Nothing’s worse than heading out on a family hike only to hear nonstop whining from the fun-sized crew you’re toting along. Here are some ideas on making it fun + find more tips I shared in the current issue of Bravery Magazine featuring Junko Tabei…
Hike with friends
It’s so much more fun! Honestly, this is probably the easiest way to make the experience better. I’m always surprised by how much more fun hiking is when there are other kids with us.
Keep them talking
Ask kids questions requiring long-winded answers, like, “What kind of video game would you design?” Or, “If you could live in any kind of home, what would it be like?” Or, especially if they’re hungry, “What kind of cake would you make right now?” It’s amazing how detailed their little minds are.
Elyse and I used your tips and they work like a charm! It was so great to collaborate on this with you Liz!
That magazine is amazing and have yet to see the recent issue.
You need to check out Letterboxing!
https://www.letterboxing.org
Makes hiking so fun!!
amy
Thanks, I’ve heard of these!
Love these ideas! We find that talking is key too. Dan tells the kids stories about our made up friends ‘Funny and Luzz’ who wake up each morning with a new superpower. The kids get to decide what the new superpower is and help navigate the direction the story is heading. They’re mad for it!
That’s such a cute idea!
These are great tips! I love hiking with my kids (but also sometimes HATE it!). Keeping them talking is so important for mine! My littlest made up a fake board game called Roll the Dice (no dice, no board, no game, really) and she will go anywhere, hike any mountain if someone is willing to play this game as we walk. Rules of play: you basically pretend to roll some dice, say what imaginary number you got and she tells you where you landed on an imaginary board (which I’d describe as a princess-style mall— there’s a high heel store, dress shop, necklace store etc) and how many things you get to pick out and then you describe what you picked. That’s it! I have played this game for so many hours and it is the reason we were able to do any hiking the entire year she was 5! Kids are so kooky! We also play a LOT of would you rather and I’m going on a picnic and an alphabet game where you pick a category (like food or cars) and name one for each letter of the alphabet. So basically i have to pack a lot of water…not because of the hiking but because everyone is so thirsty from talking non-stop!!
Totally genius!
I feel like I’m the bad attitude hiker here! I just never liked it much.
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
haaa! I was totally like that too for a long time