Children discover the forest - Christina Cherry

Reading time: 4 minutes The forest is an exciting adventure playground for children in every season. Go into nature as often as possible and enjoy and Their children nature with all your senses. So that the walk in the forest does not get boring, we recommend these entertaining ideas and games.

Children experience the forest with all their senses

Arguments for a walk in the forest

According to the Bavarian State Forest, a 100-year-old beech tree supplies 23 people with clean air and oxygen. There is no high oxygen content in the forest, but the leaves and needles of the plants filter dirt, exhaust gases and fine dust from the air. Together with the high moisture content, it can be grown in the forest wonderful take a deep breath.
The peace is another plus of the forest. Thanks to modern technology, children experience hectic pace and noise. In the forest, however, it is so quiet that walkers automatically lower their voices.
The forest offers walkers wonderfully relaxing aromas. Every forest smells different: pine, modern undergrowth or fresh leaves.
The soft forest floor is a back-protecting sub-floor.
There is a lot to discover on the forest walk. Whether the children are watching an anthill, balancing on tree trunks or admiring toadstools, this primal world stimulates the imagination.

Preparations for a trip with children to the forest

Families often go to the forest on Sundays. But not with fine Sunday clothes, please. If you slip on the tree trunk while balancing, you will immediately get green streaks on your pants. If children have fun, you can also get dirty. An old pair of jeans is perfect.
Pack an old blanket and supplies for a picnic. A walk in the fresh air makes you hungry and thirsty.
Take a basket with you so that you can collect sticks, pine cones, leaves or other exciting finds.
Children often ask a thousand questions. If you are not an outspoken naturalist, you often lack the answers. Bring specialist literature especially for children, which you can borrow from the library. With these guides you and your child can identify trees together, recognize herbs, identify birds or name mushrooms. There are a number of exciting children’s books on various topics.
For a walk in the forest, we recommend the book "My first – Which animal trail is this?" From Kosmos Verlag. It not only presents animal traces, but also describes the typical habitat of the animals with traces of eating and faeces. With a little luck and a detective’s sense, you will discover the traces of an animal in the forest.
Literature: van Saan, Anita: My first – Which animal trail is that? Kosmos Verlag 2010. ISBN: 9786-3-440-12454-3

Rules of conduct in the forest

The forest is an intact habitat in which even rotten undergrowth makes sense. Explain to your child that he or she must not want to destroy plants. Even a poisonous toadstool must not be crushed.
As protection against the fox tapeworm, children should wash their hands before eating anything.
If Not you crawling through the undergrowth there is no great risk of ticks. Protected clothing is closed clothing and headgear. Shake out your clothes thoroughly before you go home. Check yourself and your child for ticks at home, which you can carefully remove with tweezers. If the area turns red, see a doctor immediately.
Stay on the trails.
Don’t make a fire.
Do not throw away waste.
Do not eat berries or mushrooms. Do not tear out the mushrooms but cut them off with a knife. Always wash edible berries first.

Ideas for all the senses

Balance on the tree trunks along the way.
Pinecone-throwing. Who throws the pine cone furthest. Alternatively, throw the cones into a target drawn into the forest floor with a stick.
They all close their eyes. Everyone alternately describes a sound that they hear.
You put different materials in a basket: pine cone, stick, moss, oak leaf, pine needle, root. With their eyes closed, the children try to guess the objects by feeling.
Tree buttons: Blindfold your child with a cloth and lead them to a tree. It may scan the tree for one minute. Then run your child in a circle until they have lost their bearings. Take off the cloth. Your child will find his tree again?
Search for twin: Find about five things from the forest, for example a large and small pine cone, stone, stick, root, leaf. The children now have five minutes to find a similar-looking counterpart.

Ideas for forest games

Forest memory: Put about 10 different forest materials on the ground: pine cones, leaves, sticks. Everyone can briefly memorize things. Then cover a cloth over it. A child turns around and one of the things is removed. The child finds out the item.
Blade of grass: Everyone is looking for a blade of grass. Put the blades of grass of the two opponents on top of each other like you would with a finger. Now pull carefully. If the blade of grass breaks, the player has lost.
Search memory: Prepare this game at home and write down search tasks for each child on a piece of paper: Find something prickly. Find something round. Find something soft. Find something long. Find something red. Who can find everything.
Caterpillar running: one is the leader, the others form a snake and hold on to the shoulder of the person in front. Now it’s through the forest. Who is brave and closes his eyes.
On the hunt: one is the hunter, the others embody animals. They line up at a starting line, their destination is their nest, for example a tree. The way in which the animals are allowed to move can also be determined. The hunter stands with his back to the animals, who run or hop to their hiding place as quickly as possible. The hunter turns with a terrible roar. If an animal is still moving, it must return to the start line. Whoever reaches his hiding place first becomes the next hunter.

Creative forest ideas

Everyone looks for colorful forest materials and builds a creepy monster out of them.
Create an ephemeral forest picture with your family. Use a stick to paint the frame of the picture in the sand. Draw a fantasy forest picture with natural materials.

Photo credit: mashiki / stock.adobe.com