Skip to content

How to make a Country Walk fun for children

country walk with the kids

“Do I HAVE to go on a country walk? It’s so BORING!” Does that sound familiar? Try some of these ideas. They could turn a Boring Country Walk into a Fun one!

Of course, the actual activity will depend on the time of the year, your geographical location, the environment you are walking through, the time available, and the ages of the children. But hopefully you will be able to mix, match and adapt some of these ideas to come up with an interesting, fun Country Walk.

Here are 12 ideas how to make a country walk fun. They are described for the children going on the walk. (Photographs from Pixabay.)

Identify farm animals

“See how many different types of farm animal you can see. You’re probably familiar with the usual ones. These could be cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, geese etc. But some farmers keep unusual animals such as deer, ostriches, llamas or even bison! Keep your eyes open and make a list of all the farm animals you come across.”

Pick up dried leaves

“Collect them. Take them home. Wash and dry them. Stick them on large sheets of paper to make attractive leaf displays. Alternatively, arrange them on a spare desktop or table in your home. This could then become your own or the family’s Nature Table.”

Collect berries and nuts

“Snip or pull them off trees or bushes, or pick them up from the ground. Bring them home and put them on your Nature Table. See how many you can name. On a rainy day, painting nuts such as acorns is a fun craft activity.”

Spot the birds

“Spot them. Count them. Try and identify them. If you can’t, think about buying or borrowing a bird identification book.”

Photograph farm machinery

“Take photos of the agricultural equipment you see. At home, try and discover what work they perform on the farm.”

Collect seashells

Get a plastic bag or bucket, and see how many different types of seashells you can collect from the beach in 30 minutes. After that, compare discoveries with your brothers, sisters or friends. Take the best ones home, wash them and add them to your Nature Table.”

How to make a country walk fun: collect sea shells.

Look for patterns

“Patterns in nature are everywhere when you look for them. Circles, squares, lines, diamonds, whorls … How about drawing or photographing the patterns that you come across?”

Imagine shapes in the clouds

“While you are out walking, don’t forget to look up into the sky. If the ground is dry, lie on your back and look upwards! What shapes are the clouds making? Let your imagination go wild and see if you can describe the shapes! Maybe you will see people you know, animals, scary monsters, vehicles etc.

How to make a country walk fun. Look at the clouds!

Pick up stones and pebbles

“Collect interesting ones. At home, wash and dry them. Arrange the smaller ones on your Nature Table. Try and balance the larger ones on top of each other and display them in your garden or inside your house. You could paint the others different colours to make a display, or paint pictures on some of the larger stones.”

Collect fir cones

“Fir cones come in all shapes and sizes. Collect them and arrange them on your Nature Table. Another indoor activity for a rainy day is painting fir cones.”

Investigate creepy-crawlies

“Stop every now and then and turn over logs or stones to see what creepy-crawlies might be lurking underneath. Take a magnifying glass with you to get a closer look. You might even want to take some photos so you can identify or draw the bugs back home.”

Hunt for treasure

“Ask an adult to make a list of 10 objects that you have to find and collect. Get a bag to collect your treasure.” (Dear Adult, the list will depend on the environment you are walking through. If it’s a forest, a typical list might be: pine cone, acorn, yellow leaf, feather, moss, bug, silver twig, bit of tree bark, wild flower, smooth stone.)

Ideas to make a Country Walk for children fun!

These are just a few ideas to make a Country Walk fun for children. I’m sure you have other ones that you have put into practice with your own children. Feel free to share your own suggestions or drop me a line and I will add them to the next list of 12 ideas!

Click to pin on your Pinterest boards

If you would like more ideas on outdoor activities for children such as family-friendly walks and nature activities, add your email below. This way you will get every new post on Discovering Belgium straight into your inbox:

If you have found this post useful and want to support Discovering Belgium, please consider buying me a coffee. Thank you. Denzil

27 thoughts on “How to make a Country Walk fun for children”

  1. I love this post, Denzil. So full of wonderful ideas for enjoying the day with your kids or grandkids. Though I knew some of them from our adventures, you suggested many new possibilities and projects. it’s not only good to get kids away from digital and screen distractions, but great to be involved with them out in nature, seeing the world and being with people they love. A perfect way to start the new year.

    1. Thanks Sharon, it’s good to see many organisations and FB groups arising these days, pushing various initiatives to get children outdoors, even “forest schools”; it would be interesting to visit one of those for an article!

  2. brilliant 🙂

    My nephews were once struggling at the end of a walk as there was a huge hill to climb towards the end and so I ran ahead finding feathers and then stuck them in the ground for them to find as they followed some distance behind. Fortunately both the number of feathers and my energy lasted to the top of the hill!!!

    1. Feathers! That’s another one to add to the list for Part II! Thanks Becky. And what a great idea to use them as markers to encourage the little ones to get to the top of the hill. I could use you to go ahead of me on some of the Ardennes climbs …

  3. Wonderful ideas for childrens exploring on walks Denzil, good to visit here again, I have not seen your updates.. And it looks like you have been busy away blogging throughout the year..
    Glad to be here within your blog once again..
    I love to do many of the suggestions you have mentioned above and often we take our granddaughter to a farm park for the day out..
    I teach her the different leaves on trees when out walking,.. Its been a while since I went near a beach to collect shells, but have many in jars and scattered around our garden all hold memories of various seaside holidays..

    I hope you enjoyed a fabulous Christmas.. Sending well wishes and much Happiness and Peace for 2019..
    Take care.. Sue 🙂

    1. I’m sure there’s a child within each of us Liesbet. Glad you liked these activities and consider them fun. Best wishes for a great 2019!

  4. Pingback: 15 child-friendly walks in Belgium – Discovering Belgium

  5. Pingback: 15 child-friendly walks in Belgium | Discovering Belgium

  6. Okay, I guess this speaks to my maturity level, but I’ve done most of these activities myself on walks in recent years! ?

    This is a great resource though for parents, grandparents, and anyone else walking taking a country stroll with littles in tow. Thanks for putting this together, Denzil!

Add your comment or question:

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d