Toys for the park: Celebrating 100 years of National Parks in the US
The US National Park Service will be celebrating 100 years of playing outdoors in 2016 with a proposed set of park-themed Legos.
They remain a concept at the moment, but you can help bring them into existence by voting for them on the Lego Ideas website.
There are 407 national parks in the US -- considered national treasures for their unique natural beauty and resources -- and the proposed Lego sets represent three of them from different corners of the country.
The proposed sets take you from the wetlands of South Florida at Everglades National Park to the chilly waters of the Brooks River in Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska to the arid Arizona desert that's dotted with cacti.
They include park rangers and visitors and examples of the diverse wildlife in each of the three localities for educational play.
At press time, the idea has 4,152 supporters with 335 days remaining for it to gather 10,000 votes, which will take it one step closer to approval.
To vote: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/96402
Games that take you under the sun
If you're looking for National Park-themed toys that are available now, a special edition of Monopoly lets you explore over 60 of parks, featuring mountainous backdrops and animals native to the areas, MSRP $39.95.
Other classic games available in a National Park-themed special edition include Memory (MSRP $14.95), Yahtzee (MSRP $16.95) and UNO ($13.83).
Nature and theme park fun in one trip
Meanwhile, if you're looking to combine a National Park vacation with a theme park one, look to South Dakota. Not far from the Badlands National Park (totaling 64,144 acres of set in contrast with canyons of stone eroded into dramatic buttes and spires) is an amusement park based on the classic animated series, The Flintstones, Flintstones Bedrock City.
National Park Service website: http://www.nps.gov/index.htm
