Keep hiking kids excited with Nature Frames

Nature frame

Once you’ve completed your first hike, pat yourself on the back. You’ve done a lot of work but have taken the first step into a larger world for both you and your children.

To keep kid’s enthusiasm charged, “review” the hike in kid-friendly ways. While you really can’t do this with infants, most toddlers and older kids will enjoy it. One post-hike game/activity you might consider is Nature Frames.

As the hike begins, give each child a small paper lunch bag or a re-sealable plastic bag. During the hike, have them collect small items found along the trail, such as leaves, grass blades, pine cones or needles, small berries, twigs, and small pieces of bark.

Be sure to take pictures of the children individually and collectively during the hike.

Upon returning home, have children arrange and then glue their collected items around the outside edge of their cardstock to create a frame for it.

Print a picture of the child during the hike and glue it within the frame’s boundaries. You may need to trim the picture to make it fit.

Materials: Small paper lunch bag or a re-sealable plastic bag, camera, cardstock, wood glue, computer printer, scissors

Ages: 4-11

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