The steps become slower, the first sighs can be heard and there it is, the question about the remaining walking time: “When will we finally be there? Anyone who is on a hiking tour with kids knows it: the moment when the mood threatens to tip over. The little ones don’t feel like it anymore and start dawdling, or worse: a tantrum is brewing. If concrete information about the remaining walking time doesn’t help, you can keep the kids happy with simple games until the hiking destination is reached. Here are 4 suitable game ideas, which provide for a good mood and with which it is possible to hike almost unnoticed.
1) Who collects more?
Colorful leaves, pine cones, chestnuts, or crazy stones: there’s plenty lying around along many hiking routes that little collecting freaks can collect and put in their backpacks. This turns collecting with the rest of their hiking buddies into a little competition. The whole thing can be extended again by making the treasures the exchange currency, for example, for every pine cone collected there is a gummy bear, for ten a small gift, etc.
2) Playing with words
If the children are busy thinking about something, their feet will run almost by themselves and the walk will be a success. A song, a story, or funny word games help especially well. Singing not only creates a good mood but also adds a certain lightness to the hike. Rhyming or other word games, such as “I pack in my hiking backpack” are also a fun distraction until the goal is reached.3) Search games
Search games are particularly interesting because children become more intensively involved with their surroundings and draw attention to interesting details in nature. Popular search games include the color search game: the first player picks a color and the rest must find it along the trail. The first person to find the desired color wins. The search game can be extended infinitely by letting the little ones search for mushrooms, small animals, or tree barks, for example. Or just use abstract terms like: “find something round, something red, something soft, etc.”.4) Touch & Feel
In these games, the sense of touch is in demand! For the touching game, different hiking materials are collected in a container or a sack (e.g. leaves, pine needles, birch bark, twigs), which have to be felt through an opening. Or: in the touch game, needles of coniferous trees have to be guessed, for example, the needles of spruce are short and pointed, those of fir are strawy and not prickly, those of larch are soft and bushy, etc.
Sure, a handful of games up your sleeve are a good solution for tired legs, but the most important tip for hiking with the little ones is to stay relaxed and take the pressure off! Because that’s what the little ones feel the most. Another good idea would be to arrange to go hiking with other parents. With acquaintances, the hike is twice as much fun for the little ones. A particularly good starting point for many child-friendly hikes is the Falkensteiner Club Funimation Katschberg, where there is much to discover and marvel at. Here, the unspoiled Carinthian landscape meets an action-packed entertainment program, a mixture that guarantees a unique family vacation!
