In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful
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The weather has been really up-and-down lately but as we get closer to spring, two things I’m super excited about are gardening and kicking our hiking trips up a notch.
If you’ve been around here a while, you probably know that we LOVE spending time outside…and hiking and biking are two of our favorite ways to do that! Today, we’re going to have some fun talking about hiking as a family. Not only is it a great form of exercise, it’s a great activity for exploration and connecting with nature and it can be a powerful tool for learning. Getting outside, getting connected to nature and using our lives as opportunities for learning are some of the core principles of being well-nourished.
This year, my little guy turned three and while we’re waiting a few more years to get started with any official schooling, I’m definitely getting more in tune with and being more more intentional about making sure to create an environment and provide more opportunities for lots of organic learning. A big part of that is getting lots of outside time and exploring nature. Cue in hiking…
Hiking is not only beneficial for children! It’s a valuable experience for the entire family. With the right intentions and maybe a few tools, hiking can be the door into learning many important skills. Today, we’re going to talk about 10 skill sets that we can learn as a family by getting out into nature on a regular basis, checking out the parks and forests in your area and embracing the world around you.
1. Effective communication skills.
Hiking requires a level of effective communication..and we need to remember that communication is more than talking. Even when you are hiking alone, you need to be tuned into yourself and your environment. You need to be listening, observing the people around you, and checking in with your own intuition. And as you add people, especially small children, there needs to be a lot of ongoing communication between everyone. One way this plays out is having firm boundaries in place that are clearly explained and understood. Also, depending on the situation, talking about emergencies and what everyone’s role is can be very important. But also, it’s just about checking in with each other and keeping connected throughout the experience.
2. Identification skills.
Hiking is a great way to learn identification skills and you can really dive in with this as deeply as you’d like. Every step you take is another opportunity for identification. You could learn to identify different animal tracks, different animal poop, different animal sounds, different animals! There’s also plants of course – identifying what’s edible and what’s not, what’s poisonous and what’s not, what’s invasive and what’s not. You can learn to identify different plants, different trees, and different mushrooms. The possibilities here are practically endless. If this is something you want to dive into, there are books, apps and lots of other resources for you to explore.
3. Navigational skills.
We have GPS these days and with that, a lot of us hardly think of navigation beyond typing in an address into our phones but I think it’s important to have some idea of being able to navigate our surroundings without technology. It’s important…but it can also be very fun. It can be as simple as paying attention to trail markers and being aware of staying on a particular trail or even getting back to the trail after veering off to go look at something to the side. But you can also dive in and learn about the positioning of the sun, becoming aware of direction through the moss growing, and even learning how to use an actual compass and map.
4. Foraging skills.
Foraging has been something I’ve become interested in this past year or so and hiking can provide a great outlet for it. You’ll need to figure out your own comfort level with this for you and your family and have safety protocols in place. You’ll also want to be mindful of leaving the area better than when you arrived – being mindful of how you harvest something, how much of it, etc. It’s fun and empowering to know your environment, pick your own food that’s just growing wild. There’s berries, leaves, mushrooms and more. You want to make sure you’re being careful of course and using the resources available to you to ensure you’re picking and eating things that are edible and safe.
5. Problem solving skills.
Hiking can be a great opportunity to learn how to solve problems on the fly. Of course you’ll want to think through some potential problems ahead of time and plan accordingly – such as weather, bringing food and water, something for dealing with the bugs, etc… but things come up too. We’re not talking about anything too serious here – maybe your child climbed on top of a big rock and now they have to figure out how to get down. Maybe there’s a big hill and you have to find out how you’re going to climb. How to get across the stream without getting wet or slipping. It’s all the little decisions that require you to take a moment, use some critical thinking and come up with a solution.
6. Collaboration skills
Hiking can be a real team-builder, especially as you start to build up your confidence and endurance and journey into tougher terrain. Depending on your family dynamics, you can use a buddy system which really hones in on this skill set. Aside from that though, you have to collaborate with everyone involved in deciding the appropriate amount of trail you can cover at a given time, setting the pace and keeping everyone encouraged. Collaboration skills can also come up when you face some slightly challenging terrain – such as a big hill to climb or a stream to cross. It is a great bonding experience in general and cultivates a sense of shared success.
7. Safety skills
A big part of happy hiking is keeping safe. This starts before we even get to the trail – things like making sure we have proper gear for the terrain and the weather. Safety skills can also include things like what to do in case of coming in contact with wild life, being aware of other hikers, being aware of our surroundings in general, knowing some common poisonous plants and things of that nature. It can also include some basic first-aid knowledge and coming up with a plan in case of some emergency scenarios. You don’t want hiking to become an overwhelming experience or scary but there are definitely risks involved.
We could definitely add on to this list. Hiking can be a great time to learn many intra-personal and interpersonal skills, as well as get very hands-on experience with many awesome life skills. It’s great to consider this as you start planning out your homeschooling for the year. On top of all the things you can learn through hiking, there are so many other benefits as well.
For some of these things, you will need to prepare ahead of time – such as purchasing some books, downloading an app or two, etc – but a lot of learning will happen organically as well. I hope that this post opens your mind to some of the ways that hiking can be beneficial, not only for children but for the entire family.
I’d love to hear if you enjoy hiking?
Question for the comments; What is your biggest motivator to get out on the trails for a lovely hike? Have you been able to learn any of these skill sets…or pursue them more deeply through hiking?
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