August 01, 2010
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Outing Ideas
Toddler Ideas is the insightful ezine delivered to your inbox every month from clever-toddler-activities.com
July 2010 Issue 12
Featuring:
- Opening Thoughts – We’re Schedule-Free This Month
- Q&A with Claire - What Outings Shall We Go On?
- Cute Corner – The Cute Things Kids Say
- Tip of the Month - Try Going With the Flow :-)
- Featured Page – Like Some Travel Activity Ideas?
Opening Thoughts
We’re Schedule-Free This MonthSo toddler classes and playgroups have finished for the school summer holidays (vacation) in Britain. I have got so used to the weekly schedule of morning activities (even though I keep one day a week free). The task of free-rein to organize all outings to occupy the two-year-old twins I look after feels both freeing and challenging at the same time.
We are fortunate that we have a few parks, play centers, a library and friends with toddlers to play with near by. We enjoy these regularly but we love to explore other places in our community too.
Toddlers are interested in most things they can get their hands on, aren’t they? That’s because they’re on a mission to learn about the world around them. The officially child-friendly places are great but I think they only partly fulfill that need.
Of course, we show them the 'real world' regularly, right? Children tend to come along to the shops, post office, dry cleaners, etc with us anyway. Ah, but the usual adult focus is to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible, isn’t it? Which doesn't end up being particularly fun or educational for young children.
This issue of Toddler Ideas shares some tips on fulfilling your toddler’s desire to explore and understand the world around her. I hope you find this issue useful.
Q&A With Claire
If you have a question about toddlers, we'd love to help! Just use our handy contact form.What Outings Shall We Go On?
I'm going to break from the normal Q & A format this week. On the last week of playgroups before they finished for the summer holiday (vacation), this was being discussed all around me.
I took time to think about and research local options that we had. I thought I’d share my ideas with you that could easily be adapted to fit what you have available in your area.
Nature Walk
You could simply take a walk in a park, wood, nature trail and beach with your toddler. Draw your toddler's attention to and talk about the blossom or leaves growing on the trees, flowers, plants, insects and any animals or birds you or your child spots.
It depends on their character, learning styles and mood but many toddlers learn and remember more from the experience if they walk freely rather than ride in a buggy (stroller). Movement in the first few years of life plays a big part in building their brains as well as muscles.
The tangible freedom seems to spark more interest too and it's a fact that you learn more when you're interested. Just think how placid a toddler often looks when taking a ride and then how fascinated and alert many toddlers seem while walking out of choice.
Nature Treasure Hunt
A favourite toddler activity while on nature walks is collecting twigs, stones, fir cones, conkers, fallen leaves or shells, pebbles and seaweed.
A childminder I’m friends with gives each of the toddlers in her care a nappy bag for this. They then count and use what they've found as collage materials at home. All the children we care for love this activity. For some more ideas on what to do with the ‘treasure’ check out the Natural Free Games Page.
Exploring a Garden Centre (Plant Nursery) then Growing
Another successful ‘two activities in one’ we did was visiting a garden centre (plant nursery in the USA) to buy cress seeds and then planting them later.
The girls loved exploring the huge shop. I let then touch some things and play with others, explaining why we had to be gentle, not open packets and put things back. Even with two-year-old twins this worked surprisingly well. I did do most of the tidying, but nothing was broken and it was a happy experience for all.
I’m certainly not a gardener but I do recommend growing cress seeds with your toddler. It’s so easy and quick, using paper towels or cotton wool rather than soil. Cress seeds can be planted anytime of the year and they only take about two weeks to grow and are edible too! I simply used the instructions on the packet.
Discovering a Pet Shop
This is another interesting shop for toddlers, plus a lot of the stock is non-breakable. Even if you don’t want to buy anything you could just visit for a wander. If you prefer to have a mission, maybe you could buy a little gift for a friend/relative’s pet or a pet shelter. Giving the gift would create another interesting outing.
Embracing the Rain
On the next rainy day, what about being brave? Both get geared up and simply let your little one splash in puddles to her heart’s content. Maybe invite a friend along too.
Tips: I recommend waterproofs from head to toe for everyone, to keep the peace. I take a dry flannel (wash cloth) in my pocket for drying their faces. If we're going far away from home, I bring spare clothes in a waterproof bag too, just in case.
Why not make the most of your waterproofs and have fountain fun in cold weather too?! All-in-one waterproof suits are good for this but they're also a pain when there's a need for the toilet or a nappy (diaper) change. Also see above for waterproof tips.
A Spot of Train Spotting
Whenever I let the girls choose where we go they always choose watching trains! Well, it helps that we live in London and there’s one (or more) every minute or two! Checking train timetables (schedules) may be handy in some areas.
I try and extend their learning by counting the carriages, talking about the colours on the trains, mentioning whether they're full or empty or what the trains are carrying and describing other things around while we wait for the next one. That helps to beat my boredom too. :-)
Create a Picture List of Things to Find
Simply pick a place you would like to visit with your toddler. For example: a street with houses, a nature trail, a certain shop, museum, gallery or views from a boat/train or car trip etc.
Before you go, collect pictures (ideally photos) of objects you're sure to find. Magazines, catalogs, bank leaflets or internet image searches are great places to look. Cut and stick them on a piece of paper or card.
