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Original poster

Ideas to make walks more interesting

33 replies

ItsAllComingBackToMeNow · 28/12/2020 22:01

So it looks like we’re going to be back to doing a lot of walks with the kids 😩(We’re in Scotland, schools closed until 18th Jan at least, which feels like a long way off). Got to try to make the best of it though so I’d like to think of things we can do on the walks/add to the walks to make them more interesting. So far I’ve got:

Scooters
Bikes
Picnic snacks
Binoculars and bird spotting book

Any other success stories?

OP posts:
Wigeon · 28/12/2020 22:02

Geocaching

Flask of something warm and stop half way to drink it plus eat snack

Honeyroar · 28/12/2020 22:02

Get those I spy books for things to find on walks? Vary where you go?

ChristyEpping · 28/12/2020 22:02

Pokémon Go

Groovester · 28/12/2020 22:03

Scavenger hunts: find a white stone/purple flower/straight stick/orange leaf/pine cone etc.

Lastbonestanding · 28/12/2020 22:03

Just walking and talking works well for us.

Dyrne · 28/12/2020 22:05

Those are some good ideas OP. How about:

Pokémon Go
Wizards Unite
Geocaching

Also, what age are they? Pinterest has some good treasure hunt/scavenger hunt type lists available for various age groups for them to spot while out and about, may also give you some ideas to make your own?

Charles11 · 28/12/2020 22:09

How old are they?
We’ve had success with
Looking for Shrek’s swamp
Making up stories about wolves lurking in the woods
Taking a bird spotting book and binoculars
Taking a magnifying glass
Looking for mushrooms
Finding a big stick and dragging it around and poking it at things

AndAllOurYesterdays · 28/12/2020 22:10

It's very hard to get my two (3 and 5) out if it's just 'for a walk'. They are simply not interested, even though they enjoy it when out. So I have to offer something to make it sound more exciting. Today they took their cameras and we looked for fairies. We've been out looking for the best Christmas houses a fair bit recently.

littlemisslozza · 28/12/2020 22:12

Mine have enjoyed walks a lot more since we got our dog a few years ago. Can you borrow one?

Scarby9 · 28/12/2020 22:16

Scavenger hunt.

Spotting things beginning with each letter of the alphabet in order.

Walk, then hop, then jog, then skip etc between treesor lamp posts.

Make up a story as you walk, basing it on what you pass - ' But just as they got to the big willow tree...'

Take turns at each choice of route for someone different to make the decision.

MissClarke86 · 28/12/2020 22:16

Munzee is an app similar to geocaching - it leads you to barcodes people have hidden all over, you scan them and get points. It’s cool!

Geocaching is similar but more traditional - generally little lunchboxes or similar that people hide and you take someone and leave something.

Original poster
ItsAllComingBackToMeNow · 28/12/2020 22:16

Thank you, these are all great. We’ve done geocaching before and enjoyed it but kind of forgot about it this year. Pokemon go could be a winner too.

Kids are 8, 6 and 2.

Any beach ideas? We are quite close but never travelled to the beach at all during the last lockdown as we were worried it might be busy, now I’m fairly sure it’ll be fine.

OP posts:
Jerble · 28/12/2020 22:22

We often play word games whilst walking. Eg. Would you prefer...? Take in turns to ask a question then you all answer and tends to generate some debate, such as Would you prefer to eat cheese or chocolate if you couldn’t only have one or the other forever? Would you prefer to go for a walk when it’s really hot or really cold?

Dinosauratemydaffodils · 28/12/2020 22:24

We're also in Scotland (kids are 5 and 2) and have been/will be walking a lot.

We dinosaur hunt, learn about plants/mushrooms/birds (if any hang around with the noise), look for fairy doors, go out in the dark with torches and pretend we're on the run (we're terrible at it).

Snacks, wellies, waterproofs and hot drinks for me/dh.

FestiveStuffing · 28/12/2020 22:24

Watch Let's Go For a Walk from CBeebies on iPlayer. It's basically a chap taking kids on walks in various places but he models lots of ways to make it interesting for the kids.

Original poster
ItsAllComingBackToMeNow · 28/12/2020 22:28

I really like the choice of route idea, the older two would like that.

Also, torch walk is great, they all have torches and it gets dark at about 4 here just now so could fit it in before dinner.

Just remembered an app my sister has that tells you what plants are, we could have a challenge to find things using that app, I think it’s just something like google images.

OP posts:
Costalatte · 28/12/2020 22:29

Pokemon go! Myself, partner and 7 year old all now play it and love it, makes walks so much more interesting

PandemicPalava · 28/12/2020 22:30

Welly spotting sheet... spotty ones, red ones, flowery ones... laminate sheet so it doesn't get dirty with welly pictures on and you can use it again with pens or stickers

Ohdeariedear · 28/12/2020 22:30

3 word stories was a success for us for a while - kids give you three words and we had to make a story up using the three words. Once they got a bit older they had to take a turn to make up a story.

We’ve also made an i-spy picture quiz, if we’ve been going somewhere that we could google specific pictures of things along the way.

toomuchlikemyusername · 28/12/2020 22:33

You could get a couple of litter pickers and do some beach cleans, great for the environment and always seems to resonate well with youngsters. Just make sure they understand not to pick stuff up using their hands etc.

Blowingagale · 28/12/2020 22:33

One I do myself is sounds. Just listening as walk along and see what the children can hear. Some obvious like cars or birdsong. Some less so, the wheels of the pushchair over some gravel, coat hood bounce up and down as you walk or the keys rattling in your bag.

ShakespearesSisters · 28/12/2020 22:34

I came on to say geocaching. We had our first go in the summer and have been quiet a few times since.
Small tip, if you are looking for a camouflaged black bison its not a small black cow wearing camouflage. We hadn't a clue what we were looking for, I was like a bison is like a cow, must look a bit like that. A bison when geocaching is a small screw top cannister, key ring fob sized. It was camouflaged in a fake rock. Oh, how stupid we felt.

JuneFromBethesda · 28/12/2020 22:34

We do A-Z. It started off with me teaching the kids alpha, bravo, Charlie etc and then they had to recite it back to me without prompting. It developed into an A-Z of anything - things you can eat, colours, girls’ names, characters from Harry Potter! Keeps us all amused on walks.

eurochick · 28/12/2020 22:37

Geocaching
It's not much use now but a little usbourne tree spotting book for kids was a hit in the autumn, but the trees all look the same now
An A to Z walk - we happened upon a quarry at just the right moment!

MeepleMe · 28/12/2020 22:37

Penny trail. Take it in turns to flip a penny at every possible change of direction. Heads go left, tails go right. When you as the adult know you need to go take a particular way back to car park/home, you have a go and (discreetly!) make sure you get the answer you need.