Fun game/activity for kids on day hike: Tongue Twisters

A skunk sat on a stump. The stump thought the skunk
stunk. The skunk thought the stump stunk. What stunk,
the skunk or the stump? Photo courtesy of Wisconsin DNR.

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 Tongue Twisters.

Give two words that form the basis of a tongue twister, such as “picky people.” Now have each child in the group add a similar sounding word (usually it’s one with the first letter of your two words) and say the tongue twister with all of the words added. For example, the first child might say, “Pick…picky people pick.” The second child then might say, “Peanut butter…picky people pick peanut butter.” Continue on until you have five or more words in the twister and then have each child say it three times fast. Give it a nature twist by starting with two words of something seen on the trail, such as “big bugs” (which could lead to “Big bugs bump big boys.”).

Materials: None

Ages: 5 and up

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