Great activity for day hiking kids: Missing Number

The missing number is 2...1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13...

Generally, exploring and discovery is enough for kids, but sometimes even they can grow bored with that and become restless. Remember that they naturally have shorter attention spans than adults.

Fortunately, there are lots of tried and true activities you can do on the trail that’ll keep kids from getting bored. Among them is Missing Number.

Agree in advance that no one will say any number containing a certain digit, such as 3. Then counting by starting at 1, each child in turn says the next number in the sequence – unless it has a 3 in it. A successful count would be 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 etc… If a number is said with the preselected digit in it, then a new number is selected and the count begins. See how high you can go.

Materials: None needed

Ages: 6 and up

Learn about more than a hundred other hiking diversions for kids in Hikes with Tykes: Games and Activities.