What do I miss every time before I plan a trip to nature with children?
To the full sight of children having fun when they are busy with what they enjoy: creating with nature, playing, setting flowers, birds, getting to know animals, picking...
Being in nature stimulates the observation of what is around.
Observing stimulates curiosity and activates us.
And hence, the path to joint learning and memory of positive experiences seems more natural than ever.
When all this is done in a family, intimate and fun setting, a strong and enjoyable connection is created for everyone.
Is there anything to do to go on as many nature trips as possible with children? The answer is: absolutely yes.
If you want to experience nature trips with children,
A sign that you have a deep understanding of what nature does to you
What happens to you when you go out into nature?
Our connection to nature provides motivation
To carry our near and dear ones with us.
Over the years I realized that in nature I experience a sense of slowing down, of connecting to the natural rhythm of life, whether it is feeling the breeze under the shade of a tree and realizing that now I am really comfortable and that I don't need to "replace" the experience with anything else. Now I'm good.
I realized that in nature I have plenty of time, and sometimes instead of the time "slipping away" between everyday tasks, it dissolves into a pleasant space of experience that now there is no need to get anything done, to get to... to prioritize...
Last spring I went to visit a friend who lives in Carmel.
The weather was so pleasant outside, everything was blooming!
I decided that instead of going to his house with the car,
I will park a few kilometers away from it, and walk.
Of course I set a time with him when I would come to him
I took into account that I needed extra time to walk.
I got out of the car and started walking.
Within 5 minutes I was already in the depths of nature, and I saw a lot of flowers around me, everything was green, birds were chirping, the smell of pine trees...
I felt it was the right choice!
I'm so glad I'm here.
This is not the first time I walk here and still every time I am here I think about nature walks with children.
while walking
I noticed such a special corner
The head clears, the body moves
This corner just drew me to it…
I was surprised to discover a new place that I had not seen before!
I slowed down, sat down on this piece of land that was surrounded by gorgeous green trees and sat down to rest.
Because I wasn't there
Never before
I started exploring the area
and without noticing
I entered into a pleasant dream of walking.
Every new thing there attracted me: the sun was so pleasant, the flowers attracted me to observe and linger in them for a moment longer, and thus a moment and another moment turned into two hours!
When I returned to the "normal" time frame, I realized that I had to hurry and literally ran to my friend's house,
When I arrived I told him why I was late...
He loved the story so much that he wasn't even angry about the delay.. 🙂
Therefore, time in nature for me is important and nourishing, strengthening and liberating and perhaps more than anything it provides a connection to the natural rhythm of life of the earth, plants, spirit and animals to my personal life.
Nature trips with children can
allow an opportunity to take out of us
all the positive things
that we find in nature
And our children will experience the connection
together with us.
We will show them without talking and explaining too much that the next opportunity to go out into nature is at the door.
From time to time we just want more of it.
The waiting and anticipation that over time became common (for you and the children), bears fruit in the form of going out into nature as much as possible and much more than we thought.
After we opened the curiosity and the fun partnership in the created experience, nature trips with children become a joint and favorite pastime whenever possible.
Want quality family time without interruptions from phones and screens? Go for a walk in nature with the kids!
How can a trip to nature with the children become your freedom?
That is, not for freedom on the beach...
Sorry, I didn't mean this freedom 🙂
I mean freedom from a busy schedule,
From the pressure of getting a lot of things done in one day
which also combines work, shopping, preparing food, taking care of children and...
Quality time even if it is short with the kids somewhere during the day.
There is a significant opportunity here to experience a different time
Another space that allows connection
direct communication
Without a lot of distractions for both you and the children.
An important rule while hiking in nature with the children - cellphones aside :)
How did I learn it was important?
Because I didn't do it!
On one of the trips I guided, I did not ask to put cell phones aside.
After my introduction to the trip we started walking, and something like 10 minutes later we reached the first break.
I gathered everyone for a game that combined investigation and search in space...
I forgot that children (and parents too) have cell phones in their pockets...
After 3 minutes I see that half of the guys are already glued to the screens - I try to attract their attention with my strongest means, but you know that the effort was in vain. I had no chance.
Everyone on their phone
A boy opens a YouTube video
The accompanying father receives an important phone call (he had reception somehow :))
How many children play the same game but on different cell phones...
I don't blame them!
Lately I've noticed that I use my mobile phone for many hours during the day... not only did I notice it, my phone also noticed it and it alerts me how much time during the day I used it.
I am debating whether to write here exactly how many
Because it's a bit embarrassing…
The last time I checked (yesterday) I was on the phone for 4 hours! on the day…
Do you know what can be done in 4 hours?? It's a lot of time.
This is exactly the time I could have as quality time with my wife after a day's work. Exactly the quality time I could have with a good friend or meeting a family I haven't seen in a long time.
I noticed that using the phone "drains" me
The hand is sent towards the phone
Maybe I open WhatsApp to check if I haven't missed any messages, and close...
A strange action that did not belong in my world a few years ago.
