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What to Pack for a Nature Walk with kids

What to pack for a nature walk with kids

Walks don’t have to be boring for kids and if you pack the right things in your backpack – you can turn a normal walk into an exciting adventure encouraging lots of nature exploring. Here’s our list of our favourite things to pack when heading out on a family walk. You don’t need expensive kit to have a fun adventure walk with kids. Most things for exploring nature with kids – you can find in your kitchen cupboard! Nature provides lots of magical materials for outdoor play and replenishes them every season – fallen leaves, feathers, sticks and with a small person’s imagination in tow – your walk can become a real adventure! An easy way to get your kids outside playing or exploring is to go on a simple walk with them. It doesn’t have to be very long or even very far. You can build up to longer hikes, it’s just good to get the kids out in fresh air even for. small amount of time. Our top tip for walking with younger children is to always have your backpack packed and ready to go (apart from the odd couple of perishable items that you’ll want to replace.) We have loads of ideas for games and things to do on a walk with kids in this post! It’s a great way for kids to explore outside And it includes a nifty downloadable tip sheet with ‘ideas for making walks with kids fun’ too!

What to pack for a Family Walk with Kids

Nature Hikes for Kids

What to pack for a Family Walk with Kids

If you’re out on a simple family walk, see below for our top things to pack to help explore the natural world. It’s a good idea to leave a spare change of clothes and a towel in the car in case your kids are like mine and attract the dirt wherever they go! It also means you’re more likely to let your kids explore and go wild (or let them sit in a river fully clothed because I forgot any swimwear!)

The Basic List for Family Day Hiking

The essential list for backpacking with kids


What to pack for hiking with kids in the Summer

If you’re going out for a family hike or walk in the Summer, you may want to add these extras and important items. It always amazes me how much our kids can drink on a walk. They are the most important things to remember. Water bottles are essential! Get kids prepared for longer walks by encouraging them to carry a mini rucksack or own backpack with their own water bottle in. We love these kids rucksacks as they help them to feel all grown up but they aren’t too heavy for little ones to carry.

What to pack for hiking in the winter

  • Warm Socks for cold weather or in case socks get wet an extra pair of socks is always a good idea!
  • Gloves (these clip on gloves are waterproof a great option for playing in snow and they clip on too so kids are less likely to lose them!) Great ideas if you have young children!
  • Woolly Hat or Sun Hat
  • If it’s really cold these hand warmers work a treat
  • Wellies or snow boots

Things to pack to turn a walk with young kids into an adventure!

Here’s the more adventurous list of items and Things to Pack for an Adventure Walk! that are good for a longer day hike. If you’re wanting to get a little more out of your walk and explore more with kids, then here’s a few fun to have extras that along with some imagination can turn a mudane walk into a nature adventure. This is your ultimate nature walk bag! (This list is also great if you want to create a Nature Journal of interesting things with Kids or make a Nature Boat to sail down a River)

Hiking Essentials for Kids

  • Sieve (for pond dipping)
  • Stopwatch (for timing races or kids climbing trees!)
  • Bucket and Spade
  • Pair of scissors
  • String
  • Pipe Cleaners (perfect for tying sticks together to make this and that or for hanging around your jam jar for pond dipping for younger kids.)
  • Small set of watercolours (great for older kids)
  • Colouring pencils
  • Crayons (for nature rubbings)
  • Drawing pencils
  • Small drawing pad
  • Penknife for Whittling
  • Couple of Jam Jars or plastic containers (are the easiest way to get a closer look at local wildlife)
  • Camera
  • Torches and spare batteries (for nightwalks)

Where to go on your walk with kids

Woods are our favourite place to take kids are a walk. Woods are great places to explore, they are great places to run round, get messy, and have wild fun! Here are some ideas to keep the kids the busy on a walk in the woods and some Woodland Crafts to make on your return!

The National Trust also has some great walks for little legs here where forest walks lead to rope swings and balance beams – many of the the National Trust properties have nature walk guides and natural playgrounds so with plenty of distractions, kids don’t notice the distance they’re covering.

Try finding walks with waterfalls to spot or caves to explore – we love these Wild Guides for inspiring family walks and for places to adventure with kids that are a little bit different and off the beaten track. You can find the nearest woodland to you here or if you’re in the South of the UK – here’s our favourite woods and short day hikes to visit.

What you need to pack for an outdoor adventure with kids!

Here are a few added extras things to pack to turn a walk with kids into a real outdoor exploration! One of our favourite things to do is head out to a beach, a woods or a waterfall and set up camp and eat outdoors! There’s nothing better than relaxing in the wild with a bacon sarnie and it feels like a real adventure for kids! If you don’t fancie cooking outdoors – a flask of hot chocolate and a picnic also does the trick!

Using the Kelly Kettle with Kids
What to pack for a nature walk with kids
Cooking Outdoors with Kids

What to pack for eating outdoors with kids:

  • Kelly Kettle (we love our Kelly Kettle for cooking outside – it’s small and packs up well in a rucksack, it boils water in 3-5 minutes and you can use any natural fuel to light it. Pine Cones, twigs, whatever! Coupled with a firesteel or firelighters it’s pretty easy to light in any weather conditions!)
  • But you could also use a disposable BBQ.
  • Napkins
  • Wet wipes
  • Flask of hot chocolate OR….
  • Water to boil and hot chocolate powder
  • Mugs
  • First Aid Kit
  • Matches
  • Fire lighters
  • FOOD! We find the easiest thing is to cook something that goes into a bread roll or a sandwich – bacon, scrambled egg, vegan sausage – whatever takes your fancie!
  • Marshmallows for Toasting
  • Marshmallow toasting sticks (or you could just collect some sticks if you’re near a wood)

Nature Hike ideas for Kids

What to pack for a nature walk with kids

What to do on a Nature Walk with Kids

Here is a bumper list of fun things you can do on a walk with little kids, but the quickest and easiest things that require no set up are to……

  • Go on a Colour Hunt
  • Go on a Sound Hunt (write a list of sounds your kids can listen for)
  • Collect tiny things in a matchbox
  • Go on a scavenger Hunt – click the link for nature scavenger hunts – ideas for every season.
  • Paint or draw in a nature journal
  • Take photos
  • Go Geocaching – click the link for our top tips. The whole family can enjoy this great family activity!
  • Go on a bug hunt
  • Play eye spy
  • Build.a Den
  • If you return to the same place regularly, you could build a bug house to investigate over time!
  • Explore different textures with crayon nature rubbings

Needless to say, I can’t promise your kids won’t have their own ideas of things they want to pack for a walk! I have a certain child who always wants to take a wooden spoon and another one who frequently adventures in a tutu but as long as they make it out the door – who are we to judge?! Happy adventuring in the great outdoors!

For our best ideas of outdoor activities

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