Beginner’s Guide To Fun Family Time Adventures

Who wants to go on a fun family adventure? We LOVE adventures over here at Dirt Road Family Adventures. It’s in our blog name…that’s how much we love family adventures.

We love to plan adventures, talk about past adventures, but mostly, we just love to be on any type of adventure.

Our kids love to play outside, climb boulders, walk on dirt trails, find critters, collect rocks, play in creeks, and plow through piles of untouched snow.

They look forward to the weekend when we can go on off-road trails, explore new places, find new boulders to climb, and epic picnic spots that you can only get to from some dirt road.

In the guide below, you’ll find an explanation of what we think a fun family adventure is. Then we’ll go into how to find adventure and my secret sauce for finding adventure. Lastly, I’ll answer a few questions that seem to come up a lot.

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What are fun family adventures

A fun family adventure is anything that you do as a family, that gets your heart pumping and brings you joy. Read that again. Spending time together should bring you joy (most days). Getting your heart rate up and endorphins pumping is the adventure part. Doing fun, kind of scary stuff, together with your family is family adventure.

Why are fun family adventures so important?

Anytime spent together as a family is important. Our adventures usually take place somewhere in the forest. There is usually lots of talking going on. I often say that we are a walking circus on a hike. Something about the forest brings them alive and joy shines through

They also learn about nature and have to be aware of their surroundings. Like when a snake crosses the trail in front of you…

Family hikes teach responsibility. If we go on a hike, each kid has a job assigned to them. The first person is on bear watch, second person is on snake patrol and the third is back up to both the first and second person. Also, the back up person has a back up person, me.

On a hike there is a good amount of emotional support. We are always encouraging each other to keep going and that they are doing a good job. We are creating confidence in each other as well.

If we are on an off-road trail, everyone is engaged. We are all spotters and looking out for big bumps, ditches, high rocks, loose rocks or any other obstacle. But mainly so we can go over the big bumps. Because let’s be honest….getting tossed around in the back is their favorite part.

We are all talking to each other and having a good time. Those are the endorphins that shine bright.

Spending time together strengthens your family communication. There is A LOT of communication going on. Sometimes too much. We do sound like a circus going through the forest. We rarely see animals on hikes…

Family adventures bring us joy. We want that for you too.

How do we find fun family adventures

• Go on the ol’ Google and type in “family friendly places near me”. Go through a couple of pages to see if anything jumps out at you.
• “Playgrounds near me” is something I have typed in before. Sometimes good playgrounds come up. And sometimes it’s a bust. We’ve done that traveling before and have come across some sketchy ones.
• “State parks near me”. The state park website has loads of places to go. They even list out the hikes at the parks too. I usually print these maps out. I never seem to be able to pull up the map while I am at the park. Sometimes these parks cost money. You’ll need to plan for that.
• “National Parks or Monuments near me”. These parks cost money and you might need a timed ticket for it as well.
• “Campgrounds near me” Or if you have a destination in mind, put that in. You’ll be surprised how many campgrounds are nearby. I always am.
• Also if you go to the park, bring a picnic lunch and a ball or frisbee with you. Everybody loves a picnic. And then you can throw around a ball or frisbee for more added fun!
• If you go to an indoor rope course, go get lunch or dinner afterwards together.

Brainstorm

What do you want to do? What type of outdoor activities do you like? Will the activity get your heart racing with excitement? It doesn’t have to be running marathons. Not all adventures are outdoors. Most are, but you can find some jump parks, rope courses, climbing walls that are all indoors. Those would be great adventures!

Maybe you can add on to that indoor adventure. After you and the family spend a few hours climbing, go out for lunch or a picnic or ice cream.

What are some activities that you can do together, that you have to interact with each other? Do you like to climb rocks or boulders? What about hiking, or playing frisbee at a park or beach? What about a picnic of some kind?

How about a weekend camping trip? Even if you just hang out at camp all weekend… that’s still spending time together, outdoors. I’m sure you’ll be able to find some type of adventure at camp. You could bring some fishing poles and try to catch a few fish at the campground lake.

When will you be able to do this adventure

Are you planning on leaving the house. If not, then a scavenger hunt might be best for you. We like to leave the house for our fun family adventures. If you are looking for adventure, I’m going to assume you do too.

How much time do you have? Do you have whole weekend, a day, a couple of hours on the weekend or an hour before dinner on a Tuesday?

