5 Surprise Ways Kids Entertain Themselves at National Parks

If you’re planning a national park trip with kids, you’re surely considering lots of factors. I want to talk about one you might not be thinking about:

Building in time for kids to entertain themselves.

What does that mean?

When kids are given the time and space to be able to wander and imagine, that’s when they can find what interests them and they can best entertain themselves. But, this means that you, as the planner, can’t pack National Park days from sunrise to sunset. And this might be really tough if you’re staying at bagillion dollar-per-night lodges in National Parks with a bucket list of hikes and things YOU want to explore… but I promise it’s well worth it to build some time in to allow kids to enjoy nature the way that THEY want to enjoy it. 

More self-determination time in the national parks may also lead your children to have stronger memories of the trip and more stories of their own to tell when they get home – at least that is what I have experienced with my kids. What they talk about when they come home is 80% stuff they did themselves vs 20% stuff we directed them on.

We were most recently in Yellowstone National Park, and the top entertainment for my 5yr old mainly involved grownups just simply needing to wait….and wait…and wait. But he was in heaven.  We gave him the time…and this, perhaps surprisingly(?), is what he filled it with:

• Kicking snow piles. We were in Yellowstone in May and there were piles of snow everywhere. He would run up, climb on the snow pile, and kick snow off the snowpile. He could do it for half an hour. Kick – splatter goes the snow. Kick – splatter goes the snow. He could kick it in the air. He could kick it at someone. Kick kick kick. He had so much fun…and we grownups just waited (and maybe threw a snowball or two… or sent one grownup ahead to get in the dinner line 🙂 )

• Just watching animals. There were animals everywhere we turned. From a beetle in the pathway, to a chipmunk scampering around the logs next to the trail, to a bison chewing grass 30 feet from our hotel room door…and much more. We didn’t rush our kid along. He could watch them walk, watch them eat, watch them sit, and (very excitedly when lucky enough) watch them poop or pee. Amazing. If only he could be that attentive and still for so long when learning to read or sitting on an airplane 😉

• Rock throwing into a lake. Yep. Just like it sounds. Pick up rocks, throw them, and listen to them go sploosh. Sometimes he picked a target (like a floating log) and we all aimed for it. Sploosh sploosh, thunk! He had such unabashed joy and excitement when he would be the first to nail the target. And he could go on for a LONG time.

• Playing Kick-rock: A newly minted game. Whoever is playing finds a rock and you agree on a target down the road/path (sometimes this even involves running to put a stick or bigger rock or scrunchie IN the path to BE the target– and running back again). Then (think golf or frisbee golf), you alternate kicking your rock, trying to get it to the target. This became a parent and grandparent favorite because it kept everyone moving on the path forward (ie, it was one of the few self-determination activities that we didn’t have to stop for!) and it made us observe our surroundings really well when our finicky rocks would bounce off the path and we’d have to find them again! Agility + alertness + forward-moving for the win!

• Capturing floating pieces of ice…and stomping on them. Maybe this wouldn’t have the same allure for a kid who spends winters in some very cold locations, but hailing from Seattle, my 5 year old was ecstatic to see floating ice on a lake (a fun discussion topic in and of itself!) and to be able to touch it, to try to “fish” it out (using small tree branches) and to play with it once it was out of the water. He asked for several videos of himself stomping on his now-on-land ice chunks so that he could show his classmates about the ice and how it broke. What we thought might just be a “quick stop” to show him the ice in the lake turned into a 40+ minute amazing adventure for him, only eventually kiboshed by him due to some chilly temperatures and (unsurprisingly) frozen hands.

The main takeaway from this is simply: Slow down. 

Give your child time in the National Parks. 

Let your kid’s inner-explorer have an opportunity to blossom.  You may see a bit less of the overall park, but you will see a lot more engagement in your child and your child will help you to see the park in a different, richer way than you may have ever imagined.

Also, when you get home, your child will tell some great, meaningful stories of their own…because they did things that mattered to them!