Fun game on winter hike: Freezing Bubbles

Illustration courtesy of Maryland DNR.

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 for a winter hike is Freezing Bubbles.

If going on a winter hike, during a rest break have kids blow bubbles using a classic bubble wand. So long as the temperature is below 32 degrees, the bubble will freeze into a crystal sphere – and then shatter!

Materials: Bubble solution and wand

Ages: All

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

Activity for hiking kids: Pine Cone Patterns

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 Pine Cone Patterns.

Though it can be done any time of the year, this is a great winter activity, especially for those in areas with snow as the red and brown hues of the cones contrast nicely with the white of the snow. Have children collect a variety of pine cones. Next, separate the cones by size or color. Older children might do both categories as well as shape. With a stick, draw a pattern in the ground where cones can be placed to make a “picture.”

A spiral is an easy picture to draw that tends to provide pleasing results for most children; for a spiral, place the larger cones at the center and with the cones becoming increasingly smaller as circling outward

Materials: Pine cones

Ages: 4 and up

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

Fun game/activity for kids on day hike: Rainbow Search

Photo courtesy of *bri* / 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 Rainbow Search.

Have kids draw a rainbow on a piece of paper; make sure they leave room so they can write a word next to each color. Paste the paper to a piece of cardboard or clip it to a clipboard. Tie a pen to the cardboard (this can be done by punching a hole in the cardboard’s corner) or clipboard. As children hike, have them write down objects they see along the trail that are the colors on their rainbow. As a competition, whoever finds all the colors in their rainbow wins (To make the competition fair, you’ll have to check beforehand to ensure that all children have the same number of colors in their rainbows!). Upon returning home, date the paper and keep it in a scrapbook/box of your hikes.

Materials: Paper, colors/markers/colored pencils, pen, cardboard or clipboard, yarn or string; if using cardboard: paste or glue, hole punch.

Ages: 7 and up.

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

Fun game for hiking kids: Guess that Song

"That's 'Over the River and Through the Woods.'"

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 Guess that Song.

Have a child hum a tune. The player who correctly guesses the tune gets to hum next while the other children guess. You must be careful to hum songs that every child in the group would be familiar with.

Materials: None

Ages: 5 and up

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

Fun game/activity for kids on day hike: Playing fetch

A stick makes a great toy for kids. Photo courtesy of Ani-Bee / 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 Playing fetch.

Toss an imaginary stick at a tree ahead of you on the trail. You preschooler has to follow the arc of your toss and run to the right tree. If he goes to the right tree, he gets a point. If he goes to the wrong one, you get a point. Whoever reaches 5 points first wins. Make sure the trail is flat and free of roots or boulders to trip over.

Materials: Your imaginations

Ages: 3-5

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

Great activity for day hiking kids: Tiny Plant

A magnifying glass opens w hole new world to children.
Photo courtesy of Northern Michigan University.

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 Tiny Plant.

Have kids get on the hands and knees and try to find the smallest plant they can find. A magnifying glass helps them see the plant up close.

Materials: Magnifying glass (maybe)

Ages: 3-13

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

Great game for day hiking kids: Spelling Bee

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 Spelling Bee.

Challenge each other to spell names of objects spotted on the trail. This works best with older elementary school kids.

Materials: None needed.

Ages: 9 and up.

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

Great activity for day hike with kids: Journaling

For kids who like to write, journaling can be a fun hiking activity.
Illustration courtesy of K Whiteford.

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 journaling.

If your child likes to write, the outdoors can be an inspiring place to put pen to paper. They might keep nature journals, writing about what they’ve observed on the hike.

Materials: Ink pen, journal

Ages: 14 and up

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

Great day hiking activity for kids: Treehugger

How many kinds of tress can you name? Photo courtesy of Wis. DNR.

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 Treehugger.

After your children have learned to identify some trees, you can play this game to hone their skills. Call out the name of a tree – maple, birch, pine, oak, etc.; the first child to point it out wins that round. Whoever nabs the most rounds out of 10 is the overall winner.

Materials: None needed.

Ages: 12 and up.

Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.