Half Term Walking Challenge for Kids – A Mile a Day + Fun Photo Prompts

Autumn Half Term 2024

This week is half term, and we have nothing planned. My husband has no time off, and whilst I am working, I am at least working from home. It means we can’t get any big walks in, but I’ve set a challenge to do a mile a day each lunchtime during the half term. Along with our walk I’m setting the boys, 8 and 10, a challenge each day – to find something interesting, or that appeals to them, to photograph! This keeps their mind on a special mission and, in theory, not on bothering each other! I learnt one very important thing this week – and I’ll talk about it at the end.

This walk is just a walk to the end of our lane and back, but it gets everyone out of the house and into the fresh air. It’s actually 1.5 miles there and back, but I’ve told the boys it’s our “Daily Mile” – it has a better ring to it than our “Daily mile and a half”. And I won’t tell them it’s actually half a mile longer if you don’t 😉

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Monday

The weather is dry and cloudy, but as we leave it starts to spit a bit. The clouds don’t look like they can muster much more than this light spitting so we head out anyway. I’d told the boys their mission for the walk and thankfully this kept them from antagonising each other for at least ten minutes (hurrah!).

S had his eyes open, scouring all around for something to photograph. He chose to take a photo of this tractor yard. He liked it because he said all the blue tractors together in one place were interesting.

C on the other hand had already decided he wanted to photograph a “multi-coloured leaf”, and was concentrating hard on the copious amounts of leaves that were shed across the lane. He eventually found “the perfect one” for his photo.

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Tuesday

Having been dry all morning, I was a bit disappointed to find it start raining as we were getting ready to head out on our “Daily Mile” before lunch. We’d had the chimney sweep booked in for an AM appointment so we couldn’t go until he’d gone. However, the rain did anything but dampen our spirits, and we had a lovely walk out, with the boys being in a much happier mood than yesterday, and spent most of the walk spinning around in their coats, with their arms by their sides, and the empty sleeves spinning like a helicopter!

Despite the frivolities, they did manage to find time to pick something that interested them!

S had already planned his photo for today – the upturned tree, after seeing it yesterday, but he also couldn’t resist taking the photo of these calves in a field we passed too, as they were just “too cute”!

C was less focused today, and as we were heading back I asked him if he’d seen anything interesting yet and he replied “Umm no”, followed immediately by: “Umm this puddle”. It was clearly an “Oh this will do” moment, but he made it special by putting his reflection and toes in!

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Wednesday

It’s another cloudy day, but slightly milder than yesterday and a lot drier. The boys have been winding each other up all morning again and I’m thankful when it’s time to get out for our walk. I honestly don’t know how they have this much energy to argue and wind each other up, when they’re spending hours in the garden playing football, and walking every day – I wish I had that energy! 😉

I’m secretly quite pleased that, 3 days in, not only are they still excited to be on a photo mission, but they are actually reminding me that they have to find something to photograph too. I thought they’d be fed up by now!

S chose to take a photo of this funky looking tree. We’ve often commented on it when we’ve passed it, all of us liking the different textures and colours, and I think it’s sweet he chose this today!

C also went for a plant based image today. He loves anything fluffy, so this Pampas Grass was an obvious choice! One or two had bent in the recent winds, so he enjoyed getting the chance to stroke them too – he’s very tactile!

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Thursday

Today is Hallowe’en 👻

Every year, even before we started hiking properly, we’ve made it a bit of a tradition to go for a walk on Hallowe’en evening. We live in the sticks and don’t do trick or treating, so a spooky walk near creaking trees and strange sounds in the countryside is far more exhilarating.

We saved the lunchtime walk in favour of a later, darker walk. The boys didn’t find anything to photograph today, but I found some spooky things… 😉

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Friday

Wow, the last day of half term has snuck up on us quickly! It’s another cloudy day, it’s cool but not too cold – at least it’s dry 🙂

S walked past this field and was really drawn to the lines of the growing crops. It was barely visible at the start of the week, but was now showing neat green lines.

C really liked this pretty purple flower. At 8 years old he’s less worried about composing the photo compared to S, and tends to ensure that the subject is at least somewhere in the frame, then bats the shutter button like it’s going to explode on him, resulting in some interesting out of focus or motion blur photos 😂

And that’s a wrap!

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So, why did I do this?

I’ve taken to walking a couple of miles every lunch time and I didn’t want this to change with the children being off school. I also knew there would likely be little chance of any other walks over the holiday, sadly, due to my workload. My boys are little bundles of energy and this opportunity to burn some of that off was really important! Sure, it was only a little walk, but it was a chance for fresh air, stretching our legs, and getting to be as loud as they could!

What did I learn?

I only did this to ensure that the boys got some outside time this week, but actually I also discovered something very interesting. By giving them the opportunity to find something they liked on the walk every day, it didn’t matter that they were walking the same route, because they always managed to find things and didn’t seem bothered at all that it was the same old route again. I know not everyone has the luxury of being able to enjoy different walks from their doorstep, so it proved that even when you can only do the same walk each day, it’s still an exciting adventure to a child (even if it seems monotonous to the adults!)

So, even if you do only have one decent walk near you, get out and enjoy it, come rain or shine! Why not give the children a camera so they can show you what makes it exciting for them each time you go?