Making hiking fun for 7 & 5 year old

[greeny]

My husband and I LOVE hiking, and want to get the kids into it too. They are slightly resistant to going - it's not their favorite activity, sometimes they complain about being tired, they want to stop like every 10 minutes for a snack, they seem bored, etc.

So, we are coming up with ways to making hiking more fun for them. So far we've come up with:

- New hiking shoes

- Geo-caching

- Having each of them keep a hiking journal, in which they can write about what they see and put photos they take (cool/interesting plants, birds, etc.)

- Getting a local birds book + binoculars

- Getting a native plants book so we can identify plants we see

Any other ideas would be appreciated!!

(Yes, I wish they loved hiking just because it's awesome in and of itself, but they don't, so we're helping them along!)

[MamaJenese]

No more ideas however wanted to let you know my alomst 5 year old is obessesed with geocaching! Fortunatly we are in an area totally saturated with them so we have a lot to look for. The kid can hike miles and miles now! You might also want to look into letterboxing.

[Alyantavid]

Binoculars. My kids love looking through them and I'm sure they'd love to use them to spot things along the way.

[ollyoxenfree]

Those sound like great ideas.

Some kids are used to scheduled, organized activities. For example, soccer practice will last an hour, with some dribbling drills, some kicking practice and some running. The game has 2 halves, with a break in-between and they'll get to play so many shifts each half. A t.v. show lasts a half-hour or an hour. A video game has so many levels and there's an obvious progression and goals to achieve.

Going on a hike - just walking around the woods - seems ill-defined and pointless to these kids. I don't know if that's part of the issue for your kids. If it is, you might want to try hiking some guided trails that have a clear beginning and end, and perhaps defined points of interest along the way. Since you hike a lot, you probably know that nature reserves, national parks etc. often have these kinds of trails.

If you're already hiking these kinds of trails, then sorry, I'm not sure what else to suggest, lol! Perhaps just recognize that you'll have to be patient while they adjust to this kind of activity and build up their endurance for lasting longer between snack breaks.

We love to hike too. It's a great activity!

[greeny]

Going on a hike - just walking around the woods - seems ill-defined and pointless to these kids. I don't know if that's part of the issue for your kids. If it is, you might want to try hiking some guided trails that have a clear beginning and end, and perhaps defined points of interest along the way. Since you hike a lot, you probably know that nature reserves, national parks etc. often have these kinds of trails.

This is a great point! Thanks! And now that they can read maps, they'd be much more interested on trails that have the "you are here" type markings and the "ending point" well defined. We do know where to go for trails like this.

Or trails where the trees are marked to keep you on track. They'd love looking for the marked trees and following the right path.

[DaughterOfKali]

A 'scavenger' list. Get little pocket sized notebooks and write the items that they need to check off as they see them on the hike. (tree bark on ground, yellow leaf, animal, song bird, etc)

You can offer a 'prize' if needed to help you get started. Call it a "First Hike Prize" or something. They get the prize when hike is done.

[MamaMamaMama!]

Can you invite other kids (friends) along? My kids are so much happier to do just about anything if they have a buddy to do it with.

[One_Girl]

We do bug hunts, look for new birds, try to find beautiful rocks (though she is responsible for carrying them out and there is now a size limit), and stop for a picnic in the middle of the hike. Even if dd doesn't want to hike she loves a picnic so that makes it worth it. As a children me and my brother used to complain all the time when we had to go hiking because we would been happier to be home with our friends, but that didn't stop me from developing a love of hiking.

[redpajama]

Originally Posted by DaughterOfKali

A 'scavenger' list. Get little pocket sized notebooks and write the items that they need to check off as they see them on the hike. (tree bark on ground, yellow leaf, animal, song bird, etc)

I love this idea.

My oldest (5 years) really enjoys hiking--I think he likes feeling a bit more "adventurous" than we are actually being (like, if we're hiking on a really clearly marked 2-mile trail loop, he still likes feeling like we have to 'find our way'). For a long time, his first order of business on a hike was to find a suitable "walking stick" for the day.

My 3-year-old loves the *idea* of hiking, but her stamina is...still developing. For her, we eventually have to begin distracting her with, "Hey--did you see that squirrel?" and "Can you find the bird that is making that noise?" et cetera to take her mind off the fact that she would like to stop walking. Sometimes we give her short piggyback rides, but since we have a 9-month-old in a carrier, it's preferable if our 3-year-old can walk the whole time.

