small children, but are getting back into the recreation now that their children are old enough to bring along.

“The kids catch on fast,” Harris said. 

Children and their parents enjoy the outdoor activity and the family time they have through using the Winter Kids Passport, Mullin said. Kelly Desrosiers of Unity said her fifth grade son participated in the program last winter, and said it got her entire family outside.

“The passport completely transformed our family’s attitude about winter, and more importantly transformed our behavior,” Desrosiers said. “We found that while we usually had to prod them to play outside and stay outside, while skiing they were happy as clams for the entire day on the slopes.” 

Aside from the Winter Kids Passport, the organization offers Maine educators a “Guide to Outdoor Active Learning,” a 130-page book with lesson plans, activities, assessments and safety suggestions to integrate outdoor activity with standard curriculum for all subjects for kindergarten through grade 12. 

“It’s regular class activities, but doing it outside,” Mullin said. “Lessons outside become more hands on with the kids.”

Winter Kids also offers workshops to train teachers how to best use the guide, Mullin said.

Through both programs offered, Mullin said Winter Kids helps children develop lifelong habits of health, education and physical fitness through encouraging many forms of outdoor winter activity.

While her children ski for the enjoyment of the sport and do not realize now how their outdoor activity promotes a healthy lifestyle, Mahony said she hopes they will in the future.

“Now when I look back at my parents who always made sure we had skis and skates for the winter, I realize how important it was for us to get outside,” Mahony said. 

To obtain a Winter Kids Passport or learn more about the organization, visit www.winterkids.org.