Summer Outing Ideas

Every Toddler loves being outside, and any parent will enjoy watching them discover the world around them. So summer outings are a great idea. Here is a list to get your creativity going and get you thinking of fun outdoor activities to do with your toddler at the park.

The Park

The park is an all-time favorite for any outdoor toddler outing. There is lots of room to run around, you can play on the equipment and it’s free!

*Peek-a-boo: while playing around the equipment, hide behind things and pop out and say peek-a-boo. They’ll catch on quickly and want to take turns being the one who hides.

*Catch: Many toddlers won’t have the coordination to catch a ball quite yet, but they’ll love throwing it!

*Parachute: Take a large blanket with you to the park, put a couple of soft items in it. Show your toddler how to hold the corners, then you hold the other end and pop the items off the blanket.

*Search and find: Take a basket or a bag and help your toddler look for sticks, leaves, flowers and other interesting items to collect. When you are all done looking take them out one by one and look at them and talk about them.

 

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Friday Fun with Nursery Rhymes

This Friday’s rhyme is:

There Was a Crooked Man

There was a crooked man, and (stoop over)

He walked a crooked mile (walk in zig zags)

He found a crooked sixpence (pretend to pick something up off the ground)

Beside a crooked stile;

He bought a crooked cat, which (act like you are holding and stroking a cat)

Caught a crooked mouse (pretend to catch a mouse)

And they all lived together

In a little crooked house. (put your arms in a trianlge to form a house)

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Friday Fun with Nursery Rhymes

Toddlers enjoy anything that has a beat and is repeated often enough for them to know what is coming next. This is why nursery rhymes are always popular. Add another layer of fun, by adding actions. Our first nursery rhyme is:

Two Little Blackbirds

Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill, (have your toddler sit with you)

One named Jack and one named Jill. (point to your child when you say one name and yourself when you say the next name)

Fly away Jack, fly away Jill, (show your child how to flap their arms like they are flying, and move to opposite ends of the room)

Come again Jack, come again Jill. (walk back toward each other and give your toddler a hug)

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Basket Toss and Empty

At around fifteen months, most toddlers become extremely fascinated with filling and emptying containers. This is a fine motor skill that will lead to other developments such as learning to put shapes in a shape box and stacking blocks. Even toddler much older than 15 months still love doing this, and this activity is usually a big hit.

You will need an empty laundry basket and some socks folded together and rolled into a ball. Show your toddler how to throw them into the basket and then when all of them are in the basket, how to turn the basket over and dump them out.

This activity also helps a toddler gain better arm movement skills. Usually between 15 months and 2 years old toddler have much better leg coordination than hand and arm coordination and it is often frustrating for them.

Additional Activities

If your toddler is anything like mine, after throwing the socks in the basket and dumping them out for about 20 minutes, he realized that he could put himself in the basket. He put all the socks in the basket then sat in the basket and threw the socks out of the basket.

Push the basket

Show your toddler that they can put items in the basket and push it around. You can set up a game where you place similar items in different rooms, such as a stuffed animal. Then tell your child to find them all and put them in the basket. It may be a bit frustrating for them at first but with your help they’ll quickly catch on and enjoy playing this kind of “hide and seek” game.

 

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