This problem is certainly familiar and happens not only to me, it is stronger than us and we may not be able to deal with it alone, but we have to deal with it together, as a family, as a community, as a society.
On the other hand, when I'm on a nature trip, I don't need my phone every moment. Especially a walk in nature with the children, they keep me busy the best :)
With every step I take into nature, the need to open the phone disappears and is forgotten and suddenly I find myself without the cell phone for a long time - a supreme feeling of freedom!
Going out into nature is like a cure for this addiction - and maybe can even make it go away for a while.
I have wonderful quality time when I go out into nature and it doesn't matter who I am with: with friends, with family, with children and with myself.
In nature, when everyone is without their cell phones there is a "clean" space that provides an opportunity for priceless quality time together
Now you can talk, meet eyes, chat...
After all, the trip is over and we get back to normal very quickly
A trip to nature with the children is the clean and pure place where you experience priceless quality time together!
When you go on a trip to nature with children, an opportunity is created for quality time just for you. The connection between you and the children and nature is strengthened and affects your relationship with them: it is enough for you to tell an interesting story, a good conversation (even if it is very short), notice an interesting natural phenomenon together, enjoy a pleasant sunset, sit next to (or in) running water - and you will accumulate experiences and memories for a lifetime .
A trip to nature with children changes place, changes luck...
Most of the time we are in the same places, in the space where we live in our daily routine.
In the same places - whether it's at home in certain rooms, going to the neighborhood supermarket, visiting regular friends and even in the sports and walking we do.
When we go on a trip,
The whole space is changing.
Sometimes these are places we get to
For the first time in my life and everything is new and unfamiliar.
Here lies the great opportunity:
Precisely in a new, unfamiliar and surprising place comes an opportunity for curiosity and personal discovery of what is good and what is intriguing
And also our joint discovery with our children.
Curiosity leads
for an action of investigation, experience and joint learning
Each step in the process produces
Shared experience and memories
May they come with us next time
Let's go out into nature and also when we return home.
A trip to nature with children takes us out of our comfort zone, because we also arrive at a new and refreshing place.
When this happens, interesting questions arise:
where are we? what was here What is here now? Why is it like this?
And wonder and peace:
so beautiful here Wow what an amazing place. It's so quiet here. You can hear the birds chirping.
When you ask these questions and wonder together
Trying to find answers to some of the questions together.
The search, the learning and the desire to know and explore
Creates an experience and a memory that will last a lifetime.
You won't believe what "came out" of you
When you go out into nature and you suddenly remember an experience you had or a story that suddenly pops up and you want to tell the children.
Our imagination develops while walking,
Consciousness expands and creativity makes us act and invent things on the spot.
Of course, we don't have to count on us to come up with something on the spot.
The more you go out into nature with children, the more positive experiences you will have together and little by little you will want to come prepared :)
What does that mean?
The spontaneous story we told went well, but we can still work on it and improve it. The flower we saw and admired is no longer there because the season has changed (the wonders of nature), the place where we are traveling is new and unfamiliar, and in general it is a bit stressful to go to an unfamiliar place and trust that the children will enjoy it and that we will have something good to do with them in nature...
That's why it is necessary to plan and prepare in advance - and this is where all the fun comes in!
Because there is a goal, there is a trip on the horizon, there is a date marked in the diary:
"Trip in nature with children"
Now can we plan what story to tell? What activity will we do, what can the children prepare for?
And so, a trip to nature with children becomes our opportunity for connection and connection with our children and for quality time of experiences and memories for a lifetime that only keep getting stronger.
Want to get ideas for activities on a trip? click here
Research supports our intuition that a trip to nature with children reduces stress and anxiety.
A few weeks ago I guided a nature trip with children from an elementary school in the center of the country.
We went for a walk in Carmel, in a special nature reserve that I really like.
It was the first time we met.
I guided them for one day, actually for a few hours from morning to afternoon.
I got to school
We boarded the bus and were already on our way
I felt that the whole class was not quiet...
Screams, children get up from their seats,
Knocking on the windows.
The children were so upset that the bus driver decided to stop the trip because of the safety issues, it is impossible to continue driving when all the children are standing.
The children understood that the trip
May be canceled if they do not sit in the seats
And after a few minutes we did continue our journey.
The ride continued to be very noisy
But at least everyone was in their seats.
A few minutes before we reached our destination, the teacher told me that she thought the children were stressed because it was their first trip in a long time.
During the entire Corona period, the school did not take a trip to nature with children at all, so the whole class was not together in nature for almost two years.
without looking for too many reasons
I had a feeling, a kind of intuition
that as soon as we start, we will change place
We will stay in nature and for sure something else will happen.
We got off the bus and made our first acquaintance with nature. I chose a wide tree that gave us all shade, and like magic everyone found their place.
We continued with a light walk and passed through a path decorated with flowers of all kinds of colors: red, blue, yellow, orange, pink...
It seemed that every step we took calmed and connected us to the place.
Together with local stories, perfect weather and spectacular nature, the children started asking questions, getting interested.
All we needed was just that: a trip to nature with children.
I wish you could see their faces now!
So different from the morning.
