The biggest challenge to hiking or backpacking with kids is keeping them moving. It’s so important, because we all need to be able to count on completing our hikes before dark or making it to our campsites in time for dinner. Here are the tips we have compiled over the years of hiking with our kids and with our friends:
Get the right pacing and timing of breaks:
- Take enough breaks:
- Try to time breaks to milestones based on distance or time
- Plan for longer breaks to play/play cards every certain time/distance
- But don’t take too many breaks – experiment to find the sweet spot, keeping in mind it changes over time
- Communicate the timing of the breaks so kids can track their progress to the next break
- Make sure to give the kids their own watch or map if you do this
Be prepared with multiple options of entertainment (rotate through these as needed):
- Try Geocaching
- Bring pocket guides for animal or bird or plant identification
- Count how many of a common thing you can find or keep track of who can find the most varieties
- Print out a scavenger hunt to have the kids fill out while hiking
- But remember they have to fill it out while still moving!
- Play “I Spy”
- Play the “Alphabet Game” – you have to find something that starts with each letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order
- Make up stories to tell, or tell stories from books you’re reading
- Hike with their friends – so they entertain each other
- Even better, if you hike with another family try splitting up the kids and their parents (because our kids often hike farther with other grownups)
- Pick up a Junior Ranger activity book at the park visitor center and try to complete the activities during the hike
- Teach them how to use a topographic map and compass and have them practice
How to avoid stopping in between designated breaks:
- Put water bladders in the kids’ packs so they don’t have to stop to drink water
- Give them some snacks to put in their pocket to eat while hiking
- Help them take layers on/off while walking
- Make sure they keep the right layers on so they don’t get too cold or hot
- Pack the right clothes and check on them during the hike
- Make sure they don’t wear clothes that will give them chafing or blisters
- Prevent sunburns by putting sunscreen on (obviously this is important in general, but it does make it even harder to hike)
- Bribe with food:
- Give them “hiking treats” that have to be eaten while moving
- Remind them of a snack and break they are going to get after a certain time or distance
- Give them something to look forward to after the hike (ice cream in town or at the camp store, or a swimming destination)
- Find a hiking stick to play with while hiking (although sometimes this backfires and slows them down)
- If you feel you have to let them stop, try not to let the kid sit down, tell them they can only take a standing break
- And of course, develop standard responses to all the excuses they will come up with for stopping (because you know they will repeat them over and over). For example:
- Tie their shoelaces yourself so they don’t come undone
- Remind them to pee during a break
- Have them take off or put on a layer after a break
Our biggest advice is to keep experimenting and keep getting out there! We believe that you will eventually find something that will work for your family. If you have any specific questions, feel free to reach out to us. And as always, please give us more suggestions of things to add to this list.
