Upper Valley Trails Alliance

P.O. Box 1215, Norwich, VT 05055. Tel (802)649-9075

Passport to Winter Fun!

Developed by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, funded by grants from
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Active Living by Design program,
the Byrne Foundation, the Wal-Mart Foundation, the Ottauquechee Health Foundation,
and the Vermont Teddy Bear Company

Overview:
The Passport to Winter Fun is a program created by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance (UVTA) that is designed to encourage children and their families to become more active outdoors during the winter months. The Passport is an 18-page booklet containing a 30-step trail. Participants move one step further along the trail each day they engage in 60 minutes or more of physical activity outdoors. In addition to the trail, the Passport provides a list of ideas for winter enjoyment, a means to record achieving each new step through travel diary entries and drawings, and a series of incentives that encourage children and families to regularly spend an hour or more outside enjoying the winter. The 2008 Passport to Winter Fun program in the Upper Valley will run from mid-January to the beginning of March.

Layout:
The Passport is designed to be engaging and easy to use for children from kindergarten through the 6 th grade. As in an actual passport, each child puts his or her picture on the first page. The Passport also begins with a list of winter activities that might interest children and help them get excited about being active.

The Passport trail is divided into levels delineated by winter animals. Each new level is associated with incentive prizes of free active fun. Participants begin on day one as a Snow Goose trekking along on snowshoes. Upon achieving day 10, participants move up to a Showshoe Hare on a toboggan.

At day 20 participants become a Winter Fox bounding along the trail. The ultimate goal is to make it to day 30 when participants can become a Polar Bear. Reaching the Polar Bear is a real challenge that requires 60 minutes of activity each day at least 5 days a week for the course of an 6-week program. Polar Bear achievers win a free t-shirt and all Winter Foxes and P

olar Bears have the opportunity to enter the Grand Prize Raffle.

The Family Star, a new addition in the 2008 Passport program encourages the entire family to get outside! If a participant completes his or her daily activity with a family member, then he or she may color in one Family Star on the Passport pathway. Twenty Family Stars over the entire 6-week program will earn the participant an extra t-shirt for a family member!

Incentive Prizes:
To keep participants motivated along the Passport trail, each new level offers a reward in the form of an incentive prize. Local businesses including the CCBA, the Dartmouth Cross Country Ski Center, the Hartford Municipal Arena, the Nordic Skater, the River Valley Club, Whaleback, and Wilderness Trails are providing free passes and/or equipment rentals. Passes and rentals will give participants a free day of cross country skiing, skating, swimming, climbing, or tubing. Participants may select one of these prizes each time they achieve a new level in the Passport. Each prize can only be selected one time.

Achievement Awards:
All participants receive recognition for their efforts. Passports are collected at the end of the program for the UVTA to view, and then will be returned to each child with a Certificate of Achievement. Polar Bear Achievers who reach 40 active days receive a free t-shirt and are entered into a drawing for the Grand Prizes, which include a GPS unit, a Dartmouth Outing Club Child’s Season Pass, and a stuffed polar bear.

All Winter Foxes and Polar Bears will be eligible to enter the Grand Prize Raffle for the chance to win a pair of snowshoes, donated by EMS, a 2008-2009 season’s ski pass to the Dartmouth Cross Country Ski Center, or an iPod Nano. All Polar Bear Achievers will receive a free t-shirt and are entered into a drawing to win one of 350 available stuffed polar bears, all generously donated by the Vermont Teddy Bear Company. Click here for Grand Prize Raffle Prizes

We are offering the Passport program to all children in the Upper Valley region. For information about the Passport program or to request a Passport please contact us at:

Upper Valley Trails Alliance
P.O. Box 1215
Norwich, VT 05055
(802) 649-9075
e-mail
www.uvtrails.org

We’d be glad to partner with you to create a successful Passport for your community.
For details contact the Trails Alliance
(649-9075; e-mail).

