Need ideas for nature hike activities

[badass88gt]

I'm a den leader for the Tiger Cubs at the local school and tonite is a den meeting, we are going on a short hike to collect leaves for making leaf rubbings as one of the kid's achievements. The boys are 6-7 years old and parents will also be along, but I'm having a tough time coming up with ideas to make it fun for both parents and the kids. I really dont want to just walk through the woods and be boring, I was thinking I would find a specific leaf, then have the kids find a match, but does anyone have any good ideas for some fun interaction with the parents and kids? Thanks-Dan

[michelle]

We had played Bingo one time while on a hike with a group of younger children. They brainstormed things they might seen during the hike (like specific types of trees, animals, etc. - not basic things like a branch, dirt, leaf, etc.). As they walked, you played Bingo with what you saw.

Or do a simple "Simon Says" type of game, where the leader calls out a specific type of walking style (big steps, little steps, tippy-toes, etc.) as they walk along the path. You could have the kids come up with ideas, as long as they would still be able to keep their eyes on what's ahead of them. Don't need anyone tripping over a large root sticking out of the ground!

[y2kws6]

Congrates to you for becoming a Tiger leader. I did it last year and now I am a Wolf leader. It is a lot of fun, but does have its moments.

We cleaned a trail (Weeds, garbage, etc.) while we went through and seen who could gather the most, but the leave collecting didn't work for us since it was winter by the time I was involved enough to notice the achievement. What I did was play a game using coins (through a bunch down and see who could give me the correct amount first). Once we had our winners they received my special military coins to rub primary color crayons over to get the designs of the coins. Then they past it to there neighbor and had them color with a different primary color which changed all together to a secondary color (Red & Blue make purple). This gave the achievement of counting coins, rubbings, and colors for all the tigers in the pack.

Dan