Day Hiking Trails: Fun game for hiking kids: Fancy Footwork

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Fun game for hiking kids: Fancy Footwork

Photo courtesy of 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 Fancy Footwork.

Have the children stand in a circle. Either you or another child (The latter is best if in a large group.) starts walking around the circle, clapping out a rhythm, such as two slow and three quick. After repeating the clapping rhythm three times, the person walking around the circle stops. The child the person stops next to must now repeat that rhythm except use his or her foot to do so. If the child successfully repeats the rhythm, then he or she gets to walk around the circle clapping out the next rhythm.

Materials: None

Ages: 4 and up

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

Meet the Author

My name is Rob Bignell. I'm a long-time hiker, journalist and editor. My son Kieran and I have been hiking together for the past decade. Before Kieran, I taught middle school students in New Mexico and Wisconsin, served as an infantryman in the Army National Guard, and worked in newspapers. I've won several journalism awards, from editorial writing to sports reporting. In 2001, The Prescott Journal, which I served as managing editor of, was named Wisconsin’s Weekly Newspaper of the Year. Currently I own and operate an online editing business, Inventing Reality Editing Service. After spending several years in Southern California, my son and I now live in Wisconsin on the scenic Red Cedar River.