Hare and Hounds
This is great fun if you’re in the wilds but just as good in urban areas, where you can lay trails through a park or round local streets.
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Colour Chart Walks
Tamsin: Crisp autumn and winter days are made for walking out in the countryside or park, wrapped in duvet warm coats and scarves. If you’re lucky the sky will be blue and there will be sun to warm your face. The picture is sounding rosy but sometimes you have to go through a bit of pain to get there. The major hurdle once you’ve convinced yourself that leaving a lovely warm house is worthwhile is then to convince the kids. Wails of protest come hurtling out of their mouths and I immediately feel my whole body tense up. I know that once they’re out they will enjoy the walk – years of experience have taught me this, so I sweep them along closing my ears and bustling them through the door.
But every little bit helps and last weekend the ‘carrot’ was to hand each child (and adult) a seasonally appropriate paint colour chart that Mike picked up on his morning shopping trip. Off we went, each clutching our card, with the idea of finding something on the walk to match every nuance of red, brown and green.
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Matchbox Miniatures
A good way to stop children getting bored and moany on walks is to give each of them a small matchbox before you start.
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Poppy People
These are brilliant for sailing in leaf boats or just playing with in the garden!
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Duck Races
Pooh sticks with ducks! We've been training up those fantastically coloured plastic bath ducks to championship speed for a couple of seasons now (it's all in the diet)... Pack them in your rucksuck so you can have a race on walks.
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Leaf Boats
This is the simplest boat of all to make. All you need are some big leaves and a long bit of grass or straw.
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One-Metre Safari
This started off as light entertainment: how many things could the kids see in a metre of earth? But then we got our magnifying glasses out and it got interesting. Looking closely, intensely, at a small plot of land is like discovering a new planet. Mindblowing!
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Fairy, Elf and Sylvanian Houses
Adults love striding out on walks, getting to the next sight or interesting spot. But kids like a different kind of pace, they need to be engaged by things to see and do along the way.
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Tinder and Logs
To make a good fire you need the best 'ingredients', fast-catching tinder and slow-burning logs.
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Whittle a Walking Stick
Whittling on a piece of wood with a penknife is a great pleasure for adults and kids. Walking sticks are easy for beginners to whittle and make fantastic personalised gifts for family and friends.
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Going A-Maying
The traditional name for collecting flowers and branches of hawthorn and blackthorn blossom to decorate the maypole. In the olden days, people used to go out the night before to collect huge piles of blossom before sunrise.
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Bubble Walk
Go on a walk to search out some naturally occurring bubbles. Depending where you live you may find bubbles in the waves at the sea, in waterfalls, weirs, mill runs, spas, locks or streams.
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