17 Trail Games And Hiking Activities For Kids And Adults
Some people can hike for hours without losing interest in the sights and sounds of the trail. Some like to disconnect by listening to their favourite tunes, while others need something extra to keep them motivated. If you’ve ever been hiking with kids, you’ll know how important it is to keep them entertained while hiking, which is wear trail games come in!
Why trail games rock!
Trail games help to pass the time on boring or difficult sections of a hike. Even in fantastic scenery, there’s bound to be a couple of monotonous areas, particularly if you’re backpacking on a long-distance trail. This is when a hiking game comes in. It’s difficult to lose interest in a trail when you’re actively searching for a specific type of flower, and the miles fly by when you’re chatting with your hiking buddies.
The best hiking games for kids and adults aren’t just fun, but they’re educational too. You can use hiking games to teach and learn about plants, wildlife, and environmental responsibility, or to practice essential backpacking skills such as map reading. Trail games are useful ice-breakers too. As a hiking guide, I often use trail games and hiking activities to help groups develop a team spirit on day one, to motivate hikers on the toughest or dullest sections of the trail, or to distract anxious hikers when there’s bad weather on the horizon. Trail games can help you keep a group walking at the same pace too.
Ideally, trail games don’t require any props. Most of my favourite walking games don’t need any preparation either so you can play anytime and anywhere. Here you can get ideas for trail games and hiking activities to use on your next outdoor adventure.
17 trail games and hiking activities
- Trail games for adults and kids
- Invite five people to a dinner party
- And then
- Word association game
- Name that tune
- The Alphabet Game
- Twenty Questions
- Name it
- Trail games for kids
- When I went shopping, I bought…
- I Spy
- Hiking activities for adults and kids
- Map reading
- Nature photography
- Pick up litter
- Hiking activities for kids
- Catch my shadow
- Follow the leader
- Trail hide and seek
- Hiking scavenger hunts
- Treasure Hunt

Trail games for adults and kids
1 Invite five people to a dinner party
Of all the games to play while walking, this is one of the best ice-breakers for hiking groups. It’s even more interesting, and even educational, when you’re hiking with a group of mixed nationalities and mixed demographics. Read More…