[lerlerler]

"the other day, i met a bear, a great big bear, away up there..."

SING SING SING

Even I need a song to spur me along on a tiring hike

[cedoreilly]

My boys do better when there is something they are hiking to (a goal). They LOVE climbing hills/mountains to see the view at the top but will complain all the way if we are just taking a quick walk around a pond or something like that.

[dahlialia]

Geocaching and a picnic works for our 7 yo!

[TanyaS]

My kids already like hiking, but they had a ton of fun with a nature scavenger hunt we did with our homeschool group. I used picture checklist for my youngest ones and more advanced lists for my oldest. It was a ton of fun for us all. We saw things on a very basic paved trail we wouldn't normally see.

I got my list from this site:
http://www.lovetheoutdoors.com/campi...vengerhunt.htm

[snarky]

My daughter loves little "bush walks" on narrow trails where you are literally pushing brush away at points to proceed. Obviously we don't get far but it is fun.

Destination hikes are also popular. She likes hikes to the beach. Also, at her age (3), a playground at one end of the hike is also a motivator.

Crowded trails are a drag. Hike mid-week or pick less popular trails.

Seconding the notion that an awesome picnic is a great selling point. Go to some lengths to have fun food in the woods.

[Oubliette8]

If they get tired of scavenger lists or you want to mix it up, you could turn them into bingo games as well- so they have to have 5 in a row checked to "win".

I agree destination hikes are likely easiest. If there is no clear destination, try to sell them on the hikes other points- ie, there will be a bridge over a creek where we can stop and play Pooh Sticks. Here we go into a ravine- there will be big cliffs! The map says that beavers live in the pond, lets see if we can see one!

I'd also stop and show them things on the trail- turning over rocks and logs to find bugs and salamanders is popular with kids. Sassafras trees are easy to identify. Stop at bridges and try to spot crawdads in the creek. Animal tracks are popular too. Poison Ivy would be useful to learn to recognize.

And singing is always a good idea. It does scare away some of the wildlife, but kids tend to do that on their own anyway. And you know, in some areas, like bear country, its actually recommended.

[meemee]

for us it is v important to also remember what dd wants. her point of view.

just walking is boring. so we follow a stream or a river. she leads the activity. if she wants to stay and play and hang out on the beach then that's what we do.

she is 7 and beyond the list phase. i think the list does not work because she is a doer. not an observer. so we look for insects under rocks and try and identify both plants and insects. she loves collecting things like acorn, pine cones, rocks.

so we do stop a lot along the way.

i am also curious when you started hiking with the kids. have you been doing it for a while? dd and i have hiked since she was about 18 months old. that i think made a huge difference to her - just growing up with hiking and camping.

oh also i never sing on the trail. in the car yes. but not on the trail. in fact we sit and do silences and share what we heard. for us hiking is sharing space with the animal and plant kingdom and we dont sing to scare them away.

[LaughingHyena]

Along the lines of the scavenger list
Take an egg carton and try to fill each section with an interesting object
Make nature bracelets, take a piece of clear tape and wrap it sticky side out round the child's wrist. Stick things to it as you go along.

They also to do crafts with things they've picked up on a hike. Leaf prints, making little gardens or whatever.

For the scavenger lists themselves, my kids always enjoy things like find a leaf bigger than your hand, a plant taller than you are, a flower smaller than your finger nail. Anything they have to measure on themselves seems fun.

I've also noticed that they quite often like the predictability of walking the same route. I think they like knowing what to expect and it's easier to break it down by familiar landmarks.

[blizzard_babe]

I disliked hiking as a kid, though I enjoy it now. For me, it was difficult to understand the concept of just walking for walking's sake. I wanted to walk TO something. One time, we went on a family hike (well, minus my mom who didn't enjoy it) at a state park. It was a short trail, and at the end of it were the ruins of some old buildings (a farmhouse and old barn, maybe? I don't remember the details) that we could climb around in. It was way more fun for us than just straight-up nature hikes.

So maybe plan your hikes so they have a really spectacular destination/midpoint? Like a viewing tower to climb up, or some old buildings, or a hidden waterfall. For them, the hike might be the means to the end, not the means itself, and that's cool.

[AndVeeGeeMakes3]

Awesome thread!

[hillymum]

Originally Posted by dahlialia

Geocaching and a picnic works for our 7 yo!

My 3 boys love geocaching especially since I bought them their own geomate.