How do you go hiking with young children?

Hiking with small children is a different sport from hiking with adults. The distances are shorter, the stops are longer, the conversations are about beetles, and the summit may turn out to be a particularly good puddle two hundred metres from the car park. Embrace this and it becomes one of the best ways to spend a day with them.

Choose a route with a payoff

Children walk much better towards something than just along something. Look for a route with a destination they can picture:

• Water: a waterfall, a stream to paddle in, a lake to throw stones into.
• Food: a hut, a farm, a café with ice cream or hot chocolate.
• Adventure: a castle, a cave mouth, a rope bridge, a lookout tower.
• Animals: cows, goats, a farm, anything with feathers.

Keep the route short, well below what you would walk alone, and avoid exposed edges and long climbs for very young walkers. Loops and out-and-back paths both work; out-and-back makes turning round easy. Our guide to choosing a hiking trail covers reading route descriptions.

Let them lead

Give children a job. The leader decides which way at junctions (with discreet guidance), looks for the waymarks, and sets the pace. Other jobs: map holder, snack monitor, photographer, collector of interesting leaves. In our experience, children who feel in charge walk further and complain less.

Let the pace be theirs. Small legs take more steps, and children tend to move in bursts: a sprint, a stop, a crouch to look at a snail. Fighting this is exhausting for everyone.

Make it a game

• Spotting games: first to see a red waymark, a bird, a bridge.
• Treasure hunts: a list of things to find on the way.
• Stories: a running tale that only continues while walking.
• Geocaching: hidden containers found with a phone, which turn any walk into a hunt. Our page on geocaching explains how it works.
• Their own small backpack with a snack, water and a treasure pouch.

Snacks, water and layers

Pack more food than seems sensible and hand it out little and often, before anyone gets hungry. A surprise treat at the halfway point does wonders for morale. Carry water for everyone and offer it regularly rather than waiting to be asked.

Bring layers, a waterproof, hats and sun cream, and a full spare set of clothes for little ones. Children find puddles, streams and mud with remarkable efficiency, and a child who has stopped to play can get chilly while you are still warm from walking. A small first-aid kit with plasters is essential; a plaster is often the most effective treatment ever devised for a scraped knee and a lost mood.

Decide the turnaround point

Before you set off, agree where and when you will turn back, whether you have reached the destination or not. Then turning round is simply the plan working, not giving up. Watch for the signs it is time: tired legs, flagging mood, a change in the weather. Finish while everyone is still enjoying it; the next walk depends on how this one ended.

Carrying the smallest

For babies and toddlers, a sling or a framed child carrier lets you walk proper paths. Practise at home first, check the fit, and remember that a child sitting still in a carrier can get cold while you are warm from the effort, so dress them a layer warmer than you.

Safety basics

Tell someone your route, carry a charged phone, check the forecast and keep children close near water, edges and roads. Teach older children what to do if they get separated: stay put, and call out.