Unicorn Trails! Slightly bonkers walks for kids…

Get your glitter carrot on! Ideas for a kids walk with a fun nature theme.

Here at New Forest Escapes we love a good kids adventure (and often feel like big kids ourselves) so when we were asked for a unicorn, we went and got one – complete with marshmallow trail and glitter carrot teasers. Get involved, get dressed up and get searching in the beautiful New Forest. Just give us a call to arrange a truly magical family day out or go for it yourself with our tips and tricks below

For little girls, this is a great idea and requires a little imagination, a couple of head torches, magnifying glasses, some DIY glitter carrots and lots of story-telling.

New Forest Unicorn

 

You’re also going to need basic horse tracking knowledge (i.e. google which way a horses footprint points forwards and then just go and look for footprints).

New Forest Trees

The best areas for unicorns are apparently;

Around Rhinefield walk, the forest near Brockenhurst and The Pig Hotel and in and around the Norley Wood enclosure. The best time to see them is at dusk. Also apparently if you wear full fairy outfits this also helps. Adults too (please send us photos).

For an authentic experience, you’re going to need to do two visits to your unicorn spotting site, one without kids, one with….

Go earlier in the day with the kids, with them fully dressed in fairy kit (obviously this really helps to see the unicorns) and walk around, try to be quiet a few times, talk about where unicorns would like to live, what sort of thing they eat and drink, where the go in bad weather etc.
Try to track some ponies hoof prints and look at their dung and you’ll be able to convince most small children that you’re on the scent of unicorns or perhaps the cousin of the unicorn, New Forest ponies.

When you can’t find a unicorn, be positive and make a plan to come back later and see if you can see them at night (dusk). Be sure to leave out some glitter carrots that you’ve made for them (edible glitter please just in case real ponies eat them).

At dusk, return to your site. Get the kids wearing head torches and be quiet. Turn off the torches and listen to the forest and the sounds at night which is a lovely wild experience for the kids anyway. You’ll hear crows coming in and birds finding their roosts. Listen to animals walking on the leaves, try and hear twigs cracking to find which direction an animal might be in. This can be really exciting if you can get the kids to be quiet for long enough.

Return to the glitter carrots and perhaps someone might have been in and eaten them (this means parents get in before and sneakily make it look like so!)

To extend this idea, you could;

Fairy cupcake making at home – great pics for cloud cupcakes on our Pinterest board below. (Use ribbon sweets for the rainbow arch.)
High tea for forest fairies on the beach or in dens
Fairy daytime disco
Hot chocolate on the beach (take it in thermos flasks) and sparklers before you go out unicorn hunting at dusk.
You can do a ‘midnight’ feast in the forest too if you can bear the sugar rush near bedtime.

Girl in Ferns - New Forest Sun rise flare over new forest