The Go Wild Go West blog

Children’s Adventuring: Gifts for outdoor loving kids

Gifts for kids that love the outdoors

Though getting outside and having some fun is free and easy, there are certain things that may add an extra sense of adventure! With this in mind, we’ve put together a ‘Children’s Adventuring Kit List’… perfect gift ideas for outdoor loving kids.

These are all from shops and brands we know and love. From tracking guides to thermos flasks these are great stocking fillers, or as a complete Kid’s Adventure Kit!

gifts for kids that love the outdoors
Mini outdoor adventurers

What to get for kids that love the outdoors:

1. OUTDOOR ADVENTURE GUIDES

Take a look at Go Wild Go West’s Outdoor Adventure Guide series. These are designed for kids with active minds and adventurous spirits! Filled with fun family activities and adventures for the kids right from their own backdoor. There are also some festive adventure guides especially for Christmas.

There’s an Adventure Kit for Children to help with all their outdoor games and expeditions!

Christmas outdoor activities
Festive Adventure Guides from Go Wild Go West

2. BACKPACK

The kids love having their own backpacks to take out with them – and it helps that they can carry their own stuff (though on occasion I’ve ended up carrying all the backpacks – inevitable really!)

We love Osprey Backpacks which the kids use on adventures and as school bags. The children have Jet 12 Kids hiking backpacks.

Little Life also have a great backpack range for younger kids.

what to get for children that love playing outdoors
Osprey Kid’s backpack

3. HEAD TORCH

Essential for sunset outings or night time adventures!

We like the Petzl Tikkid Kids headtorch – you can get them from lots of retailers but we love the Little Adventure Shop.

4. MAKE FIRE

All adventurers need to know how to make fire in order to survive right? Check out our Caveman Campfires adventures with it’s own eco firelighting kit.

We like to take a Flint & Steel like this one from Forest Fundamentals (such a nice company!)
Or alternatively, check out the Den Kit Co’s new fire on a plate kit.

fire lighting with kids
fire lighting

5. THERMOS FLASK

Flasks are brilliant for winter adventures. Take soup for a warming lunch, hot chocolate or hot Ribena for any adventure to warm up.

These Norwegian bottles from Blafre are our absolute fabvourites.

6. CAMO CREAM

Heading out on a serious adventure? Maybe setting up an Ambush (see our mini-adventure series) Camo Cream is essential. All great fun until you need to scrub the darn stuff off!!

There’s a 5 colour cream set at the Army Stores

outdoor gifts for children
Camo’d and ready

7. NECK TUBE

Who doesn’t love a neck tube – or snood – they also double up quite nicely as a face mask.

This neckwarmer from Little Adventure Ship is the best one I’ve EVER seen and will definitely be featuring in our Christmas!

Also a lovely one from Spotty Otter

8. NATURE RESOURCES

I can’t recommend these guides highly enough. They have been our lockdown saviours!! Each time we head out, we’ll grab our fungi swatch book or poos and clues tracking guide. They’re waterproof, mud-proof, child-proof… effectively indestructible!

We use all the Swatch Books from the Woodland Trust

And the Field Studies Council fold-out guides. Now also available from the RSPB

presents for children that love nature
woodland trust swatch books

9. BINOCULARS

I’m a self-confessed bird geek and binoculars are GREAT for engaging the children with birds and all the nature around them. There are a lot of really shoddy children’s binoculars out there but one pair that is fantastic from the RSPB.

They are a little more pricey but if you want proper binoculars for the kids, I would recommend them.

10. OS MAP

Map reading is great fun! Whether you’re a hardened navigator or total beginner, lockdown may be an opportunity to brush up on your map reading skills and teach the kids too (there are some brilliant online videos to help you get started)

No matter where you live, you seem to be on a cross over between different OS maps. Rather thank taking out 2, 3 or even 4 maps every time you go out, why not get a customised map from the Ordnance Survey.

Your postcode (or chosen place) becomes the centre of the map and you can even customise the front with a photo and a title. Brilliant stuff for Christmas – Custom made map

map reading for kids
Map reading with kids

11. MULTI-TOOL

When you feel your child is ready, a multi-tool is a perfect addition to an adventurer’s kit.

We gave ours their multi-tools when they were reasonably young (with stern words of adult warning just to dampen their excitement), and though they are always supervised when using them, we’ve been amazed at how giving the children extra responsibility has really made them rise to the challenge and act very sensibly with their tools.

There’s the traditional Swiss Army Knife which you can actually customise

Or how about a kid’s whittling knife like this one from Mora?

More outdoor gift ideas for kids:

Those are our top 11 Adventurer’s items BUT if you’re looking for more inspiration, we also love these things

  • Grandpa’s Fireforks from Ellis Brigham for cooking marshmallows on the fire – Grandpas fireforks
  • Everyone loves a Spork! Here from Bushcraft Lab – Spork
  • Not keen on hot chocolate or hot ribena? How about this amazing children’s tea from Small & Wild – Children’s Tea
  • Ropes & Carabiners – my kids will spend HOURS playing with ropes and carabiners. Building dens, climbing trees, walking the tightrope…. You can buy rope from many different places but we love this starter set from the Den Kit Co so the kids can learn about tying knots – Rope Skills
  • To take the rope theme to the next level, if your child is a real climber, how about this climbing harness from The Little Adventure Shop? Climbing harness
  • How about cooking popcorn on the campfire with this fantastic popcorn maker from Huckleberry?
  • If you want some inspiration for wild activities, how about the wonderful ‘Make this book wild‘?
winter outdoor games for children

Fun Outdoor gifts for children

Finally, rather than stuff, how about experiences? We need to help the outdoor community who are finding the lockdowns tough.

We had an AMAZING time rock climbing on Dartmoor with Crag2Mountain. They run a range of courses and I would highly recommend them. Maybe plan ahead with a voucher for Spring? Crag2Mountain

We also love Active Archery and Axe Throwing at the Mendip Ski Centre… great fun in the woods and a fair amount of competitiveness! Mendip Ski Center

If your family love adventure, take a look at these extra gifts for kids: