One of our best hikes was in May at prime lady slipper time. There were so many in the woods we actually lost count, but not before we got up to almost 100. It was so much fun to look for them, and we didn’t have one complaint from the boys that entire hike.
Tag Archives: While You're Out There
LEAVE KINDNESS ROCKS
It’s common to find kindness rocks along trails these days. My kids love finding them. Paint your own and leave them for others to find as you hike the trails!
MAKE ART
If your kids like art, take a small light sketch book and some colored pencils and let them stop to draw cool stuff they find along the trail. They could sketch a wild mushroom, make a rubbing of a fern or a leaf, or perhaps even capture the water shining off a pond or a lake. Or collect natural materials for art projects to do at home.
DOCUMENT YOUR HIKE
It’s fun to take pictures or videos of your hikes. Let your kids carry the camera. Many of the pictures on this blog were taken by the kids. It keeps them entertained, gives them something helpful to do, and teaches them to hone their eye for a good photo and lighting.
FIND YOUR OWN LANDMARKS
One of the most daunting things for kids when hiking is having no sense of how long the trail is, what a “mile” even means, and how tired they will be when they are done. To give kids a sense of control over the trails, identify landmarks that are fun that will help them remember and break up the trail. That way, if you return again, they will know what to look for. It helps create a way of measuring and understanding the space.
MAKE FORTS
It’s common to find forts along many hiking trails in the South Shore. If they are already started, you can venture into the woods and expand or modify the forts that are already there. Or, start your own! Find a spot with lots of downed trees and look for relatively long and skinny sticks that your kids can carry. Then start building! Our kids can spend hours doing this.
CLIMB BOULDERS
My boys love to climb and slide down boulders. If a trail has big rocks, they are all in. Their favorite spot is the big boulder near the dam at Ames Nowell State Park in Abington. They climb it over and over again and then slide down one side of it. As a parent, it’s hard to watch, and last summer they came home with scraped backsides and ruined pants from sliding down the rock, but they were happy! A trail with interesting rock formations will undoubtedly create various points of interest that keep your kids happily moving and exploring.
GO ON A SCAVENGER HUNT
A scavenger hunt is a great and easy way to combine outdoor exercise and learning. There are literally thousands of scavenger hunt worksheets out there on Pinterest and blogs. They are often based on seasons (i.e. fall scavenger hunt featuring acorns, leaves, etc), but really can be designed around any theme. Use the Google Machine to search for some ready-made hunts or get creative and make your own!
USE AN ALMANAC
Mass Audubon has a wonderful outdoor almanac that offers a month-by-month, play-by-play of outdoor activity. It offers ample suggestions of what to look for and explanations of what is happening in nature.https://www.massaudubon.org/learn/nature-wildlife/outdoor-almanac
HUNT FOR OWL PELLETS
Dissecting owl pellets seems to be a part of third or fourth grade curriculums around the country. Owl pellets are the undigestible and regurgitated parts of small animals that owls have eaten.