As you may know, this year I am absolutely loving my walking. I am enjoying my Conqueror Challenge and I like to see the miles racking up. I aim to walk at least 5 miles a day on weekdays and then miles at the weekend are a bonus. However, I find it trickier to get those 5 mile days when the kids are off school. There are no school runs to do and the children can be reluctant to ‘go for a walk’ for walking’s sake. I have to be clever with how we get those walks in, so here are a few ideas of fun ways to get kids walking .
Walking the dog
Easy when you have a dog!
This is a very handy way to clock up a mile or two every day as the kids adore Herbie so will do anything for him. Even if that means walking when they really don’t want to!
The dog likes to go out every day, so we will get at least a little walk in.
Take a day trip to a local town
We are fortunate to live about a mile away from a couple of towns and shopping areas.
We are then only a 10 minute walk from a train station that can take us into a couple of city centres within twenty minutes either way.
This gives us lots of possibilities. We could go for lunch somewhere, a trip to the library, a visit to the museum or a mooch around their favourite shops.
This is a fun trip out, it is not a walk. (But it totally is a walk).
Visit parks and play areas
This is always a handy lure and you can walk so many miles without the kids really noticing.
Take a picnic, kick a football, hire bikes (I’d walk and get my miles in while they cycle), offer ice creams, climb trees, swing on swings, you get the idea!
Such an easy way to walk more and we will be going to a good variety of parks, National Trusts and more.
Enjoy a theme park
We have Drayton Manor annual passes so we like to visit regularly.
There is no way that the kids would consider going to a theme park as walking, but those miles do rack up!
I tend to do around 3 miles when we visit here, and this theme park isn’t that spread out. Go to Alton Towers and you’ve probably done that just walking from the car park!
Get outside on a play date
Sometimes we love play dates at home or our friends’ homes. Lazy days with cups of tea for me and a friend, playing, gaming and lounging for the kids all together.
Then other days, we like to get out and about with friends.
A walk around the local park together as they run and chat, a visit to an adventure centre, a trip to the farm, exploring a castle.
The kids love days like these and I get more miles in. Win win!
Geocaching
This one is new to us, I thought it’d be fun to try this summer.
We’ve been out to find our first geocaches and I can confirm, it is fun!
We get a fair few miles in doing this, but as the kids are very focused on hunting out the geocache, they don’t seem to notice.
It gives walks more of a purpose and as these are all over the world, we can pick this up wherever we are, whenever we want.
We are just over a week into the holidays now and we’ve racked up more miles than I initially thought we would, with these handy ideas. Looks like we’ll all be keeping fit and getting fresh air this break, all in the name of having fun with the kids.
What other ideas do you have for this? Happy to have more walks!
Well done with all of the walking. I bet walking is a lot more fun when you have a dog. I have started walking more, I’ve even stopped getting a lift back from my dad’s when he offers just to get my steps in. I think having a smart watch counting my steps gave me the incentive to walk more. x
That’s brilliant! I do think once you start paying attention to your steps and how much you move, it does spur you on x