Fun game for hiking kids: Nature Alphabet

"R" is for rocks.

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 Nature Alphabet.

While walking the trail, have the children see how quickly they can find objects that begin with each letter of the alphabet. To begin, any one of the children must point out an object that begins with the letter A, so a child might point at an ant and say "A is for ant." Then the children must find something that beigns with the letter B, such as "B is for bark."

Each time you go hiking, see if the children can beat their previous time or distance in completing the alphabet. As Q, X and Z are very difficult to locate, consider giving the children three or four wild cards that they can use to pass on letters.

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.