Added learning takes place if they have large clear written labels too, even if they're 'too young to read'.
Preschoolers might enjoy a small box next to each item to place a tick (check) in when they've found them. You could laminate it to use it a few times - toddlers do like repetition, don't they? Remember to take an appropriate pen if they'll be marking on it.
Send a Relative/Godparent a Picture
This is a really pleasant and simple activity for everyone which can be done anytime, for no reason. Posting the envelopes is the twins' favourite part, it's even better than posting any other letters or cards because it's theirs!
Wash the Car with Them
This could be an outing to a car washing business or a fun activity you do together in your driveway. If it's a bit chilly and they're helping, waterproofs would probably prevent some moaning. Either way, your toddler might enjoy a description of the process.
Enjoy a Construction Show
The girls I look after love watching construction vehicles at work! As roadworks are not as boarded off as building sites they are great places to see them in action. I often get begged to let them stop and watch them at work. I'm amazed at the concentration and attention spans of those two-year-old's, when they're interested in something like this.
We've also stopped and watched a car being loaded onto a tow truck, large rubbish bins (trash cans) emptied into their trucks, a crane lifting and placing loads, road cleaning machines at work, plus they also ask to be lifted to look into skips too! (It reminds me how much we take for granted.) :-)
Take a Train, Bus or even Boat
I've also honored requests to ride on a train or bus that day. We've been to various places on them but the journeys are what they enthusiastically talk about with their parents at the end of the day! Once one thing after another happened and we took the next bus back as soon as we got off the first one! So that was the activity of the morning, but there we go.
Take Them to Your Dental, Optical or Medical Check-ups
It's so much easier to organize someone to mind your toddler while you have a medical appointment, isn't it! Sometimes that's the wisest thing to do if you're going to receive serious treatment or you'd have to wait ages. However if it's just a quick check-up, your toddler would probably benefit from gaining experience of the medical environment without anything directly happening to them (even if they're been before).
Be sure to take a bag of toys, snacks and drink and try to keep calm. :-) Talking about what's going to happen before would help him feel more at ease. Discussing what happened afterward would help to deepen his understanding and his confidence about visiting such places.
I hope you find these ideas useful!
Cute Corner
The Cute Things Kids SayThe girls were heading out for a women's dinner at church when my little four-year-old granddaughter asked her mom why the baby couldn't stay home with Dad like the other kids. Her mom explained that it was because she needed to feed the baby.
The little girl replied, almost like she was thinking out loud: "Oh yeah, that's right, you have the nursers, and Dad has nursers too, but his don't work ... they are just for looks!"
Received via The Good, Clean Funnies List
Tip of the Month
Try Going With The Flow :-)In this fast-paced world we live and with the great intention of giving our children the best, we can pack our weeks full of interesting outings and activities to entertain them.
Firstly, I recognize that all children and parents/carers are different. Of course, you know what suits you both much better than I do!
Personally, I've noticed that the girls I care for are still tired the next day if they go out both in the morning and afternoon the previous day. I try and alternate busy days and quieter days, where we go just go on one outing. Personally, I think days spent playing at home are fine sometimes, but these tots (and parents) expect daily outings. I agree that routines are very handy too.
Isn't it so true that in free play young children dash about and can move so fast but yet it takes sooo long to get ready to go anywhere?! I think this is very natural, isn't being care-free the best part of childhood! :-) Personally I try to balance out having an organized schedule and also free days to offer the toddlers choices and follow their interests.
One of the twins truly enjoys all the playgroups, music and action classes, parks and play centres we attend. The other one usually enjoys watching the action while sitting on my lap and then gradually joins in after months of weekly attendance. However when I follow either of their interests of the moment, we usually end up spending large amounts of time doing very simple things.
For instance, the planned trip to a large local park turned into walking up and down a large flight of concrete steps lots of times (while counting), which was on a side trail before we got to the park.
And the other day we were going to a pet shop by bus. The driver got confused and told us to get off at the wrong stop, which I only realized afterwards. The girls were bored of sitting in their buggy (stroller) and needed some freedom. I abandoned finding the pet shop and fortunately found a nearby nature trail where the tots could roam safely. They soon got tired so we caught the bus home.
Their ultra-favourite activity is watching trains. When they were one year old, I was shocked to realize once that we had been watching trains for nearly an hour! I'm not into train spotting but it didn't actually feel that long. Their enthusiasm may have rubbed off. :-)
Oh sorry, I hope you're still with me ;-). My point is that a toddler's idea of fun may be different to what we think little kids would like, from our adult perspective. Plus going with the flow has rewards of happy memories for everyone, as long as we learn to let go of our preconceived ideas and live in the moment. I found it has a very pleasant and relaxing effect on mine and the children's bodies and minds. It feels very freeing!
I think toddlers are often smarter than we give them credit for. :-)
Featured Page
Like Some Travel Activity Ideas?If you're still looking forward to your family holiday (vacation), these travel activities will probably help your journey be a little smoother.
Actually they can also help on any outings, such as in traffic jams, restaurants, hairdressers, waiting rooms, bus stops and hospitals, etc. Check out these very useful and versatile Travel Activities For Kids!
What do you think?
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