Nature Trails With Tracking Signs
We get Mum Guilt for the simplest of things. Rory was desperate to go to Beaver Camp but we had already booked a family holiday at the same time and so he couldn’t go. I was equally sad for him. As a Rainbow and Brownie leader, I have so many great memories of taking my girls away for both camps and holidays.
Whilst I cannot recreate the camaraderie of a Beaver Camp, I can help to create a sense of outdoor adventure. We really enjoy going for walks at our local community woodlands and one of our favourite activities is doing a Nature Scavenger Hunt so a great next step for my boys is having a go at following a trail using traditional tracking signs.
Children love deciphering secret messages and codes. It adds a great sense of excitement! The basic symbols are quite straight forward to use too. You could add even more excitement to your trail by adding a theme. You could do a treasure hunt dressed as pirates or maybe hunt in the forest for a Gruffalo!
Here are four basic tracking signs to get you started:
You won’t be surprised to discover that an arrow is an indicator of where to go. For younger children, you could put together a trail just using arrows. If you are somewhere with a lot of stones or pebbles, you can also make a little tower of stones with one to the side. The stone to the side will show which direction to go. For children, I think the stick arrow is easier to spot and follow.
A cross means do not go this way. This would be perfect if you have a fork in the pathway. You could put the cross on one fork and an arrow on the one you wish your children to follow. Alternatively, you could just put the cross so your children have to infer that they need to go the other way.
This symbol is an arrow crossing two sticks. This is to indicate that there is an obstacle in the direction of the arrow.
A box with an arrow shows that there is a message in the direction of the arrow. You could put smaller sticks in the box to show how many paces away the message is. This symbol would be great for a treasure hunt to help the children find the next clue!
Once children has mastered the art of reading the signs, they’ll be able to set out trails for you, or their friends to follow which is a great way to enjoy being outside, getting exercise and most importantly having fun!
If you have a go at a Nature Trail, I’d love to see. Do tag me in your photographs on social media.
I can be found on Instagram – @TiredButCraftyMummy and on Twitter – @TiredButCrafty1
Ahh I love this! Me and my family are always outdoors and what children don’t love sticks! This is certainly something my three would love, fab post! Xx
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I love this idea, wish I had thought of it when I was working as a registered child minder #twinklytuesday@_karendennis
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Popping back #,dreamteam@_karendenbid199@gmail is
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Popping back again #stayclassymama
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This is a great post, we love following a trail so these symbols (which I’d never come across until now, apart from the simple arrow of course) would really add a bit of adventure. We recently did a buried treasure hunt which was fab! Great idea, thanks for sharing #TwinklyTuesday
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This is SUCH a good idea! My sons love spotting the striped public footpath posts when we go for walks and I know they’d love this. Definitely giving this a go.
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Love this, and a great way to get young ones interested in the outdoors when they may not want to go walking #dreamteam
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I always get so inspired by your posts! We have so many sticks on our backyard that this will be something we can recreate this so easily! Love it!
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This is brilliant idea. My boys would love this especially if it involves sticks X
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What a fantastic post and we do love a bit of camping so might try this next time 🙂
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Just returning back form #stayclassymama X
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I Love these ideas, its the simple activities in the great outdoors
I find light a spark with my kids, creating fantastic opportunities for their spiritual and sensory development x #dreamteam
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I so want to start doing more outdoor little activities like this with my girls. Thank you for giving me the inspiration and motivation I needed! #StayClassyMama
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My girls would absolutely love to do this. We’re always out and about. Looking for tracking signs would be lots of fun .Thanks for joining in with That Friday Linky
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Coming over from #thatfridaylinky X
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What fun! I can’t say we’ver ever done this. #KCACOLS
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Nature trails are great fun and sticks make perfect signposts #KCACOLS
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Such a cute idea. I had a friend who did this with flowers once. But the New Forest ponies ate them before they completed the trail! #KCACOLS
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This is such a great idea. My kids would love it. Definitely going to do this during half term #DreamTeam
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Such a great way to get the kids excited about being outside! Thanks for linking up #twinklytuesday
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[…] week I have chosen Tired by Crafty Mummy with Nature Trails with Tracking Signs as my featured blogger. Thanks for sharing this post with us I loved it and will definitely be […]
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Aw we love going on lots of walks outside. I’d never considered doing tracking signs but it sounds like something my kids would love #StayClassyMama
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Ooh I’ve not seen this before looks like a fun way to get children to enjoy the outdoors. Thanks for linking up with #stayclassymama
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i used to do activities like this with my kids, needs reminding of these simple activities now we have a grandchild, thanks for linking with #pocolo and hope to see you back tomorrow
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My son has just started doing some tracking at Cubs. He’s loving it. I remember doing some at school too. It’s always such a useful skill to learn. Thanks for linking up to #stayclassymama
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What a great idea, my youngest would love following arrows made out of sticks and what a fab start to learning about tracking signs. Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next
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What a brilliant idea! We love woodland walks and trails would make a great change. #KCACOLS
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My three would love this – never thought of this idea before! #KCACOLS
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love this idea! me, my hubby and 3 kids love a nice nature walk! we live right near woodlands, ruins and waterfalls, so this is defiantly something i will be giving a go. thank you for a great blog post!
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What a lovely, fun idea. Well done for keeping him entertained in the great outdoors.
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What a great idea! Perfect summer activity.
I loved going to summer camp with the brownies, I have such fond memories of that time x
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My eldest has done something similar at Cubs last year when they went camping. Sadly this year’s camp has been cancelled.
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I remember doing this when I was in Brownies but I’ve never tried doing it with my children. It’s such a fun way of helping make a walk more interesting and helping them learn about tracking signs. We’ll have to try this at some point. Thank you for joining in with #CountryKids
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