Top 10 Things to Do Outdoors: Kids Nature Walk

A Nature Walk can take place anywhere, all you have to do is ready all your senses, clear your mind and live in the moment.

10. Keep the walk short, a short walk will not tire your kids and they will want to go again.
9. Let your kids show you what they see, chances are they will know more about insects and animals than we do.
8. Look for tracks on the ground as you walk, kids love prints and love to guess what they are, take a camera with you and verify the track when you get home.

7. Discuss the color of the sky with your kids, the different shades of blue, the cloud cover. If there are alot of clouds have them guess what percentage of the sky is covered in clouds. A great math exercise and a great time to loosen up your neck muscles.

6. Look for animal scat (poop) and try to identify it, kids love this to guess what kind of scat it is.

5.Point out the poison oak, poison ivy or strange types of fungi, kids love the idea that there is a sense of danger along their walk.

4. Watch for birds in flight, in trees, by the water.

3. During the middle of your walk, just stop and do nothing for 5 minutes. This will be really hard to do as we and our kids are conditioned to always do something. Before stopping have them use their sense of sound, sight, and smell during this time to help them gather more information about their walk.

2. Tell them a story about when you were a kid, its’ OK to embellish on nature walks.

1. Let them get dirty, muddy and explore.