So different from the moment we met.
Little did they know that their mood was going to change so much,
May today have a positive and pleasant turning point for all of us.
After the trip when I returned home, I shared with a friend who is a psychotherapist by profession the story that happened to me. He nodded and said that in his experience this also happens in nature: the stress, the tension, the anxiety, the intensity decreases.
He shared with me
In a few lines from a study he read
Which points to exactly that!
Research strengthens intuition
ours by going out into nature
Helps and improves the feeling
In particular, it reduces stress and anxiety.
Here are some lines from a study conducted in 2015:
"Being in nature helps the mind and body stay healthy, and has a significant effect on the development of our brain and behavior. Thus, it helps reduce stress, anxiety, depression and disturbing thoughts (thoughts in which attention is focused on negative aspects of ourselves), and its effect is evident in the frontal areas of the cortex (subgenual prefrontal cortex), a part of the brain that when not activated - is associated with an increase in depression and anxiety."
I went to bed feeling good and relaxed.
I was glad I had it
The opportunity to take part in the change
And moving from a tense and stressful place
to a curious and liberated place.
And once again I was reinforced for what I already knew and now it has become clear again: a trip to nature with children empowers them (and us), strengthens and connects on the one hand and reduces stress and anxiety.
If you are celebrating a daughter soon Bar Mitzvah, here is a special content I wrote about Mitzvah trips.
Want a cool activity to start and end a trip? There are a variety of ideas here.
Here is everything that is important to know before going on a nature trip for children:
As a tour guide, I prepare before every trip I go on, especially before Nature trip for children.
Over time I learned that the more prepared, organized and focused I am, the more successful the trip is, everyone is satisfied and the trip creates a positive experience.
I have collected here some tips that will be very helpful even for those who are not guides
and want to go on a trip with children in nature
And there is an expectation and desire for everyone to have a positive experience :)
Here are my tips:
- A defined and clear route
Over time, I developed a method for myself of a few questions that I will share with you, which help me to this day to gain confidence in my familiarity with the destination we are going to (especially Nature trip for children)
Where do you start?
Know the starting point.
Where are the vehicles parked there?
What is the length of the track? in km. How long will it take to walk it all? (approx)
Where do you finish?
Is the route circular (meaning it starts and ends at the same point) or not?
Where are rest points? Shady corners?
is there water Do you have to enter the water or can you not?
2. What do you take?
Food - think about what you like to eat. What would you be really happy to open during the trip - invest in yourself and the children in pampering food! It's fun and important.
Drinking - it is better to take water over any other drink (not carbonated drinks)
Clothing - suitable for the season. In transitional seasons it is always better to take something long.
Shoes - comfortable shoes for walking.
3. How long is the drive?
Check that the area suits you in terms of the length of the trip (remember, that's it Nature trip for children)
Plan the trip well, so that it will not be too exhausting and you will arrive with your tongue sticking out for the trip.
4. Build a theme for the trip and what do you intend to do?
Based on all the information you have gathered so far, imagine what you would like to happen on the trip?
You can also say that you just want to enjoy nature. Completely satisfying. And you can also take it "one step forward": and prepare something in advance (See link for ideas for cool activities on the trip)
5. Find out what my intention is towards Nature trip for children? What do I need to bring her?
This tip helps me to be accurate.
For example: it's spring season, and everything is blooming outside!
I would like to get to know each other
At least 3 new flowers we see on the trip.
Do you have any idea how to do this?
You can check on the internet and in a second see what the name of the flower is. But then you don't really know them...
An interesting option - take a flower arranger with you.
Find out where to get it. make "bingo" flowers (Go to this link to see an example you can use)
and play together along the way.
You can prepare it together with the children and you can give it to them at the beginning of the trip.
Here, you can ask the question - what do I need to bring the intention?
It could be time. Time to get organized, prepare the game, think about what to do...
More activity ideas.
Consult someone who has already done it.
Call the guide and consult with him (always fun and happy!)
Contact form
I hope you found this short guide useful.
Nature trip for children Definitely requires planning and intention - like everything you do in life :) and with the children. Successfully!
I never understood why a trip to nature with children is important, and in 2016 the first time I did it, I immediately understood why!
"Son, you will know that he who succeeds in guiding is good Nature trip with children, will be able to guide any trip and any group!"
That's what an older guide told me, a colleague.
I was then a guide at the beginning of his career,
I was very motivated
And I wanted to go on as many trips as possible.
So, I had no idea how right he was... I decided to jump in the water and take a few groups of families (and offer them Nature trip with children), and thus my professional life changed beyond recognition!
I saw with my own eyes how children develop
Curiosity that has no end
and opens many worlds in their personal world.
I saw the parents' faces
who were satisfied and satisfied
that their children experience a deep connection with the environment.
I saw the parents letting go, letting go and just... enjoying themselves.
All these made me continue and choose to be with children in nature.
They teach me time and time again that I too, just like them, am curious, learning and looking for the simplicity of things.
Nature trip with children Magic moves over me every time and reminds me how deep our connection with nature is, present and essential to us humans.
