If you’ve ever tried hiking with kids, you’ll know that boredom is inevitable. Since we started taking kids hiking when my step-daughters were still little, we’ve gradually built up a toolkit of games and distractions. Here are our top ways to keep small humans happy and engaged on the trail. Note: A lot of items on this list can also be adapted for other activities like snowshoeing or canoeing.
If you’re wondering what we carry while hiking with small kids, you can check out our full packing list over here, or our pre-schooler’s favorite ways to carry his big boy gear over here. Fun, snacks, and dry feet are the secret keys to keeping your adventures (at least mostly) joyful.
Games for Little Kids
1) Variations on Tag
The goal with hiking is to keep up the forward momentum. So when we’re talking about tag, we want to keep things moving. We’ve had good success with “relay” style tag games. For example: my little guy loves to pretend to be a dinosaur that steals eggs, so he’ll “steal the egg from my nest,” I’d chase after him to “steal it back,” he’d catch me to get it back again, so on and so forth. At first I was worried about wearing him out too much, but that has yet to happen. You can easily swap in other animals and motivations in if your kiddo prefers something different. Have fun with it!
2) Silly Walks
Silly walking usually means one of two things: silly instructions or animal movement. Instructions can be something like hop on one foot, tiptoe, or take giant steps. Animal movements can be trying to move like an animal getting around, whether elephant stops, eagle soaring, or octopus wiggling. Take turns with your kiddo and be prepared to get silly as you dolphin dive along the trail, but it works!
3) Rainbow Game
Rainbow Game, so named by my little guy, is where you both look for something along your trail for every color of the rainbow. We go straight through (red/yellow/orange/green/blue/violet) and will loop back to the beginning if we finish. This usually lasts for a decent amount of time, and can be cooperative (working together) or competitive (everyone working on their own rainbow). You could also look for shapes or something for every letter of the alphabet too! Change things up as needed.
4) Song Games
Song games are a classic that stand the test of time. We’re partial to Old MacDonald and Down by the Bay.
5) Imagine Who Lives Here
One of my favorite games when hiking alone with little guy, this is literally just imagining what fantastical creature might live where you’re hiking. Encourage the kids to come up with the main idea so they’re invested, then work together to build up the lore. This game has led to some of my most special memories to date. We’ve gone miles brainstorming everything from Invisible Forest Trolls to Ice Gruffalos.
Games for Bigger Kids
6) Scavenger Hunts
While technically possible for some smaller kids, I’ve found the bigger kids enjoy this more. List a couple of items on a piece of paper before you head out and send them off to seek! You could list things like an acorn, animal tracks, a mossy rock, pretty mushrooms, wildflowers. You can scale it to be easier or more challenging as needed.
7) 20 Questions
One person thinks of a person, place, or thing. The other hikers have 20 chances to ask yes/no questions to figure it out. Questions can be things like, “Is it out here with us?”, “Is it alive?”, “Would it fit in my backpack?”
8) Never Ending Story
Tell a hiking story together! Each person takes turns adding one sentence to the story, building an increasingly ridiculous tale as you go.
9) I’m Going on a Hike
A super obvious variation on the road trip game, this is a memory game. You go through one person at a time adding one item to the list alphabetically. Each person has to list everything that came before them plus a new item for the current letter.
Example:
Person 1: I’m going on a hike, and I’m bringing an apple.
Person 2: I’m going on a hike, and I’m bringing an apple, and my backpack.
Person 3: I’m going on a hike, and I’m bringing an apple, my backpack, and a cat.
Final Thoughts
Hiking can be a soothing, quiet, solitary experience. But taking kids along with you will require some recalibrating that expectation. Once you get in the groove of playing along with them I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how fun it can be. Will some trail games and snack preparedness prevent all tired legs and meltdowns? Absolutely not. But it will prevent some of them, give you a redirect option to get things back on track, and make it a memory a child is more willing to do again.
Do you have a personal favorite trail game? Any recommendations?
Happy silly trails! 🥾💚