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I have been compensated by Craisins® for this post; however, I am sharing my own thoughts. All opinions are my own.

Enjoy a springtime nature walk with kids within your community!

The weather in Gainesville has been perfect the past few days. Mornings are in the low 40s, afternoons around 70. The area where we live has a huge nature trail several miles long that runs through it. And now that it’s spring, you can see tall trees with new green leaves, brightly-colored flowers in bloom, squirrels scurrying around, and birds of all kinds. Lydia decided to take a nature walk together. We packed up some snacks in my backpack, and we were off!

It was such a nice afternoon together! We walked along the trail and through the woods. Initially we were going to do a scavenger hunt, but instead we just chatted as we walked and enjoyed finding interesting and unusual things along the trail. The first thing Lydia saw was this cool tree that had these wooded vines she wanted to sit on. It’s like a giant natural jump rope or swing.
We continued walking along the trail. We saw other people within our community, and most of them were walking their dogs. We decided if each dog looked playful or calm, was big or small, and if we would want that type of dog. We also talked about the latest adventures Lydia had at school with her friends.

After what was probably about a mile or so, we stopped for a snack. I packed two bags of new Ocean Spray Flavored Craisins, available in Fruit Splash {Raspberry Lemonade & Watermelon} and Tropical {Kiwi Melon & Mango}. We brought both along just in case, and Lydia decided to try a pouch of the Fruit Splash in Raspberry Lemonade. Each perfectly-portioned pouch contains a ½ cup of fruit.

Ocean Spray Flavored Craisins are naturally-flavored, real, dried cranberries. They are free of artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives. They make a great non-perishable snack for your springtime nature walk with kids. Head to Walmart where you can find Ocean Spray Flavored Craisins in the snack section. Make sure you also bring a bottle of water on your nature walk. Regardless of the temperature outdoors, hydration is key!

We continued on to our adventure! We had never walked this much of the trail before, so we really weren’t sure of what we’d see next or where it would lead us. The next area we crossed through is the Village Center within our community. This has small shops and restaurants and a farmer’s market we attend every Saturday. We also found our community’s bat house. We’ll have to go back and visit at sunset so that we can see the bats fly out of there home on the hunt for food. It’s pretty cool to see. As we walked on, we found several trees that were knocked over, likely a result of the hurricane we had last fall.

A little further on, we got to the community golf course, which we walked alongside until we almost reached our subdivision. The golf course is lined with many beautiful flowers, like these pink azaleas. Lydia and I thought they were so beautiful, we just had to take a quick picture there!

I’m not sure exactly how far we walked in total, but I’m guessing it was about three miles. As we were approaching our house, Lydia found this rock and wanted to keep it. We also found pine cones along the way that we explored. These little treasures are a great way to remember our springtime nature walk together.

Here are some pointers when going on a springtime nature walk with kids:

1. Don’t over-plan your walk. Try a new trail you’ve never walked before or go at a different time of day. Make it a true adventure!
2. Pack a snack, like Ocean Spray Flavored Craisins, available down the snack aisle at Walmart.
3. Bring a water bottle to stay hydrated, regardless of the temperature outdoors.
4. Grab a treasure along the way, like a rock, shell, or pine cone, to remember your adventure together.

Pin the image below – Springtime Nature Walk with Kids.