How to trick a child into going for a walk

My kids dislike Go for a walk, but “But it’s a good day!” Or “We all need fresh air!” Otherwise it’s enough to convince them. So over the years, I had to be creative and trick them into walking around the neighborhood by making them look like games rather than walks. Here are my best tips for getting kids off the screen and wandering with you.

Color walk

Colorwalk was a pandemic Instagram trend I stole for great success. When we leave, we choose a color, theme, or challenge. Choose a specific color, such as red, or aim to find one out of each color of the rainbow. During Halloween, I chose a seasonal color scheme such as orange or black, or found a specific color, but only flowers. As an additional challenge, you may need to find something that is environmentally friendly. not leaf.

You can decide whether to collect items (unless you need to pick someone’s flowers) or just “spy”. To make it even more interactive, take pictures together and create a collage when you get home.

clue

Taking a walk of clues requires a little preparation on your side, but it will be a fun adventure. For my daughter’s birthday party, I hid rhyming clues in the woods leading to each new location. An example was, “If you go right on this road, you can clearly see the next clue.” You walk with them as they move from clue to clue.

If you follow the familiar path, you can think about things in advance, write them down in your notebook, and have your kids read them every time you arrive at a new location so that you can easily do it yourself. For example, “The next place is a yellow house with a topiary shaped like a mouse.” They focused more on finding a house and less on the fact that they were “walking.” Will not match.

Putting a prize at the end of this can be called a scavenger hunt, which is a fun way to go home without a prize. Children need to follow the clues to move from one place to the next and go home again.

Rhythm maker

In a drama game called “Rhythm Maker”, one person creates a rhythm such as applause or snaps, another person copies it, and who is out of the room when the leader is selected creates the rhythm. You need to guess. I have only two kids, so it’s not always possible to play this game together while walking.InsteadWe take turns becoming rhythm makers, and the rest need to copy the rhythm while walking in time.

When one sings a song and the rest joins or someone inevitably raises a stick, they can keep the group’s beat with it instead of using it as a sword.

Other simple suggestions

If you get tired of colors, clues and rhythms, try one of the following:

• Ask your children to bring a scooter. Children can go back and forth between you and the curb as many times as you like, as long as you keep an eye on the roads and cars.
• “We go hunting bears / fairies / monsters / anything!”
• Give them a small notebook and pencil to catalog insects, plants, rocks and more.
• Remember the old one Monty Python Sketch “Ministry of Silly Walk?” Come up with a version of the stupid walk and ask the kids to change the style of the walk block by block. Or shout suggestions block by block. “Let’s walk like a robot!” “Walk like a jelly with your feet!”

Even if you don’t think it’s fun when you suggest it, they sometimes get happy when they’re outside. Everyone can enjoy walking around the block a bit.