Hike With Your Kids

Shel Horowitz's Monthly Frugal Fun Tip for April, 2002

I just went through and separated the archives into categories--so now, if you want travel tips, for instance, all 16 of them are all together on the archives page. As I was looking back over past issues, I discovered I only had three covering fun things to do with kids. So we'll start making that up; the next three issues will all be on kid stuff, to try to even it out

Fight back against couch potato culture! Turn your kids on to the great outdoors. Even if they're still in a backpack, you can instill a love of nature. And if they're older, you can enjoy all sorts of exciting games in the great outdoors.

Some ideas:
* Keep a count of the different birdcalls you hear.
* Before you start, give a few clues, such as which side of a tree is the mossy side, which direction the sun rises and sets. Lead them on a twisty route through the woods and offer a prize to the first person who correctly identifies which direction you're headed.
* Make a rock cairn, or a sculpture from fallen twigs and branches.
* Take turns imitating every wild animal sound you hear.
* Pass out pine needles or sassafras leaves for your kids to suck on.
* Look for salamanders under rotted logs and loose stones.