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Quiz: Describe Your Ideal Hike for a Children’s Nature Book Recommendation

Laura Marie

Staff Writer

Laura Marie is a writer and teacher in Ohio. She reads one or two audiobooks every week, loves falling into a good cooking memoir, and debates feasibility of tech from sci-fi books with her husband.

Take Me Outdoors by Mary Richards (Agnes & Aubrey).

With its smart design, beautiful illustrations, and perfect size to pop in a backpack, Take Me Outdoors is a fun, lively way to engage with the wild and natural world. Each of the five ‘adventure’ chapters help children to engage with their surroundings. Fun, quirky, and bursting with facts about birds, bugs and plants; the weather and the environment; expeditions and explorers; and the artists and writers who have been inspired by nature, this book is a must for children curious about the incredible world they live in. It's both a great keepsake and a tool for sparking creative writing.

Everyone thinks of something different when you say “let’s go for a hike.” Even people who see themselves as indoors lovers can find something to enjoy about getting out and walking.

Maybe your ideal hike is actually a walk on the beach, relaxing your way through the soft sand and admiring the waves. Not too long, not too sweaty — just comfortable and warm.

Maybe you’d prefer to be in a big group, headed out into the forests to orienteer, no trails at all. Using your wits to stay on track, growing your map-reading skills, and maybe problem solving as a group? Sign me up!

Maybe you like something in-between, a trip on a National Parks trail where there’s time to rest but also a bit of a challenge to scale a mountain. You get to see some of the most impressive natural wonders without having to delve too deep into the wilderness to see them, but you still get the satisfaction of an active day afterwards.

Hikes and Children’s Books About Nature

Think of all the things that a hike can mean: a chance to learn directly from nature beyond a science classroom. It’s a chance to feel active and get your body moving. It’s a chance to spend quiet time with those you care about, while also having plenty of time to chat and things to chat about.

Regardless of what you enjoy in a hike, you can find children’s books about nature that will boost your love of learning about the natural world. When you share nature children’s books with your little one, they get the chance to enjoy a great story about someone else’s foray into the world, and they may also get more excited about their own explorations.

Children’s books about nature are a great way to start seeing yourself as not separate from nature, even if you and your little one live in an urban environment. What your children learn in a book can be applied in raw wilderness forests but also when they see small plants shooting up through the cracks in a sidewalk.

Take this children’s nature book quiz to imagine yourself in an imaginative hiking experience, and at the end, we’ll give you a fun book recommendation that can help you continue the fun. The book recommendation may fit you perfectly, or it may push you to think about nature in a new way. You might even feel like going outside once it’s done!