Best Family Activities To Get Kids Outdoors and Exploring

In a world dominated by screens, getting kids genuinely excited about the outdoors can feel like a challenge. But the right activity — one that combines discovery, challenge, and a sense of adventure — can transform any destination into an unforgettable experience.

Here are our favourite family activities for getting kids outside, engaged, and genuinely loving the world around them.

1. Self-Guided Treasure Hunts

Few activities combine exploration, problem-solving, and genuine excitement quite like a treasure hunt. HUNTA's self-guided hunts are designed specifically to make any town or city an adventure — with GPS-guided clues that lead families to hidden gems, historic landmarks, and unusual discoveries.

Because each clue requires you to actually observe something at a specific location, children are fully engaged — looking, thinking, and celebrating when they get it right. Unlike passive sightseeing, a treasure hunt makes children active participants in discovering a place.

HUNTA hunts are available in destinations across Europe and New Zealand, with new ones being added regularly. Prices start from €5 per device.

Why kids love it: The mystery, the challenge, the achievement. Every correct answer feels like a win. Why parents love it: Educational, active, no technology required beyond the phone, and it covers more of a destination than any guided tour.

2. Geocaching

Geocaching is the original outdoor treasure hunt — a worldwide GPS-based activity where participants find hidden containers (caches) using coordinates. With millions of caches hidden in virtually every country, it can be done anywhere in the world.

Best for families with children aged 8+. Younger children can participate but may need more guidance.

3. Nature Scavenger Hunts

Create a list of natural objects to find — specific leaves, insects, rocks, flowers, or birds — and send children off to find them. This works in any outdoor environment: a city park, a woodland, a beach, a hillside.

For younger children, include pictures rather than text. For older children, add identification challenges (not just 'find a feather' but 'find a feather and identify which bird it came from').

4. Hiking with a Purpose

Kids often resist walking for its own sake. Add a purpose — a viewpoint to reach, a waterfall to find, a geocache to locate, or a HUNTA clue to solve — and the same walk becomes a mission.

Distances suitable for families: 3-8km with regular stops. The key is variety — interesting terrain, things to look at and interact with along the way.

5. Wild Swimming

A cold river, a lake, a natural pool — wild swimming is one of the most genuinely free and exciting outdoor experiences available. Many children who resist a trip to a municipal pool will happily scramble into a mountain stream.

Always check safety conditions and choose locations recommended for swimming.

6. Cycling Trails

Family cycling trails in national parks and countryside areas are an excellent way to cover more ground than walking while keeping children engaged. Many countries have extensive networks of traffic-free cycle paths.

E-bikes are increasingly available for hire, making these routes accessible for a wider range of fitness levels.

7. Fossil Hunting

Coastlines with sedimentary rock are often rich in fossils. Give children a geological hammer and a guidebook and let them search. Jurassic Coast in the UK, various Italian Alpine formations, and New Zealand's Cretaceous outcrops are all productive fossil hunting sites.

8. Orienteering

Orienteering combines map reading, cross-country running or walking, and problem solving. Many parks and forests have permanent orienteering courses suitable for beginners. It develops spatial awareness and navigation skills in children.

9. Night Walks and Stargazing

A walk after dark in a rural area — looking for owls, bats, and stars — is a completely different experience from a daytime walk. Bring torches, a star map app, and a flask of hot chocolate.

10. Beach Safaris and Rock Pooling

At low tide, rock pools reveal entire underwater ecosystems. Provide children with identification guides for shore creatures and let them explore. It's quietly educational, completely absorbing, and entirely free.

Why HUNTA Is Our Top Pick for Families

Of all the activities above, HUNTA treasure hunts stand out because they combine education, adventure, physical activity, and problem-solving in a single experience — while also revealing the best things to do in a destination.

Whether you're in Introdacqua, Italy, Arrowtown, New Zealand, or your own home town, there's likely a HUNTA hunt nearby. And if there isn't — maybe it's time to create one.

Browse family-friendly HUNTA hunts →