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Growing Up Boulder

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Growing Up Boulder

Growing Up Boulder is a “child- and youth-friendly city initiative," and we are a nonprofit fiscally sponsored by the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center.

Our mission is to offer Boulder's young people opportunities to participate, deliberate, and influence local issues that affect their lives. We do this through our close collaborations with the City of Boulder, BVSD, University of Colorado and 50 other partners.

05/29/2026

No screens. No schedules. Just sticks, songs, and sunshine. ☀️

Here's what a morning at Nature Together looks like:
Come as you are, let your little one find their footing (and maybe a few pebbles).
Then we gather. Maybe a song to center us, a puppet to spark imagination, and a tiny weather reporter who takes their job very seriously.
We walk. We play. We follow the theme wherever it leads us, through leaves, mud, curiosity, and wonder.
And we close together, with gratitude for what the morning gave us.

Every week, same rhythm. Every week, completely different magic. 🍂

Two hours that your toddler will talk about all afternoon. Come join us. 🌲

Register at the link below:

https://www.growingupboulder.org/store/p9/naturesummer26.html

05/27/2026

Join us this summer at Nature Together!

This is an outdoor nature play series for caregivers and little ones ages 0–5, held at East Boulder Community Park every Wednesday and Friday, June 17 – August 7 from 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM.

Enjoy sensory play, seasonal activities, and open-ended exploration all in a relaxed, welcoming outdoor setting. It's designed just as much for the caregivers as the kids. You'll leave with community, fresh air, and a few new nature tricks up your sleeve.

The details:
8 weeks, 16 sessions
$150 per 5-pack of sessions (priced per family). Drop in when you can!
Head to the link below to register. We'd love to see your family out there this summer!

https://www.growingupboulder.org/store/p9/naturesummer26.html

05/18/2026

We're so excited to share that Nature Together Summer 2026 is officially open for registration!

This is an outdoor nature play series for caregivers and little ones ages 0–5, held at East Boulder Community Park every Wednesday and Friday, June 17 – August 7 from 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM.

Think sensory play, seasonal activities, and open-ended exploration all in a relaxed, welcoming outdoor setting. It's designed just as much for the caregivers as the kids. You'll leave with community, fresh air, and a few new nature tricks up your sleeve.

The details:
8 weeks, 16 sessions$150 per 5-pack of sessions (priced per family) Rain or shine!

Head to the link below to register. We'd love to see your family out there this summer! 🌻

https://www.growingupboulder.org/store/p9/naturesummer26.html

05/06/2026

It's time to celebrate how youth voice helped shape Boulder's new 19th Street improvements! Growing Up Boulder worked with youth on 3 projects related to the 19th street corridor, including in 2015 and 2019 with Crestview Elementary School and 2018 with Centennial Middle School. The city built a new underpass under 19th street, allowing students and families to cross completely separate from vehicle traffic to access Crest View Elementary and Crest View Park! In addition, new LED lighting has been installed in the underpass and will stay on 24/7. It may take a long time to go from ideation to implementation, but kids' voices lead to better outcomes!

04/30/2026

Growing Up Boulder partnered with the City of Boulder to bring together youth from Boulder High School’s Zonta Club to rename the Civic Area park in Downtown Boulder. GUB staff, Erin and Chelsea, are featured in the video and helped lead the renaming workshop.

The youth brainstormed the following names for the park:

* Creekside Park
* Civic Soul Park
* Heart Park
* Sunset Plaza
* Peace Park
* Populus Park
* Boulder Central Park
* Boulder Creek Park

Now through Monday, May 4 community members can weigh-in on their favorite of the following eight proposed names using the following link:

https://bouldercolorado.formstack.com/forms/renamingcivicarea

Community members can also provide in-person feedback at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art’s Dia Del Niño event on Saturday, April 25 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. located at the Boulder Bandshell, 1212 Canyon Blvd.

04/23/2026

Join us to hear Growing Up Boulder's Executive Director, Mara Mintzer, tell an inspiring story about children and nature at a city-sponsored Earth Day Community Storytelling Night this Sunday, April 26, at E-town, from 5-7.

Learn more about the event at this link: https://events.humanitix.com/april-26-2026-earth-day-community-storytelling-night

See you there!

04/22/2026

This week Growing Up Boulder had a goodbye lunch for Jetza, our beloved bilingual engagement consultant. Jetza joined Growing Up Boulder in 2022 and has been an excellent addition to the team. During all of our projects that Jetza worked on, our youth and community members loved her. In Jetza’s own words, “I truly believe in people and in the opportunities that we can offer everyone equally.” We will miss you Jetza! Thank you for everything you have done for our community.

04/19/2026

“How might city planning change if children were treated as legitimate civic participants rather than future users?”

- Latitude Regenerative Real Estate

Latitude Regenerative Real Estate specializes in ecologically rich homes and farms. Each week Latitude Regenerative Real Estate has inviting conversations on their podcast and this week they hosted Mara Mintzer, the co-founder for Growing up Boulder. Neal Collins speaks with Mara Mintzer about her years of hands-on collaboration with young people. Mara shares how children’s perspectives are overlooked and how their insights about safety, nature, beauty, and belonging need to be built in the environment. Neal and Mara also discuss why child-friendly cities are more humane and sustainable as well as what children consistently ask for when invited to city planning.

Listen to the podcast at: https://chooselatitude.com/the-regenerative-real-estate-podcast

04/10/2026

Caddis Collaborative is an architecture, urban design, and planning firm in Boulder, Colorado. The collaborative strives for sustainable design, zero net energy buildings, and livable communities. The Caddis Collaborative team members participated in a workshop led jointly by Mara, the co-founder of Growing Up Boulder and James Rojas, co-author of Dream Play Build: Hands-On Community Engagement for Enduring Spaces and Places.

In the workshop, Mara and James showed what works with children also works with adults who are designing cities for children. The Caddis team found the workshop stimulating and exciting. At Caddis, the team is constantly looking for how to evolve and learn. The Caddis collaborative learned useful ideas from Mara and James and the learning went both ways with Mara and James learning from the Caddis Collaborative.

You can read more about this wonderful collaboration with Caddis Collaborative at this link: https://caddispc.com/ideas-at-play-how-adults-can-design-for-children/

04/02/2026

Nature Together programming starts tomorrow!! Growing Up Boulder is excited for babies and toddlers to experience nature in a fun and new way!

Address

Boulder Public Library, 1001 Arapahoe Avenue
Boulder, CO
80302

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 3pm
Wednesday	10am - 3pm
Thursday	10am - 3pm

Website

http://www.growingupboulder.org/

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