Microadventuring Ideas for Families- 50 ways to find adventure in the small things.

Let’s face it, getting outdoors and adventuring with kids can be challenging, and the bigger the adventure, the more challenging it  becomes – from the planning stages right through to the post adventure clean up. Find out below how adding microadventuring ideas for families, into your plans, can keep your adventurous spirit alive.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclaimer for more info.

Adventuring Without Kids

Planning

Pre-kids, a week-long canoe trip could be thrown together on a whim. For example, as a childless adult, you may throw bagged, ready made meals into a dry bag in the interest of saving time. You may pack only one change of clothes, and choose to suffer through if anything is forgotten. Once kids come along, the planning often takes longer than the trip itself. For instance, on top of the three meals you once packed, you may now add 327 snacks per day to the dry bag (are there ever enough snacks??). (By the way, we love Clif Z Bars and Made Good Bars as quick snacks for the last minute adventures. We like to keep a few boxes in our pantry). Several changes of clothes are also necessary for the inevitable clothes that get wet. Of course diapers are needed for the non-potty trained little ones, and packing toys and books have now become a thing as well.

The Trip

The trip itself also changes. Where the childless adult might push through for hours, parents plan play breaks, snack breaks and sometimes naps into the day, greatly extending the length of time it takes to get anywhere. Parents also often consider safety more so when small people are joining a trip.   

With all the “extra” it takes to have big adventures with kids, it is no wonder many parents turn away from outdoor adventure all together, leaving them longing for the adventurous lives they once had. 

But outdoor adventure doesn’t have to be given up. With the right planning, big adventures can still happen, and more importantly, adventures can be found close to home, and in simple activities as well. 

Introducing the Microadventure!

The term Microadventure was made popular by British adventurer and author Alastair Humphreys and is defined as “an adventure that is short, simple, local, cheap – yet still fun, exciting, challenging, refreshing and rewarding.” Microadventures are perfect for the childless, and families with children looking to add more easy adventures to their lives. You can purchase Alastair’s Microadventure book here.

If you want to reap the benefits of microadventures, consider some of the following microadventure  ideas.

50 Microadventuring Ideas For Families

Microadventuring Ideas for Families – Summer

• Make bannock and roast on a stick over a fire. A set of roasting sticks make cooking over a fire a breeze.
• Visit a local wetland area at sunset or sunrise in the fall and watch geese come to together sometimes in the hundreds or thousands in preparation of migration.
• Critter dip in a local pond or creek. Telescoping critter nets are easy to pack in a backpack for an afternoon at a local creek.
• Pack a stove and cook supper on a river bank. A simple little pocket stove is easy to pack along with a light weight cook set.
• Float down a river on an inflatable tube.
• Go on a stroll and use a field guide to identify different plants.
• Enjoy a bedtime snack while watching the sunset.
• Whittle some sticks.
• Have a picnic for lunch on a work or school day.
• Use a foraging with kids field guide and/or an experienced mentor, and search for wild edibles. **Before eating any wild plant make 100% sure it’s not poisonous.  
• Set up a hammock and listen to the wind, or read bedtime stories.
• Try your hand at fishing and if you are lucky, have a shore lunch.

Active Microadventuring Ideas- Summer

• Go for a “hike” in a local park.

• Pack a lunch and go for a bike ride.
• Go for an afternoon paddle on a local river or lake.

• Explore sand dunes of a local beach, even on non beach weather days.
• Use a map to plan a bike ride or walk.
• Visit playgrounds you’ve never been to before.
• Go geocaching.
• Build a den in a forest.

• Navigate somewhere by map and compass. Look for local courses if this is new to you.
• Roll up your pant legs and hop rocks to cross a shallow stream.

• Fly a kite on a breezy day. This kite is a great easy fly for kids and beginners. Pair a kite with this 500ft kite spool for the ultimate flying experience.
• Go on a paint sample color scavenger hunt in nature.
• Take the “long way home” through trails and parks when walking home.
• Go for a wool sock walk through a meadow (wear a large pair of wool socks over your shoes and see what kinds of seeds collect on your socks).
• Use an active method of transportation that you don’t normally use to get to school or work. Consider biking, running, inline skating, skateboarding, paddling, ice skating, snow shoeing (If your commute is too far, consider driving part way and continuing by active transport.
• Sign up for the Commuter Challenge. Check here to see where it takes place. https://commuterchallenge.ca/
• Go on a blindfolded hike. Check out Alastair Humphrey’s video here https://alastairhumphreys.com/kids-microadventure/ .

Microadventuring Ideas for Families – Winter

• Wear snowshoes on a walk in a local park. Wear backpacks, or pull a sled and pretend to be Arctic explorers. 

• Dig a fort in the snow.
• Cross country ski on a local trail close to home.
• Ride your bikes in the winter.

• Have a winter picnic. Instead of typical summer picnic foods, pack warm and savoury snacks in thermal containers. These Bento Boxes are great for winter picnics!
• Pack hot chocolate in a Thermos and go for a walk in a local park, afterward, enjoy the hot chocolate under a tree.
• Bundle yourself up on the coldest of days, and go for a walk chiefly to see how cold it is.
• Go strolling through a local city forest coupled with climbing trees.
• Make snow angels. 
• Build a shelter out of sticks.
• Skate on a frozen river or lake.

• Look for animal tracks.
• Star gaze.
• Look for the Northern Lights.
• Sleep in a tent in the living room, or back yard on a school night

• Rent gear and try ice fishing.
• Cook hot dogs over a fire.

• Plan a night walk during a full moon.
• Go tobogganing. 
• Visit a wild area after sun set and do a wolf howl and see if you get a response.

While you may still dream of big long adventures, don’t forget that simple adventures can happen close to home while still being refreshing and rewarding.

Do you have any microadventuring ideas? What big adventures are you dreaming of? Share you ideas in the comments!