Game for kids on hike: Nature Tic-Tac-Toe

All the items needed for a few games of tic-tac-toe can be found in nature.

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 Tic-Tac-Toe.

As children hike between rest stops, have them watch for and pick up five small stones or pebbles (preferably of similar color), five half-inch high leaves (preferably from the same kind of plant), and four sticks.

When at the next rest stop, cross the sticks to create a tic-tac-toe board. The leaves become the X’s and the pebbles/stones become the O’s.

You now can play tic-tac-toe.

Materials: Five small stones or pebbles, five half-inch high leaves, four four-inch-long sticks

Ages: 4 and up

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