Trail Games

            Our family loves the outdoors on any given day but has found the outdoors to be even more restorative during the worldwide pandemic. Although our house allows us to spread out some and we have a yard to play in, getting out on a trail just does something different for us. The fresh air and freedom that come with being outdoors does wonders for a person’s mind, body and soul. With six of us cooped up in the house together for the last six months or so, we regularly need a respite. Going out to a trail gives us a change of pace and scenery, and somehow sets things right … until we get back in the car and everyone starts arguing again! Regardless, if your family is getting bored with “just another walk,” read on for a few ways to spice it up the next time you are out.

• Bring a camera and let each person snap a close-up photo of something you find on the trail, then take turns guessing what each person photographed. Ideas could be tree bark, gravel, a rock, leaves, dirt, stick, a shell, water and so on.
• Try an A to Z alphabet hunt. This isn’t easy, but see how many things you can spot on your walk that begin with different letters of the alphabet … acorn, bee, cicada shell, dandelion, elm tree, feather, etc. 
• Play Red Light, Green Light, Simon Says, follow the leader or have a good old-fashioned race. Look out for other trail users though!
• Slip in a little math activity and count how many squirrels you see or how many cicada shells and sticks you can find.
• Have your children make checklists with items they want to find: jogger, dog, stream, leaf, squirrel, hose, flower, bug, fish—the possibilities are endless!  The great fun with having a scavenger hunt is you can change the list each time or change it depending on which trail you are exploring. Kathleen, an Overland Park mom of two, says, “My boys love to do scavenger hunts when we are out on a trail walk or exploring a new park. They love looking for various nature items and crossing them off their list!”
• Play I Spy! This activity offers numerous options, but a few to try might be to spot fairy houses, kindness rocks, a house, someone wearing black, something slippery or scratchy, an item beginning with the letter W, and so on.
• Bring your own painted rocks and have fun hiding them!
• Speaking of hiding … we are always up for a good game of hide and seek! My husband is notorious for walking ahead of us and “disappearing” while we are engrossed in looking at something! Or he will shout out, “Everyone has 30 seconds to hide! GO!” The kids (and sometimes me too!) scatter like crazy. Word of caution, though, be careful your kids don’t go too far and do look out for poison ivy.
• Take sidewalk chalk and draw fun pictures or leave encouraging words.
• Bring along bubbles … they are always fun!
• Find a trail where there is a lake, pond or stream and skip stones. This is one of our faves! Kathleen agrees: “My boys could spend an hour throwing rocks in the water, looking for fish or just splashing and playing in the water!” Don’t forget to wear water shoes too!
• While you are at the water, make up some other fun little games to play. We will do silly games like who can throw a stone to the other side and have it land closest to the water or who can hit a specific tree, etc.
• Instead of a scavenger hunt, make nature bingo boards! Play five in a row, corners or total blackout and see who gets bingo first. You can even use nature items like acorns as your bingo markers!
• Give your children a target number of items to collect. For example, find one leaf, two pinecones, three bugs, four rocks and five sticks. Just remember, many trails ask you not to take things home with you, so your kids will have to leave their “collection” for someone else to find.

            If you feel like you are in a rut outdoors, pick one or two of these activities to try the next time you venture out. It may feel like pulling teeth to get your kids to go, but I can nearly promise they will have fun once they do.

As you embark on autumn adventures with your kids, try to find one item on this list each day in October!

1. Jack-o’-lantern
2. Scarecrow
3. Squirrel
4. Orange twinkly lights
5. Skeleton
6. Red leaves
7. Orange leaves
8. Brown leaves
9. Apple tree
10. Spider web
11. Purple twinkly lights
12. Bat
13. Black cat
14. Candy corn
15. Full moon
16. Pumpkin patch
17. Corn maze
18. Trick or treat decoration
19. Cemetery
20. Haystack
21. Tractor
22. Farmer
23. Pig
24. Goat
25. Horse
26. Donkey
27. Rabbit
28. Train
29. Apple cider
30. Marshmallows
31. Fire pit

Julie Collett writes from her Overland Park home where the wonderful trails around the metro have been a lifesaver for her family over the past many months.