The author of the popular and highly acclaimed “Hikes with Tykes” book series has released his latest volume, “Hikes with Tykes: Games and Activities.”
The new guidebook provides comprehensive descriptions of more than 100 games and activities parents, grandparents, teachers and youth club leaders can engage kids in before, during and after day hikes.
Culled from the experiences of “Hikes with Tykes” author Rob Bignell and fellow outdoor-minded parents, “Hikes with Tykes: Games and Activities” is the most comprehensive collection of diversions available, with something for every age group and childhood interest.
The book is the follow-up to Bignell’s highly successful “Hikes with Tykes: A Practical Guide to Day Hiking with Kids,” which was released last year.
“As soon as that book came out, parents began emailing me tips and suggestions they had about hiking with kids,” Bignell said. “I noticed a lot of those suggestions were for great games and activities. I found a number of those ideas really useful, for as my son grew older I had to come up with new ones for the trail and for the drive over to the trailhead.
“Collecting all of those suggestions and my trials and tribulations with my son’s interest in the trail led to the series’ second book, ‘Hikes with Tykes: Games and Activities.’”
That so many parents shared games and activities shouldn’t be surprising, Bignell said. During these difficult economic times, a number of families have turned back to the low-cost, fun activity of hiking. An Outdoor Industry Association report from 2010 says that 40 million Americans hike – and a number of them take along their children.
Among the many topics in “Hikes with Tykes: Games and Activities” are:
A long-time hiker, editor and journalist, Bignell is uniquely qualified to discuss hiking with children. He and his son Kieran have been going on day hikes together for more than five years. Bignell took Kieran on his first hike when he was but four-months-old, through an old grove of redwood trees that soared 150 feet over their heads. Since then, they’ve peakbagged mountains, rambled along ocean coastlines, searched fossil and gem trails, and explored desert canyons, often all in the same month.
Before Kieran, Bignell served as an infantryman in the Army National Guard and taught middle school students in New Mexico and Wisconsin. His newspaper work has won several journalism awards, from editorial writing to sports reporting. In 2001, The Prescott Journal, which he served as managing editor of, was named Wisconsin’s Weekly Newspaper of the Year.
I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. My regular hiking companions have designated me the lead hiker, so I suppose that makes me the slowest Meanderthal. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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