Hiking with young children - A child's view

Guestpost by Esmee (6 yrs)

Hiking with young children is perceived by some as too much work. However, if prepared well, hiking in the outdoors can provide wonderful family moments. In this post Esmee shares her view on today's family hike.

We went on a river walk. There were rocks, we had to walk next to a river. It was from the movie Lord of the Rings. It was a bit hard to walk first because it was a bit too rocky and we had to cross a few rivers which was quite fun.

I had a walking stick which I stuck in the river, looking for animals. I did see lots of little insects. Then we had a stop so we could have a drink, half way nearly up the hill, we were nearly at the top. Then we stopped again and had a drink again, at the top. At the top we saw very, very big, big hills. They looked like big rocks.

I saw hundreds and hundreds of fossils. Camiel and my dad found a fossil that had an arrow on it, pointing the way that my mum and me were going. So Camiel and my dad split up. Camiel went the right way, but my dad didn’t. So he had to walk for a long time on the wrong path. And then we got together.

Then we finally reached the top. The fossil stones had shells and rocks in them, so it was a rock with a rock in them or a rock with shells in them, which we call a fossil. Fossils are things from the olden days that have died like dinosaur bones. If people find them they put them into places like a museum.

The shapes of the rocks we saw were different. We saw a shoe shape, we saw a heart shape, we saw a shell shape of a turtle, a frog’s head that had jaguar spots on it, and a rock that kind of looked weird but it had a white elephant on it. We saw a big rhinoceros head on the wall.

There was sand. What I did in the sand is I made little footprints with my hands like fists. It was supposed to be an old dinosaurs track. I also found olden day rabbit poos. It was hot and I started sweating. I got really tired I was getting fried. On the way back the wind was a bit gusty, it nearly blew me away. - Esmee (Esmee blogs at The Applekid)

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Hiking with children is a great outdoor activity. It creates wonderful opportunities to teach them to love, enjoy and respect nature. Children love to touch everything they see. We usually plan our hikes near boulders, waterfall, streams and other attractions to keep our children interested. The above hike was into the Putangirua Pinnacles, in the South Wairarapa, a location which has been used in the making of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. While Esmee may be too young to have watched the movies, as a kiwi child she certainly has heard about them, and admittently, has seen some scenes. After all, Peter Jackson was born and grow up not far away, and Lord of the Rings is a New Zealand icon. This created some needed anticipation with Esmee and Camiel as we set foot after a 2 hour drive from Wellington.

Hiking with children creates different dimensions. You will have to change your goals and, most important, be flexible. For many children, it's the journey that's important, not how long the journey is or what the destination is. Be prepared that you may not go as far, as fast, or as high as you may like to go. Children are slower and smaller. They look at things with different eyes as they have their own sense of time, wonder and interest. They will see insects, leaves, flowers, spider webs, dew drops,pebbles, shapes and sizes in the environment you may not notice. This will add a real joy to the trip as you marvel together at the beauty of nature. Make sure you bring food and water along, good clothing and footwear is also essential, so is sunscreen and insect repellent. Esmee and Camiel enjoy their walking sticks. Our children also take a photo camera or video camera along, adding another dimension to the trip, as they look for an interesting picture and are in charge of their own photo and video taking. This also creates lots of after fun as they create and edit their slideshow or videoclip once they are back at home.

Hiking is one of the most enjoyed outdoor activities. Most children love the outdoors and they love to be active. Do you take your child hiking? What tips do you have?

Exploring in the dark

After a busy day I get ready for an evening walk. Esmee is quick in volunteering to join me, knowing that the alternative will be a "bedtime call". Camiel joins too and the three of us "hit the road". At the end of our quiet cul-de-sac is the start of a walkway which meanders through a bush reserve that is spread throughout our small suburb.

