Tips to go to the mountains with your children:

Bring food to pieces

Add to your backpack healthy food and in small doses: segments of tangerine, nuts, banana slices, sticks, cookies ... You can put them on small toppers to store them. It will give them energy and help them to hang out. Something different Include the food as part of the game: raise a piece of food and make it jump or chase you to get it.

A basket to collect natural treasures

Something very useful is to carry a small basket and give it to the little ones so that they go pick up the natural treasures they find: snails, pretty stones, pineapples ... Everything goes! As it is likely that one of the adults ends up carrying the basket, try that the size of the basket is not too large; this way it will cost less and the children will be able to handle it better.

Surely this scene sounds to you: "I'm tired ... How much is missing?" What to adults seems like a great walk through nature, for children it can be an endless road that leads nowhere. They live in the present and, therefore, they are not worth thinking that we will reach a magnificent place within a couple of hours.

These are some of the tricks that have helped us to make a mountain tour more bearable for the little ones. By putting them into practice, children will learn to enjoy nature and walking excursions. And in return, you can often make rural escapades with them.

Play, play and play

An excursion is a fabulous excuse to play in a natural environment. The path will be shorter and they will not think about what they are doing. If they are small, the songs and the stories are a great game. With the older children you can play the pilla-pilla, the see-see, hockey sticks and pineapples or walk like a dog, like a kangaroo, like a crab.

Go with more children

The children feed each other. When a child is tired, it is usually motivated by seeing how another child is walking in front of him. Therefore, if you have an option, take the tour with other families with children. It will also be more fun for the little ones.

Choose an appropriate itinerary

Succeeding with the itinerary is one of the keys to the success of the trip. If it is the first excursion you do, choose one that is easy and short. You will go up the level little by little. It always helps to choose itineraries that have shadows, that go through rivers or bridges and that offer different landscapes. Luckily, there are more and more routes adapted and classified for families with children.

Have patience

That is the daily keyword in any house with children and it is also a maxim when it comes to an excursion. Do not go in a hurry, enjoy that time together and stop to see the ants if it is what the child asks, even if that means having to delay five minutes. In the end, it is better to have a nice time even if you do not reach your destination, than to reach the finish line with bad faces.

Make a map to suit you

Although Google Maps is great for following the path, try using a paper map, just like before, so children can feel adventurous too. If you want some more emotion, let them guide you, helping you to decipher the path.

Make a map according to the child's age. For example, if you are small and still can not read, you can make a simple map with images of the main points you will go through (examples: a house, a fountain, a bridge, etc). That way they can follow the path. If they are older, you can make a list of things that you will see or an outline of the places they are going to cross out.

Explain the nature

Children like to be told things. Whether or not in the "why" phase, take advantage of family outings to tell them how nature works. For example, a puddle with tadpoles can be a good way to explain the growth of frogs; or with a bee flying near a flower you can tell them what pollination is.

Carry a baby carrier

In the end, despite the efforts, they are likely to be tired at some point of the excursion; especially if the path is up. Be proactive and take a baby carrier in which they can go for a while, while they rest. If they are very small, they will be a good part of the time inside; If they are older, they will have charged batteries in ten minutes.

After four months, babies can now go in a baby carrier. Remember to choose one that is ergonomic. When they are 3-4 years old, they will be able to walk all the way. But still do not choose high-altitude excursions. It begins with small unevenness’s of 300 meters (1h 30min of ascent). As they grow, they can go higher.

Lots of water, sunscreen, a cap and some warm clothes

Four essentials that should not be forgotten. Always carry them in your backpack. You can even have the children carry a small backpack too so that, they feel responsible for it. Obviously, do not carry much, but can take for example the pot of sunscreen or something warm.