Features

Walking with kids

Ronnie Haydon pulls together 20 of the easiest – and most cunning – ways  to get your children walking with you this springtime…

…have a destination

Always choose a walk that takes in a rewarding site: a castle, sand dunes or a decent climbing tree. Do your research beforehand and dangle details of your find like a carrot in front of the children so they have something to aim for.

…employ diversionary tactics

Have something lined up for the odd longueur. If it’s windy, pack a mini kite in the rucksack for a play break; frisbees and tennis balls are also worth bringing along. A sketchbook and pad are always handy for a rest period, and sailing a Lego man in his little rowing boat is a great alternative to Poohsticks in a stream. Of course, a dog is probably the ultimate distraction.

…take them on a techie treasure hunt

Geocaching involves hiding a little treasure or ‘cache’ and posting GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates on the internet for potential hunters. There are caches all around the world, containing treats, trinkets or puzzles, and anyone with access to a hand-held GPS receiver can search. When you’ve found the cache, you can swap its contents with your own gift for the next searcher, then write down the details in the notebook hidden with the cache and log your find on the internet. At Coed y Brenin Forest Park, in north Wales, you can hire receivers to scout round the Geocache Time Trail, which takes in secluded sites of historical importance.

…turn it into a shoot

Bring the camera and let each child look out for the artistic shot, such as moss on a tree trunk or dew on a spider’s web. The photo can be turned into a picture postcard using a printer and a pack of photo postcards, and notes written about it in a walker’s diary.

…go on safari

Focusing on the flora and fauna, rather than the footslogging, will help kids see the point of the walk. There are lots of games you can play based around wildlife-spotting to raise children’s interest in their surroundings. Draw up a list of animals, insects, birds, flowers and trees, with points for each item spotted. Or try to identify animal tracks in the mud and create your own using a stick. Visit familiar areas where you know you’ll find ponds full of tadpoles or a badger sett to watch.

…choose a celebrity walk

Add interest by appealing to the children’s current crushes, such as Harry Potter, Winnie the Pooh, or even Doctor Who.

…set your sights high

Encourage your children’s rugged ambitions with a bit of hill climbing. Start with the highest point in your area, then move on to a bigger, better-known incline, before setting a date for the real challenge: one of Britain’s ‘Big Three’ mountains of either Snowdon, Scafell Pike or Ben Nevis.

…build a museum of curiosities

Interesting stones, old bones, an iridescent dragonfly casing, a rusty metal ball that perhaps came from a musket in the olden days… bring back something interesting from every walk and curate your own home-based collection.

…know the way

Walk the route without the children first. It will help you point out interesting things to stimulate a flagging child.

…buy interesting kit

Invest in a few walking gadgets that will pique the children’s interest, such as picnic rucksacks, pedometers, compasses and flasks. Have the children measured up for sturdy waterproof walking boots, but short walks can be done in novelty gumboots.

…keep unusual hours

A dawn chorus walk in May followed by a hearty breakfast is an unforgettable experience (International Dawn Chorus Day is on 3 May; see www.idcd.info). Or take them to a great sunset spot for a dusky dawdle and look out for bats, badgers and glow-worms.

…forage for food

In spring, take rubber gloves and pick young nettles for soup. Late summer and autumn are all about brambling and sweet chestnuts. And in winter, look for fir cones and sprigs of holly and wild mistletoe for help decorate.

…get plotting

Get the children involved in planning the walk, plotting it on the map and then map-reading while out. It will give them a great sense of achievement. They can also turn their  map into a memento with ‘X marks the spot’ notes (Dad trod in a cowpat HERE!).

…go on manoeuvres

It’s not politically correct, but pretending you’re soldiers behind enemy lines always gets the kids excited about covering the miles. Have everyone stick foliage in their hats and choose large sticks as weapons. Crawl through undergrowth, run down hillsides, and play hide-and-seek to avoid enemy capture.

…tell tales

Plan your walk around a curious story such as the spooky caves of Derbyshire (www.peakcavern.co.uk) or the eerie deserted village of Tyneham, near Kimmeridge, Dorset (www.south westcoastpath.com).

…use sweet bribery

Stock up on mini bags of sweets, biscuits, raisins or chocolates and, using a pedometer, promise the children a treat every mile or every half hour or so.

…get (healthily) competitive

Introduce physical challenges, like hopping to the next lamp post, declaring that the first person to reach the stile is Usain Bolt, or making the last one to the stream undergo a forfeit. The kids are sure to respond to it!

…go to town on the picnic

A virtuous packed lunch of Marmite sandwiches and apples is hardly going to spur on diminutive ramblers to the halfway picnic spot. Let the children have a hand in preparing and packing a feast-like alfresco meal, choosing the sandwich fillings, fruit and treats, and baking biscuits and brownies. Everyone marches on their stomachs.

…admire their feat of clay

Give each child a ball of modelling clay and challenge them to decorate it using pebbles, seeds, flowers, feathers… anything they see along the way. When the clay dries you’ll have a peculiar-looking paperweight to remember your walk by.

…look to the skies

Teach your children how to tell their nimbus from their cumulous. Suggest keeping a weather diary to draw pictures of clouds that you can identify later using the BBC weather website (news.bbc.co.uk/weather).

FURTHER INFO:

Family walking groups
To find your nearest Ramblers-led family walk, visit www.ramblers.org.uk/walksfinder.

Geocaching
For more about how to get started, visit www.geocaching.com or www.gagb.co.uk.

Games
For lots more fun ideas for walks, visit www.change4life.com and look for the Walk4Life Toolkit.

• This entry was posted on: Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
• Filed under: Current Feature, Features, Walk Spring 2010
• Tags: children, family walks
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