Amazing benefits of bushwalking with kids

Stef Zisovska

Bushwalking is a great way to spend some quality time in the outdoors alongside your family. You can do it in the nearest national park, forest, or any green area that has mystic hidden paths between thick vegetation. Taking your kids bushwalking once a week will help them to develop a healthy spirit and body and learn that the connection to nature is crucial for our well-being. Plus, they will understand that staying active and practice outside physical activities is the best way to spend a day off or an entire weekend.

Here are some wonderful benefits of bushwalking that will make your family happy and healthy.

It gets them outside

Girls
Girls

Getting children outside gives them space to play, think and breathe fresh air. In the last decades, kids became more housebound which is not good for their health at all. Take them out and let them roll on the grass and get dirty. It’s better than to stay clean and sterile at home in front of a computer.

It helps kids to connect with wild animals

Another benefit that bushwalking will provide for your kids is to help them connect with wild animals in their natural habitat. Going to the zoo is not the same as seeing a deer or a bear in the wild. It’s important that your children learn the difference between a free and a captivity animal. They will learn how to appreciate animals more and understand that they’re not toys or our possessions.

Allows them to use their senses

A boy playing
A boy playing

Taking your kids outside allows them to smell, hear, and feel their surroundings and live new experiences. Imagine your kids’ reaction when they hear a waterfall or when a chirping bird flies over their head. Or seeing a squirrel and touching a moss on a tree. All these things are beautiful sensations that we don’t have a chance to feel while living in the city. Therefore, you need to take your kids bushwalking more often to help them connect with nature in a healthy way.

It makes them exercise without knowing

Walking in the bushes is a great physical exercise although you’re not aware of it. It makes your entire body moving and activates all the muscles. It’s good for you and your kids. Once they get used to spending their energy on hiking, they will keep doing it for the rest of their lives. And the good thing about it is that you’re not even forcing them to exercise, all you do is take them for a bushwalk and show them some butterflies on the way.

Bushwalking is free

Forest walk
Forest walk

One of the best things about bushwalking is that it’s free. So, you don’t have an excuse not to do it. Find the nearest park in your area and just go for a walk every Sunday. Being broke doesn’t mean you should lock your family at home and complain about your life. Instead, take them out for a fresh air and try to make the best of your little adventure.

It helps to build lifelong skills

Starting early age, you can teach your kids some basic survival skills that they can use for the rest of their lives. Stick to the path and respect the local fauna and flora is something that your young kids need to learn first. If you deal with teenagers than you can teach them how to make a fire, how to purify water or build a shelter. There are so many educational activities that you can do with your kids in nature that you will be surprised yourself how fun it is to go bushwalking. Have fun and good luck!

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We live in a beautiful world, get out there and enjoy it. Outdoor Revival – Reconnecting us all with the Outdoors.

stef-zisovska

stef-zisovska is one of the authors writing for Outdoor Revival