Forest games for young and old: You have to know these 9 great forest games!

Forest games for young and old: You have to know these 9 great forest games!

When it gets really warm outside in the summer months, normal playgrounds and sports fields often don't offer too much shade. Nevertheless, children want to be kept busy when the holidays start. What at first seems like a challenge can become an interesting leisure activity that not only the little ones enjoy.

The forest not only offers a pleasantly cool environment, subdued light and soothing silence, but also appeals to all the senses with its scents, textures and sounds. For young and old, forest games are more than just a pastime. They are a way out of often highly artificial everyday routines and lead us back to nature. We would therefore like to present some of the most beautiful forest games for children here.

Child and Tree

1. hide and seek in the forest
The classic outdoors version - because in the forest you can hide behind tree trunks. While one child counts to 15 or 20, the others hide - whoever is found last is the next person to search.

2 Forest Memory I
The memory game can be played in two versions. One is easy to arrange spontaneously by collecting leaves, chestnuts, branches of characteristic trees and plants and covering them with a cloth. The cloth is lifted for a minute so that the children can memorise what is on the forest floor. Afterwards, the task is to find as many of the objects seen as possible by themselves. The one who finds the largest number in agreement wins.

Forest Memory II
A little more preparation is needed for this variant - photos of trees, bushes or other natural elements, such as rock formations, must be taken in the forest the day before. Using the photos, the children - and adult participants - should now identify and find what is depicted. A great game to get to know the forest better and to learn something about the plants in the forest.

Children in the forest

4. course in the forest
Another activity that can be implemented with few "ingredients". For here, all that needs to be done is to stretch a strong cord from Tree to Tree - the longer, the better. The children have to feel their way along this "guide" while blindfolded. The uneven forest floor is a real challenge, but the difficulty should be adjusted to the age of the children so as not to overtax them.

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5. twig puzzles
Exciting and educational, especially for younger children, is this forest puzzle for which branches of various trees and shrubs are simply cut into three or four pieces. Now the children have to put the original branches back together - and recognize the corresponding Tree .

6 Forest pictures
What the forest has to offer can be used creatively. Using branches or twigs, picture frames can be placed on the forest floor and then filled: With colourful leaves, beautiful stones, acorns and hazelnuts, but also bird feathers. The main thing is that you like the finished picture! Several children can join in and create together, and of course a photo of the overall work of art is included.

Stones and wood as art

7. connect leaves
This leaf game is quite simple, for which you simply have to tear a collection of different kinds of leaves into two halves each. In a first step, the children should put the halves back together - and then find out to which Tree the leaf belongs.

8 Recognising forest voices
The forest is not as quiet as it seems. If children sit down with their eyes closed and listen, they can listen for different sounds: the wind in the leaves, the murmur of streams, birdsong. The simple game is also a simple mindfulness exercise in which the older children can also participate.

9. what am i? in the forest
The popular guessing game "What am I?" can also be played in the forest. Each child gets a sign stuck on his/her back on which a plant or animal is named. As the questions progress, each participant has to find out from the others who or what he/she is - but the other children are only allowed to answer yes or no. A fun and entertaining game that not only little children will enjoy.

Son and mother hiking

Hiking and learning in the forest
Of course, you can also integrate games and activities into a hike and thus take a variety of exciting breaks that everyone can enjoy. With the hiking guide as an eBook, children and adults experience nature from new perspectives.

And outdoor or forest lessons are also recommended or encouraged by more and more educators, kindergartens and schools. Subject-specific or even interdisciplinary lessons "on site" not only teach even the youngest children to love and respect nature, but also strengthen important skills such as creativity, communication and teamwork.
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