As soon as we enter the walkway the darkness of the night hits us. The few lights that line the walkway aren't working and the area is pitch black. Esmee carries a small maglite and runs ahead of us into the darkness, showing no fear. Camiel catches up with her and the two bounce ahead of me, trying to outrun each other and making scary noises, leaving me behind in total darkness. I know this walkway inside out, so do the children, and I hope there are no branches on the ground that may trip me in the dark.

The children stop when they hear a screeching sound in the bushes. We shine our torch, but don't see anything. It could have been a possum, or a bird. I was hoping to hear a morepork tonight, as we often do from our porch. I like the morepork, or ruru, as it reminds me of my early years growing up in Holland when I would watch the Fabeltjeskrant before bedtime. This was in the late sixties, when tv was a luxury and there where only a few programmes on at night. The Fabeltjeskrant was one of the very few children's programmes and it was screened every day for 5 minutes before the evening news. You can watch the original begin tune below or watch an English version here.



The story, inspired by the famous Fables of Jean de la Fontaine, was about a group of animals in the woods, and an old wise owl. It has been awarded as the best national children's programme ever. As a young child, whenever I was in the woods, I would look for the animals of the Fabeltjeskrant, Jacob the owl, the sister ants, and Zoef the hare, to name a few. I sadly wonder what today's children look for, Pokemons and Transformers?

We continue our walk. The darkness has given this familiar walk a new dimension. We stop to look at some flowers which have "gone to sleep". The children are surprised to see the buds closed with the petals folded up. When we arrive back at the top of the walkway and we enter our street again the children want more and take an extra detour. In the silence of the night, a familiar walk has turned into an adventure of its own. They listen to noises they usually don't hear or notice, and at the same time they "hear" the silence that is not there during the day.

Back home, Esmee disappears with the torch into the back garden. She spots two garden snails on the path, making their way across. Carefully she picks them up and gives them a helping hand as she doesn't want anybody to step on them in the dark. I don't question who that anybody might be at this time of the night!

While Esmee is exploring the darkness of the back garden I make my way into the spa pool. She and Camiel soon join me and together we soak up the warmth of the pool water and the coolness of the night air, listening to the insects chirping in the garden. We often end our days like this, gazing at the night sky, spotting satellites and shooting stars, making wishes, talking about the day gone and pondering about the day coming. Tonight the sky is overcast, we can not see any stars, and soon it will start raining. But tonight's joyful walk in the dark has lit another star inside us, making up for a late bedtime.

A walk on the wildside

I guess that is what my teenage daughter, Femke, will call our hike today. As New Zealand celebrates a public holiday, I took my six year old daughter, Esmee, for a treasure hunt along the Korokoro stream. To my astonishment, Femke, bored from having to much screentime on her hands, volunteered to join us. So of we went. Richard Louv writes in his book "Last Child in the Woods, saving our children from nature deficit disorder" the following:

"Even as children and teenagers become more aware of global threats to the environment, their physical contact, their intimacy with nature is fading"

Is my teenage daughter really out of touch with nature? My skepticism soon turned to optimism. She left her Ipod and cellphone in the car, and she was first out on the track. She was the only one to climb a tree, and the first to spot the wild duckling down the riverstream.

She found a spider on her sweatshirt and she managed to skim some stones across the water. When we found a fern with some spores, she gave Esmee a biology lecture about "asexual reproduction" as she called it. I must admit, I was impressed.

We hang over and looked under bridges to see if we could find tadpoles. We run and jumped, stopped to listen to the lark in the sky and the crickets in the blackberry bushes. We spotted a fantail and several butterflies.

Femke helped Esmee look for treasures. Esmee, with her child's eye sees beauty in many little things. She found a bone with teeth, a beautiful gem stone, a plant complete with roots and leaves, some moss, "seaglass" as she calls it and "sharp rocks that people used as tools in the old days, when there were apes".

A play on the water edge to float some sticks topped of the fun.


A six year old and a sixteen year old, both with a magic eye for wonder that only a child will have.