Tag Archives: Creative Walks

7 creative walking ideas for covid-19 lockdown

As we enter the second half of our Covid-19 lockdown in New Zealand, we thought it might be a great idea to put together a list of some creative ideas you could try while walking!  Of course, all this must be completed locally, in your bubble, with 2m physical distancing and not touching objects such as park benches.

Here are 7 ideas we thought you could try with your Bubble!

1. GPS Walking Pictures

My sister sent me a Facebook post of a guy in the Hibiscus Coast who took to making pictures as he walked using his GPS and running app Strava. 

You can use your GPS enabled sports watch or an App on your phone such as Google Maps or MapMyRun.

Scavenger Hunt

Construct a list of items you and your bubble must find and ‘collect’ on your walk.  This can include physical collection that you can put in a bag or a photo collection using your phone to record your ‘find’. 

A sample list of ideas could include:

  1. Collect a leaf
  2. Take a photo of a house with at least 3 teddy bears in the window
  3. Collect a piece of rubbish
  4. Find and photograph a red car in your neighbourhood.
  5. Find and photograph a bird
  6. Find signs around your neighbourhood that start with every letter of the alphabet
  7. Collect a seed, nut or cone or similar that has fallen from a tree
  8. Photo of a road sign
  9. Collect a random object like a discarded ball, sock, pen, tin or similar – anything random that should not normally be just lying around on the footpath, park or roadside
  10. Photo of a rubbish bin
  11. Photo of a power transformer or phone exchange box
  12. Photo of a sign in your area related to Covid-19 eg. Playground closed due to Covid-19 etc

Orienteering Locally

Orienteering is a fantastic family event and while its not quite the same around your local streets, it can still be accomplished.  Your unique ‘Bubble’ orienteering can be organised as follows:

  1. Print a Google Map of your immediate area.  An example produced for my local area can be found here.
  2. Number various stations on your map where you feel you can place a marker.
  3. Prepare a list of clues for each station that provides participants with a little more information about where the Station is located.  You can choose to mix up the numbers for various participants, so they are not simply following each other eg. One list goes numbers 1 to 15, the other list is numbered 15 to 1.  An example of our sheet can be found here.
  4. Determine what you will use to identify your stations – small flags, cones, stones, wood, tin cans or other things you can find.  Try to make them a little bright if possible and then add the ‘Station Number’ and a ‘random 2-digit number’ to each marker.  The participant must write the random number on the form for the correct Station as evidence they located the correct point.
  5. Take a walk and set-up the course, dropping your station markers at each location.
  6. Give the participants their Map, Station List and Pencil.  This could be done as individuals or pairs/groups depending on the ages of the participants.
  7. Explain the orienteering rules and reiterate the Covid-19 lockdown walking rules and send them on their way.

Click here for examples of the Orienteering Map and List of Orienteering Course Points.

Photography Walk

Pick up your phone, camera or ipad and head outdoors for your walk and focus on recording your lockdown walking experience in pictures. You will be amazed at the extra things you notice in your neighbourhood as you look more closely.

Perhaps you can then produce a presentation using your favourite photo or presentation app/software.

Add Exercises into your Walk

During your walk, simply add in a range of exercises to complete.  This provides variety and extra health benefits.  Some exercises can include:

Image by Terri Sharp from Pixabay 

  • Squats
  • Lunges
  • Press-ups
  • Backwards jog
  • Butt-kicks
  • Sideways skips
  • High knees
  • Jumps
  • Plank
  • Single leg balancing
  • Short jog or sprints

Nature Walk

Take a sheet of paper (or record on your phone) to spot and record as many types of trees and birds as you can find in your area. 

The NZbirds website https://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/ has superb tools to assist in identifying birds found in NZ.  This can easily be done using your phone while walking.

Trees and plants are much harder as the variety is almost endless.  For native trees, try DOC or Terrain.net.nz

https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-plants/

https://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/table-1.html

Walk Every Street In Your Area

Use one of your walks to explore every street in your area – you may just find something you never knew existed!

For additional information about walking during the Covid-19 Lock-down, read this post.