Fun game for hiking kids: Russian sticks

Can these sticks be arranged into sets of nested squares?
Photo courtesy of puravida / Photoree.

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 Russian sticks.

As walking, have the kids collect sticks of various sizes. Upon taking a rest break, have them arrange the largest four sticks in a square. Then have them try to make a smaller square within the first one, a smaller square within the second one, and so on, in much the same way that Russian dolls work.

Materials: Sticks picked up on trail

Ages: 5 and up

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