Activity for hiking kids: Future Archeologist

"Hmm, this strange relic of the past must be a tent pole,
no doubt left here at a time when this area was lush
with vegetation."

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 Future Archeologist.

Sometimes when hiking, we accidentally drop and lose our gear. Imagine that thousands of years have passed and a future archeologist has just dug up the item you dropped – maybe your trekking pole, maybe a carabiner, maybe a zipper from your daypack. Everyone in the group tries to come up with an interpretation of what the item might be from the perspective of the future archeologist who has no idea what she just discovered. For example, the trekking pole could be a tent pole, the carabiner could be an earring, and the zipper might be a false tooth.

Materials: None

Ages: 8 and up

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