Trails Groups Maps Events Resources Projects Home	Upper Valley Trails Alliance P.O. Box 1215, Norwich, VT 05055. Tel (802)649-9075 About Us \| Become a Member
Trails Groups Maps Events Resources Projects Home	Passport to Winter Fun! Developed by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, funded by grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Active Living by Design program, the Byrne Foundation, the Wal-Mart Foundation, the Ottauquechee Health Foundation, and the Vermont Teddy Bear Company Overview: The Passport to Winter Fun is a program created by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance (UVTA) that is designed to encourage children and their families to become more active outdoors during the winter months. The Passport is an 18-page booklet containing a 30-step trail. Participants move one step further along the trail each day they engage in 60 minutes or more of physical activity outdoors. In addition to the trail, the Passport provides a list of ideas for winter enjoyment, a means to record achieving each new step through travel diary entries and drawings, and a series of incentives that encourage children and families to regularly spend an hour or more outside enjoying the winter. The 2008 Passport to Winter Fun program in the Upper Valley will run from mid-January to the beginning of March. Layout: The Passport is designed to be engaging and easy to use for children from kindergarten through the 6 th grade. As in an actual passport, each child puts his or her picture on the first page. The Passport also begins with a list of winter activities that might interest children and help them get excited about being active.
			The Passport trail is divided into levels delineated by winter animals. Each new level is associated with incentive prizes of free active fun. Participants begin on day one as a Snow Goose trekking along on snowshoes. Upon achieving day 10, participants move up to a Showshoe Hare on a toboggan.
At day 20 participants become a Winter Fox bounding along the trail. The ultimate goal is to make it to day 30 when participants can become a Polar Bear. Reaching the Polar Bear is a real challenge that requires 60 minutes of activity each day at least 5 days a week for the course of an 6-week program. Polar Bear achievers win a free t-shirt and all Winter Foxes and Polar Bears have the opportunity to enter the Grand Prize Raffle. The Family Star, a new addition in the 2008 Passport program encourages the entire family to get outside! If a participant completes his or her daily activity with a family member, then he or she may color in one Family Star on the Passport pathway. Twenty Family Stars over the entire 6-week program will earn the participant an extra t-shirt for a family member!
Incentive Prizes: To keep participants motivated along the Passport trail, each new level offers a reward in the form of an incentive prize. Local businesses including the CCBA, the Dartmouth Cross Country Ski Center, the Hartford Municipal Arena, the Nordic Skater, the River Valley Club, Whaleback, and Wilderness Trails are providing free passes and/or equipment rentals. Passes and rentals will give participants a free day of cross country skiing, skating, swimming, climbing, or tubing. Participants may select one of these prizes each time they achieve a new level in the Passport. Each prize can only be selected one time. Achievement Awards: All participants receive recognition for their efforts. Passports are collected at the end of the program for the UVTA to view, and then will be returned to each child with a Certificate of Achievement. Polar Bear Achievers who reach 40 active days receive a free t-shirt and are entered into a drawing for the Grand Prizes, which include a GPS unit, a Dartmouth Outing Club Child’s Season Pass, and a stuffed polar bear. All Winter Foxes and Polar Bears will be eligible to enter the Grand Prize Raffle for the chance to win a pair of snowshoes, donated by EMS, a 2008-2009 season’s ski pass to the Dartmouth Cross Country Ski Center, or an iPod Nano. All Polar Bear Achievers will receive a free t-shirt and are entered into a drawing to win one of 350 available stuffed polar bears, all generously donated by the Vermont Teddy Bear Company. Click here for Grand Prize Raffle Prizes We are offering the Passport program to all children in the Upper Valley region. For information about the Passport program or to request a Passport please contact us at:
Upper Valley Trails Alliance P.O. Box 1215 Norwich, VT 05055 (802) 649-9075 e-mail www.uvtrails.org		We’d be glad to partner with you to create a successful Passport for your community. For details contact the Trails Alliance (649-9075; e-mail).