Ideas for keeping kids excited about a day in nature

Sometimes parent need to have a few tricks up their sleeves to keep kids engaged in nature. While most children have fun exploring the outdoors they do lose interest and get tired of hiking. One thing that we do in my own family is to give the kids each a nature journal.

In the car on the way to the trail head the kids can have a small journal or notebook and a pen. We often ask the kids to draw pictures of what they hope to see out on the trail today. My girls usually draw giant trees, rivers, birds, and deer or sometimes they draw the things they hope not to see such as bears and snakes.

Once we are out on the trail the girls keep their journal and pen easily accessible in their own backpack. Whenever they complain about being bored or tired we ask them if they have found anything they would like to draw in their notebook. Every once in a while we will take a break to write or draw in our journals.

The nature notebooks not only give the kids an activity to keep them motivated but it also allows them to create memories of the things they find in nature without taking the natural object home. We have traced leaves and rocks then left them in nature for others to enjoy. This matches the Leave No Trace ethics which I think is very valuable for kids to learn and understand.

At the end of the day your child has had a great hike, learned about new things, created memories, developed their art skills, and has created a special journal of their own. Chances are your child will have had so much fun that they may ask when they get to go hiking again.