Which means I was psyched to join the A-Z of Outdoor Activities series! And for today’s entry (Letter E), I’m sharing 3 Tips for Exploring a Nature Trail with Kids! If you’re ready to hit the trail with your littles, see how we made it fun!

3 Tips for Exploring a Nature Trail with Kids

Let them set the pace.

Nothing makes a child hate something more than being made to do it on a timetable. I know, I’ve tried and failed at that with my kids.

When you get outside, everyone should be able to relax and feel at ease. And that means letting the kids set the tempo.

On our trail hike, the kids started off slowly…

…and then picked it up quickly afterward. I just told them to stay within eyesight, which they did (for the most part).

Stop and examine nature.

The whole point of a nature trail is to see nature, right? So, be sure to look out for interesting sights as you go. Don’t just focus on finishing the trail.

We came across this rotten tree trunk, which had become home to a spider web and lots of creepy crawlies. It was gross, but also kind of neat?

But it was mostly gross.

Have a goal in mind.

If your kids tend to lose interest in things quickly, you can keep them going along the trail by setting an endpoint as a goal to reach.

My kids needed the extra incentive of seeing something special at the end of the trail, so we chose a route that ended in a small waterfall. All the way down the trail, they kept saying that they were excited to see the falls.

And when we got there, they wanted to stay and just watch it for a while.

Seeing how the water “fell” and then formed a stream was pretty neat for them too.

They’ve talked about this experience almost non-stop since we left. And we’ve already made plans to visit the trail again! This was definitely a win for our family.

Want more ideas for having outdoor fun with your kids? Check out my Outdoor Play Ideas board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the A-Z of Outdoor Activities series from Crafty Kids at Home! Follow along to see all of the awesome outdoor activities shared this month!

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Math has been an issue in our family, especially since several of our children are living with ADHD. But with this easy sidewalk chalk outdoor math game, my active kids got some arithmetic practice done while moving!

If you love this hands-on math activity, be sure to see our list of math activities for kids with ADHD! There are plenty of hands-on math learning ideas there as well!

Sidewalk Chalk Outdoor Math Game

It took me about 15 minutes to set this up. But there’s a lot of bending involved, so prepare to use your back…lol.

What You’ll Need:

• Sidewalk chalk
• Giant foam dice

What I did was draw a long squiggly line on our driveway and then another about two feet parallel from it. That way, I could make a game board.

Then I added horizontal lines every foot and a half or so.

Finally, I filled each space with a simple math fact. I alternated addition and subtraction with multiplication and division.

The kids rolled the dice to find out how many spaces to travel.

Then they walked to the correct space. (Just like a regular board game.)

When they got to their space, they worked on solving the math problem in the square. For my boys, multiplication and division are still pretty new concepts, so I talked them through it using how they relate to addition and subtraction. They seemed to pick up on it pretty quick that way.

Learning to skip count is super helpful when it’s time to introduce division and multiplication. I saw proof of that in this activity.

And we kept on solving math problems until we reached the end!

Get a look at more ways to make math fun for your kids!

And for more math ideas, follow my Math Mania board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the Early Elementary Blogging Team linkup! Check out some of the other fun outdoor learning ideas shared this week!

Map Skills for Kids: Backyard Treasure Hunt from Life Over C’s

Nests Nature Hunt for Kids from Still Playing School

How to Make an Outdoor Mud Kitchen from Parenting Chaos

Outside Arrays for Multiplication Practice from Line Upon Line Learning

Gardening For Math Time from Preschool Powol Packets

Second Grade Math with Rocks from Sugar Aunts

Tree Unit Study and Science Experiment from Schooling a Monkey

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