Monday, November 25, 2013

Fun game for kids on day hike: Opposites

"This tadpole is small." "This frog is big."
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 Opposites.

If there are multiple children with you, number off to determine player order. The first person points to and names a specific object on the trail, such as leaves on a tree. The second person must point to and name its opposite on the trail as well as say what makes this new object the opposite of that which the first person pointed out; for example, the second person might point to a tree trunk and say, “Tree trunk; the leaf is small, but the tree trunk is big.” The third person then must point to and name an object on the trail that is the opposite of the tree trunk (the trait does not have to be something that is small); for example, he could point to a rock low to the ground and say, “Rock; the tree trunk is tall, but the rock is short.”

The player coming up with an opposite cannot select the same object/trait that was the opposite of what the previous player had to play off of; for example, the third player can’t say, “Leaf; the tree trunk is big, but the leaf is small.” Using the trait or the object is fine, though, so the third player could say “Leaf; the tree trunk is a dull color, but the leaf is shiny” or “Rock; the tree trunk is big, but the rock is small.”

Materials: None needed

Ages: Four and up

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