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 Rainbow.
This is a great autumn game for kids, especially preschoolers. On the day before the hike, cut two pieces of printer paper each into four sections. Then have your children color each of the eight sheets with one of the primary colors in an 8-pack of Crayons.
Bring the sheets with you on a hike. Have children find objects in nature that match those colors, such as a red maple leaf for the red sheet of paper.
Sometimes you may need to help the child by having them look for one of the colors as you spot them on the trail.
Materials: printer paper (two pieces), colors (yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, green, brown, black), scissors
Ages: 2-5
Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.
