Hiking with kids
We just got home from our annual family spring camping trip. I have several blog posts bumping around in my head now. I thought I'd start out by sharing our hiking adventures with our kids. Maybe this will help some other parents out there who may be planning summer outings with their own kids.
My husband and I have always enjoyed hiking and have taken our kids along since they were small. But I have to admit that kids can get bored with hiking easier than adults do. If you are a parent who has tried to take kids hiking, you may remember getting about halfway into the hike when the whining begins. Are we almost done? Will you carry me? I'm bored. I'm hot. There are too many bugs. My feet hurt.
I have found that the best way to avoid these situations is to plan your hikes with your kids in mind. Rather than just going out hiking and soaking in nature (which is often perfect for adults), go out with a purpose in mind. Set a goal for the trip and get the kids involved. Not only will they not complain, but they'll get just as excited as you (or maybe even more so!).
This weekend we made three small hikes. Saturday morning was our least structured hike. We picked a trail that was about 1 mile long. Having done this before, I know that E (10yo) loves identifying trees. I love to identify wildflowers. Big J, Little J (15yo), and D (5yo) all love just looking around and seeing what they can see. Little J is good at teaching D things that he has learned through Boy Scouts. Anyway, for our first hike, we just took a little time to do our own things all within the same area of the trail. I was thrilled to find several new wildflowers this year and correctly identify them. Meanwhile, E was learning to distinguish different kinds of oaks. D just enjoyed finding sticks or rocks on the trail and throwing them into the undergrowth.
After a lunch break and a trip to the park's nature center, we were ready for our first planned hike. (I can't take full credit for these ideas. They actually came from the Cub Scout How-To book for leaders. I just adapted them for my family.) Anyway, before we left home, I printed out sheets for our ABC Scavenger Hunt. On each sheet I printed out each letter of the alphabet. I made a few copies so we'd have plenty. We split into two teams: Me and E on one team and Big J, Little J, and D on the other team. When we got to the trail head we checked our watches and agreed to meet back at that spot in one hour. Then we took off. On our hike we had to find one sight, sound, or smell for every letter of the alphabet. Everyone had fun with that one - even D, who can't read yet, loved helping his dad and big brother. We only found 20 items while the guys got 26 (although I think they cheated by choosing "zipper" from Little J's shorts for Z and they found an insect they named "Quinton" for Q).
This morning after breakfast we had our second scavenger hunt. Again, I printed up a few copies of a Nature Scavenger Hunt list. The list included items we might find on a hike such as an anthill, a maple leaf, an animal track, a spider web, etc. We split into different teams this time. This time Little J and D came with me while E went with his dad. We went to a different trailhead this time and agreed to meet back there in an hour. This was a lot of fun. D was disappointed that he couldn't find the raccoon that he'd been looking for. But we had lots of fun finding the other items.
A cool side effect of these hikes is that my kids are really learning a lot about nature. My 10yo can correctly identify 2-3 different kinds of trees by looking at their leaves. D, who is only 5, can correctly identify deer tracks and anthills and woodpecker holes, just to name a few. Even Little J (who considers himself an outdoor expert since he camps out with the Boy Scouts so much) learned something new when I showed him wild garlic on the trail today. He'd never seen it before.
What a great way to spend time with your family!
My husband and I have always enjoyed hiking and have taken our kids along since they were small. But I have to admit that kids can get bored with hiking easier than adults do. If you are a parent who has tried to take kids hiking, you may remember getting about halfway into the hike when the whining begins. Are we almost done? Will you carry me? I'm bored. I'm hot. There are too many bugs. My feet hurt.
I have found that the best way to avoid these situations is to plan your hikes with your kids in mind. Rather than just going out hiking and soaking in nature (which is often perfect for adults), go out with a purpose in mind. Set a goal for the trip and get the kids involved. Not only will they not complain, but they'll get just as excited as you (or maybe even more so!).
This weekend we made three small hikes. Saturday morning was our least structured hike. We picked a trail that was about 1 mile long. Having done this before, I know that E (10yo) loves identifying trees. I love to identify wildflowers. Big J, Little J (15yo), and D (5yo) all love just looking around and seeing what they can see. Little J is good at teaching D things that he has learned through Boy Scouts. Anyway, for our first hike, we just took a little time to do our own things all within the same area of the trail. I was thrilled to find several new wildflowers this year and correctly identify them. Meanwhile, E was learning to distinguish different kinds of oaks. D just enjoyed finding sticks or rocks on the trail and throwing them into the undergrowth.
After a lunch break and a trip to the park's nature center, we were ready for our first planned hike. (I can't take full credit for these ideas. They actually came from the Cub Scout How-To book for leaders. I just adapted them for my family.) Anyway, before we left home, I printed out sheets for our ABC Scavenger Hunt. On each sheet I printed out each letter of the alphabet. I made a few copies so we'd have plenty. We split into two teams: Me and E on one team and Big J, Little J, and D on the other team. When we got to the trail head we checked our watches and agreed to meet back at that spot in one hour. Then we took off. On our hike we had to find one sight, sound, or smell for every letter of the alphabet. Everyone had fun with that one - even D, who can't read yet, loved helping his dad and big brother. We only found 20 items while the guys got 26 (although I think they cheated by choosing "zipper" from Little J's shorts for Z and they found an insect they named "Quinton" for Q).
This morning after breakfast we had our second scavenger hunt. Again, I printed up a few copies of a Nature Scavenger Hunt list. The list included items we might find on a hike such as an anthill, a maple leaf, an animal track, a spider web, etc. We split into different teams this time. This time Little J and D came with me while E went with his dad. We went to a different trailhead this time and agreed to meet back there in an hour. This was a lot of fun. D was disappointed that he couldn't find the raccoon that he'd been looking for. But we had lots of fun finding the other items.
A cool side effect of these hikes is that my kids are really learning a lot about nature. My 10yo can correctly identify 2-3 different kinds of trees by looking at their leaves. D, who is only 5, can correctly identify deer tracks and anthills and woodpecker holes, just to name a few. Even Little J (who considers himself an outdoor expert since he camps out with the Boy Scouts so much) learned something new when I showed him wild garlic on the trail today. He'd never seen it before.
What a great way to spend time with your family!
Labels: Camping, Environmentalism, Family, Hiking
posted by Mama G @ 3:27 PM
1 Comments:
At 7:52 PM,
Yogamum said…
How inspiring! One of my summer goals is to hike more with the kids. One problem: they hate hiking. But your scavenger hunt sounds like something they could get into!
I used to bribe them with M&M's when they were little: "If you can get to that tree, you get one M&M. If you walk to that rock, you get one M&M." I think they're too old for that now!
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