Fun Nature Walks – Enjoying the Outdoors
The Summer holiday is about to begin, and we have 6 weeks to keep the children entertained. It is sometimes hard to continuously think of ways to entertain them that doesn’t cost the earth. One easy way is to pop on your shoes and go for a lovely walk and explore the outdoors, but if your children are anything like mine mention the word walk and their response is usually but ‘that’s boring!’ So, I have over the years collected different ideas on how to make a ‘simple’ walk, lots of fun and encouraged them to enjoy the nature around them.
Idea 1: Nature Board
Nature Boards are very simple, and you can create many different types so can use this idea more than once! The easiest one is to get a piece of card about A4/A3 depending on the size of hands, this can be cut out from an old box or cereal box etc and then you just cover the card with double sided tape (Sellotape rolled in a circle is fine).
Then out you go, and you collect whatever nature bits you can find on the ground and cover your board; they can look really pretty once full.
You can easily adapt the idea and make the following:
Idea 2: Bingo Walk
This is a super simple one but can keep them entertained for a while, you can even do this walking to friends houses or just around where you live. If you have more than one child, you can make it a friendly competition.
You give each child a piece of paper with about 8-10 different numbers on it, if you are doing it for multiple children make sure the numbers are different. Then when you are out if they spot the number, they cross it off, the numbers could be number plates, door numbers, markings on the street anything they can spot.
Once they have crossed off all their numbers their shout ‘Bingo’ and win a small treat!
Idea 3: Leaf Rubbing
An oldy but a goodie and so simple to do, this activity also keeps them entertained at home after the walk as well.
Task each child to find the most interesting leaves when they are out for their walk, could be small ones, big ones but they have to have interesting patterns on them. Collect as many as they can find (they need to be dry) and then come home and make a beautiful leaf rubbing picture.
Just pop the leaf under a piece of paper and rub a wax crayon over the top if you don’t have wax crayons a normal pencil will do or you can try something a bit different and try watercolour paint which is also very effective.
Idea 4: Stick Craft
My children love sticks, and we always seem to be collecting them on any walk we go on! The question is what you do with them after the walk. This activity is a great one to keep them entertained after they have been collected.
First of all, paint your sticks any colours you like, the brighter the better, then leave them to dry. Then with string you can tie them together to make a stick mobile (if you use waterproof paint or seal them, they can be hung outside). You can even paint leaves that you have collected on your walk to hang from some of the sticks.
Idea 5: Rainbow Walk
Another super simple one, but this gives them a little task to do before going out, so you can do a few quick jobs whilst they are getting on with it. Just ask them to draw a rainbow on a piece of card (if you have an old cereal box or box) or a piece of paper will do.
Then take your rainbow on the walk and try and find items of nature that match the colours of the rainbow. They can stick them on to the rainbow if they are small items or they can write on to the rainbow what they have found.
Idea 6: Geo-Caching
This is a really great and free activity, and one the older children might enjoy as well. You do need a smartphone though and you will need to download the GeoCache App.
Geo Cache put simply is treasure hunting game on your smartphone. You have to navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (a small container) hidden at that location. The geocaches contain a logbook so you can log that you have found it and sometimes there are some little toys to trade. You can pay to upgrade to see all of the geocaches but there are usually plenty in your area to find for free. You can also hide your own geocaches as well. You can find out all about it at – https://www.geocaching.com/play
I really hope you have enjoyed some of the ideas above and that you have a lovely Summer holiday exploring the outdoors, it can be a lot of fun and best of all its free!
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