Hiking with children

The mouse from WDR television not only motivates children to go hiking, it also provides information about the surrounding area and thematic focal points on six Bergisch rambles. The hiking trails through the Bergisches Land, which are between four and 13 kilometres long, are equipped with information boards and audio stations where children and adults can learn a lot about the region. For example, the four-kilometre-long water trail explains the function of a dam. The "Fire & Flame Trail", which is around twelve kilometres long, shows that people here were passionate about fire safety from an early age. Starting in Bergneustadt, the trail leads past a lookout tower, which is still used by the fire brigade as a lookout in the event of a forest fire.

In the Teutoburg Forest Nature Park , you can take the family over hill and dale and, of course, through the forest. The Leistruper Forest Route, for example, leads past 3,000-year-old cairn graves and sacrificial stones, deciduous and coniferous trees. The family version of the Paderborn High Trail offers encounters with animals and other discoveries in the beech forest. There are also six discovery maps under the heading "Family Time Nature", which invite you to explore various corners of the nature park in more detail. Near Detmold, for example, a GPS trail takes you around five kilometres around the Hermann monument. Along the way, interesting information, short quizzes and other forest-related activities await you at eight virtual stations. A detour to the Hermann Monument is definitely worthwhile, as there is a treasure chest and an extra rally around the monument.

There are sometimes surprising encounters and experiences in the Sauerland: Tree telephones, forest adventure trails and swings as well as mythical figures such as goblins and fairies provide variety on trails specially designed for children. In Brilon, a magical creature accompanies hikers on the two-kilometre forest fairy trail and invites them into the world of the forest at nine adventure stations. In Bad Sassendorf, the five-kilometre wilderness adventure tour combines a barefoot trail and low ropes course with a detour to a wildlife park.

Search for animal tracks, solve plant puzzles and simply see, smell and hear: The Eifel National Park invites young and old to experience wilderness with different senses. On the family days, for example, which take place on the first Sunday of every month and even more often during the holidays, you can go on free hikes through the forest with rangers.

The dandelion adventure trail in Nettersheim in the Eifel offers 20 hands-on stations. The trail is around six kilometres long and leads past an adventure playground and in the footsteps of the ancient Romans, as well as to even older finds: On a fallow field, once a coral reef in the Devonian Sea, there are fossils that are 380 million years old. How long it takes everyone to complete the circuit therefore depends less on how good the hikers are on foot. There are many other themes from nature and history to explore on the EifelSpuren and EifelSchleifen circular hiking trails that lead through the Northern Eifel.

In the Teutoburg Forest Nature Park, donkeys - Josef, Alfred, Camillo, Leopold and Fiete to be precise - go on a hike. The Rosenhof - Lippe is the starting point for various tours with different route lengths and destinations. The offers range from a short taster tour through the fields around the farm in Horn - Bad Meinberg to short day hikes to sights such as Falkenburg Castle or Externsteine to multi-day tours to Velmerstot, the highest mountain in the Eggegebirge, or to Sparrenburg Castle in Bielefeld. All of this is not just great fun for children, by the way, but for all ages. Either way, you can learn a good deal of serenity from the relaxed animals.

Unlike donkeys, llamas and alpacas belong to the camel family, but are just as good-natured and patient. Both animal species accompany children and adults on various tours in different regions of North Rhine-Westphalia, for example in the Ruhr area. Families can go on a hike with Kasimir, Dancer, Diego and Co. in Gelsenkirchen amidst the green coal slag heaps. The llama trekking leads along various routes across the "Andes of the Ruhr". By the way, nobody needs to be afraid of spit: Llamas that have been properly socialised and raised in a herd do not spit on people.

The Vosswinkel wildlife forest in Arnsberg is home to a wide variety of animals, including eagle owls, red deer and wild boar, which roam freely without enclosures and can be seen during daily feedings. However, encounters can be expected at any time on the two 4.5-kilometre circular trails through the red deer and wild boar enclosures. And after dark, the adventure can continue, as the Sauerland area also offers special overnight accommodation in the forest. Here, wood is used for heating and candles provide light. The smartphone has little reception and the conventional toilet is usually replaced by an outhouse.

For children, the Wildwiesenweg trail near Eitorf is a safari - or rather a photo safari. Many different animals live in this corner of the Bonn region, from bumblebees to black storks and from butterflies to wood lizards. Anyone who gets four different animals in front of their lens and takes a photo to prove it can take part in a prize draw every year. A total of ten children's adventure trails along the Sieg provide great hiking fun for the little ones too.

The Siebengebirge Nature Park offers two adventure trails on the theme of sustainability, such as the Zeitsprung discovery trail. On this two-kilometre trail, families learn how people treated their environment in different eras.