SALT LAKE CITY — Persuading kids to put down their tablets or phones in favor of heading outside may be getting tougher and tougher for parents to do. However, a growing number of outdoor adventure apps can be a part of the solution.

KSL TV asked the Fonarow family to come to Liberty Park and try out three different apps to see how effective they could be in getting kids to go outdoors.

Tyler Fonarow, the dad, runs Find Your Path Utah, a recreation program he founded with an aim to get kids and adults outdoors so they can immerse themselves in nature.

“We take kids camping and hiking. We’re away from screens,” Fonarow explained. “I think that being outside brings them alive a little bit more. Gets them moving. It’s good physical, spiritual and emotional health.”

SpecTrek

Fonarow’s 11-year-old daughter, Tessa, tried out the augmented reality game Spectrek.

It used the phone’s camera and GPS to bring the outside environs of Liberty Park into the game play. Tessa’s mission was to clear out the park of all its ghosts.

“I think it was pretty fun,” said Tessa. “I thought the best part was that you got to follow around and catch all the ghosts and stuff.”

Would it lure other kids Tessa’s age into the great outdoors, though? Tessa thinks so.

“Most kids are used to TV. It’ll help them be outside while doing stuff they are used to.”

Clandestine Anomaly

Tessa’s 9-year-old sister, Josie, tried out another augmented reality game, Clandestine Anomaly.

Like SpecTrek, it uses a smartphone’s camera and GPS to layer characters and objects into Liberty Park. Josie moved all over the park as she defended it from an alien invasion.

“It was telling me to go to a safe spot,” Josie described.

She thought the best part was how it got her to move around.

“Telling you to explore and stuff like that,” she said. “It was fun. It was interesting.”

But will it get kids to go outside?

“Probably,” thought Josie. “Usually, when you’re playing apps you’re sitting down.”

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Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat, Houseparty. There are now 7 million apps available for smart devices that didn’t exist 10 years ago.

Some apps cost $3, $4 or more from the Google or Apple app stores — but many are available for free.

Outdoor adventure apps go beyond augmented reality. Kids can do everything from gaming and geocaching to learning about bugs, nature and the universe.

Star Walk 2

Both Tessa and Josie turned out to be really big fans of a third app they tried: Star Walk 2. By pointing their phones at the sky, the app revealed the locations of stars, planets and constellations — even in daytime.

“It’s a cool app,” Tessa said. “I liked how it showed the constellations you pointed at so there’s not cluttered constellations everywhere.”

“I definitely learned that there are way more constellations than everybody thinks there is,” said Josie.

“It really intrigued them to understand the stars are there, even during the daylight,” said Fonarow.

“I was a little skeptical at first,” he explained. “I’m kind of more of a purist for the outdoors. But, I also understand the value of meeting people where they are.”

While he is still wary of screen time spent outside, he said it can be a nice compromise.

“If apps are going to get us to go outside a little bit more, then that’s better than not going outside at all,” Fonarow said.

His hope is Tessa and Josie will eventually start going outside to pick out the constellations on their own.

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