Map it out

If you are going on a hike or an off-road trail, you’ll need a map. If you are going hiking, print one out of your trail. I have tried to use my phone many many times. If you are in the forest or on a mountain, service is limited.

If you are going off-roading, check the trail conditions. Check GAIA and make sure that the road isn’t a seasonal closure. Also check facebook groups to see if anyone had recently been on the trail. Or Alltrails.com to see if anyone has commented on the trail conditions.

Check the weather too. If it’s going to hail, then a hike may not be a fun adventure for you. Or maybe it will, because there is an awesome rock cliff where you’ll be and you can hang out there if the weather gets too hairy.

Plan it out

Do you need tickets or a reservation? What about a park pass? Will this cost money? Do you need a campsite? If so, do you need reservations? Or are you going in the backcountry backpacking? Are you boondocking? Where are you going to fill up on water? The list could go on, but you get the idea that you need to make a list to plan out the adventure.

What to pack

We have different packing lists for different adventures. When we go off-roading we have a tote that we throw in the back of the Jeep. We made a list of items that we bring off-roading with kids.

When we go hiking with just me and the kids, I usually pack several water bottles in my backpack. Then in the car I have more water and snacks.

When we go hiking as a family, we usually hike longer and higher up in the mountains. Heavy jackets, gloves, hats are needed and more water. I’ll carry a backpack of water, wallets, phones and trail map, if needed. David will carry any other water bottles I can’t fit and all the layers that we take off during the hike.

Are you going camping for the weekend? Do you have your own camping list? I feel like we are always changing ours. Taking stuff off, adding more crap on… Are you camping with kids? Babies? Do you need to bring baby gear with you?

My secret sauce for finding fun family adventures

My secret sauce for finding fun family adventures is Google/Apple maps. Yep that’s my secret. I know, it’s not glamorous.

I first figure out how much time I have to spend on my adventure. Then I open up Google or Apple maps. (If I learned how to use GAIA properly, and not get frustrated with all the layers, then that map might be better. We are still learning GAIA and all it’s glory.)

If we are going on a day trip, then I know that we need to get to our destination in about an hour and a half. Once we get past driving an hour, the kids start to complain and ask “Are we there yet?!” I live in Colorado so an hour and a half in the car is about 20 miles. I’m kidding, but i’m not too far off.

Once I figure out my vicinity of how far I can go, then I look for patches of green… yes the color green on the map. That usually is a park, forest of some sort. Or I look for small blue spots, which are usually a lake.

Then I zoom in to see if it’s a park, forest, playground, lake, or a pond in someone’s backyard. I look for things to do. Can we drive through this area? Is this a playground park? If it’s a lake, can we fish or swim? Are there off-road trails nearby? You see where i’m going with this.

I have done this SO.MANY.TIMES.

We used to live in Missouri. We lived near the Missouri river. I didn’t realize how close we were until I started trying to find fun adventures for us to go on, using good ol’ google maps. I was zooming around Google Maps when I saw that there was an airport near a field, near a stream of water that we’ve never explored before.

We went to that area… all the roads to the airport were “Private Property”. I missed that part on my google search.

Then next time we drove around and explored that area, it was so flooded that it felt like we were going on a trail that had creek crossings. It was so much fun.

The next time we explored that area we stumbled upon the Missouri river. There was a campground along the river! There were houses all on stilts near the river. AND the best part…. you can cross the river by ferry… IN YOUR CAR! I had no idea!

We went to this location again when we had more time and actually crossed the river. It was so amazing! We explored the other side of the river which is Illinois. We found bald eagles perched on trees and their HUGE nests. Something our kids will remember for a long time!

We would have never had those amazing adventures if I didn’t think to play around on the ol’ google maps one day. And since then, I use it often.

NOW… we do get lost sometimes and my adventures are a bust… like the airport. Take this with a grain of salt. If you use GAIA and you like it by all means use that or whatever else you use. Get creative.

Frequently Asked Questions

Wrap up

Family adventures are such an amazing way to spend time together as a family. Once you choose an adventure, don’t forget to plan it, map it, pack it and make a list. Then make another list to remember to bring the other list. 😉

Fun family adventures bring our family such joy. We want this for you too.

What is a fun family adventure memory you have as a child? What fun family adventure have you and the family done in the past? Is there an adventure that you want to do with your family, but haven’t yet?