When the weather forecast features some sun in the holidays, it’s a nice opportunity to get out and about with the kids. It’s also a great opportunity for families to spend time together. Today’s holiday ideas are some things that you could do in your local neighbourhood – you don’t even have to get in the car!
Walking games
You might find that some of the games you’d play on a long car trip can also be fun while out walking. Consider playing:
- I Spy – “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with… (a letter)”. With younger children, you could change it to a colour “… something green…” or a shape “… something round”
- When I go on holiday – The first player says, “When I go on holiday I pack…” and states an object, for example, “hairbrush”. The second player repeats the sentence and adds another object. For example, “When I go on holiday I pack a hairbrush and a t-shirt”. The players keep adding to the list until nobody can recite the list correctly.
- What am I? – A player chooses any object and says “What am I?”. The other players ask questions to guess the object but only yes or no responses can be given to the questions. For example, Can you be eaten? Can you be found in a house? Do you use electricity? The winner is the player that guesses the correct object.Alternative for young players: A player chooses any object and says “What am I thinking of?” and then describes the object without naming the object. For example, to describe a pea – “It is a type of food, it is green, it is…” The players continue to describe the object until a winner calls out the correct name of the object.
Walking activities
As well as games, there are loads of activities you can do while out and about in your neighbourhood. These games are great for really getting to know your local area.
- Photography challenge – Kids love cameras and getting them to take photos is a lovely way to help them pay attention to detail. If your family camera is an expensive one, you might like to consider purchasing a kids’ digital camera – which you can get fairly inexpensively. While out walking, set your children a list of things to find and photograph. These could include an insect, an interesting letter box, some kind of plant… the list is endless. For older children, you could make it like a scavenger hunt or race and let the kids compete to complete the list best / fastest.
- Mapping activities – You could use a real map and get kids to navigate to a new part of your neighbourhood or, alternatively, get kids to create their own map as you explore the neighbourhood.
Autumn is a lovely time to be out and about – it’s not freezing cold yet and there’s lots to see and do. We’d love to hear about what you do while out walking – feel free to add your thoughts below.
Hope you have a lovely Sunday,
Rochelle
