Hike it Baby works to connect, empower, and impact young families through interactive programing that provides resources, tools, and community connections centered around young babies and their caretakers. Through these program's Hike it Baby creates opportunities and removes barriers to access so families with babies and young children can take their first steps outside. We believe all families have the right to connect with nature, benefit from spending time outdoors, and be inspired to a lifelong love of nature. Our programs support this mission.
The Turn the Blues Green is our program focused on maternal mental health that introduces new mamas to the benefits of time spent in nature for both themselves and their new babies. This program includes: New Parent hikes, "Bring Baby Outside" Workshops, and our "Turn the Blues Green" Booklet: Our Turn the Blues Green Booklet combines personal anecdotes from our Hike it Baby mamas with practical tips and advice for how to get outside with a new baby, stats about why it's good to get outside, as well as journal prompts for reflection written for us by a postpartum doula. The "Turn the Blues Green" Video series featuring stories of real HiB moms and their experiences with PPD/PPA and the benefits they found by connecting to nature.
Community Hikes are the core of Hike it Baby. We use the term “hike’ loosely and offer a wide variety of events from trail hikes to urban strolls. Our Hike Hosts are trained to ensure each family has a welcoming, inclusive experience on the trail with us while building community.
The Bring it Outside program develops engaging tools, activities, and events that motivate families to get outside year-round. Bring it Outside programming includes:
Our annual HiB events, such as HiB30, Workbooks and activity pages that connect nature to early childhood learning, and our HiB Video Library ranging from How-Tos to HiB Stories.
This program focuses on meeting people where they are and helping them get outside in the ways that work for their families, with an emphasis on connecting to nearby nature.
Supplemental Programs
Each Hike it Baby program has a direct correlation with our mission, vision, and values and how it connects to the families in our local communities. Hike it Baby supplemental programs are just that. They directly support our programs through trainings, signage, and resources to further support and engage our communities.
The Wander Walks program makes it easy for families to get outside and have fun together in nearby nature, local parks, and green spaces .
Wander Walks use activity-based signage that supports early childhood development and encourages nature-based play.
Wander Walks are bilingual: English on one side, Spanish on the other.
Wander Walks are accessible: created with multiples ages and abilities in mind
Wander Walks introduce concepts of environmental conservation and stewardship.
Community Development takes our Hike it Baby members and gives them opportunities to grow their outreach and engagement in their local community and within the Hike it Baby organization itself.
This program is how we train and support our communities’ Ambassadors and Hike Hosts, and several of our staff team moved up from these ambassador roles to top figures in our organization.
Currently, this program supports ~325 ambassadors and 270 branches in North America.
Launched in 2019 as an interactive hiking trail guide for families, by families, the FTG helps all families find and explore family-friendly trails, wherever they are. The Family Trail Guide was inspired by the challenge parents face in not knowing if trails are truly family-friendly before spending precious time and resources to venture out.
Trusted HiB community members add entries that include the details parents want to know, everything from if the bathrooms have changing tables, to photos of trail heads and parking lots, to ensure families find their way safely to the best spots for outdoor exploration near them. We currently have 1,200 trail entries in the Family Trail Guide across the country.
