You don’t need $1800 plane tickets to bring your kids across the pond for an adventure. You don’t need fancy gear. Just a sense of adventure a maybe. A bit of willingness to get a little dirty!
1) One day bike expedition. Depending on ages, endurance and safety factors, hit the road with a back pack of essentials (built in hydration pack makes this a bit safer) and just see where you end up!
2) Find a nearby hill to stargaze at night. A regular old blanket will do the trick, but a concert blanket will be sure to eliminate whining when the dew seeps through or the wind picks up.
3) Pack up dinner and take it to the backyard for a picnic … an outdoor, waterproof blanket like this will enhance the experience and save the day if the ground is damp.
4) Find the best campsites nearby and make a bucket list to do them all! Remember, not all good campsites can be found on the internet. Get some local maps and get out there!
5) Try a whole day ( or half day!) on foot – test your limits…make a day out of traversing to a location on foot. Maybe plan a couple pit stops to add some spice.
Whether an urban route, or a more rugged route…load up a supply sack and you will most definitely experience the route from whole new perspective.
6) Jump in a kayak or canoe – take the time to appreciate nature. Study up on local bird and trees and be sure to impress your kids with your knowledge!
Don’t forget those PFD’s! Lifejackets like these are Coast Guard accepted for boating AND tend to keep the complaining to a minimum with little ones! And oh yeah, they float those kiddos really well so you can rest assured that they won’t disappear!
7) Sunrise breakfast at the beach – nothing fancy. Just grab some coffee and bagels and head for the sunrise!
Google Earth is a great tool for finding interesting places to hike. Entice your explorers sense of adventure by letting them check out the map with you.
Get their input and plan your trek based on what they want to see. Having them engaged can be make or break!
8) Treasure hunt – if your kids are still young enough, a $2 bag of fake pirate coins will go a long way to turn a regular afternoon into a serious adventure. Whether your backyard or the beach, lake side or nana’s patio….A treasure hunt can be anywhere!
Here’s one of our kids on the beach after discovering some gold booty that we buried. Make no mistake, these kids LOVE gold!
The coins made it pretty memorable for them and only cost us 7 bucks and included random pirate paraphernalia, which they also loved – not bad.
Comments are closed.