Our kids favourite (4 and 18mo) is to just pack up bikes, balls, food, water etc and spend the day at the park. There are so many great parks to check out too, we especially love ones with water features/areas but not sure how the weather is near you, already stinking hot here.
Beach is also good or near us we have mud flats which we love and do all the time. There's shallow water, interesting birds and animals abd plants, trees perfect for climbing and of course, lots of mud!
Something my 18mo particularly loves that we often do whilst eldest is at kindy is bush walks, we have Mt Cootha just up the road so that's handy so depends if you have much around. But she just wanders around checking out all the different elements. She will climb logs and rocks, there's a dry creek bed and so much colour and texture and sound. Eldest still loves this too.
I'm a big fan of places that are open which invite a lot of freedom because it's just more relaxing when you don't have to stress about where they are going or what they are touching.
The zoo or sanctuaries are good. Popular here especially if there are open parts where you can get up close and personal with the animals. Aquariums are great too.
We have done the museum but I think they enjoyed the train ride there more than anything at that stage especially the youngest who just runs riot and makes it all hard work. Science centres are similar, great for our eldest but just overstimulate and frustrate youngest.
The park is DD's favourite out of the house thing. Or anything that involves animals. She also gets excited when we go grocery shopping, she's a strange thing lol.
At home, painting is her absolute favourite. It's less messy now she's older so newspaper goes on the table only and not the floor, but old clothes are a must as she prefers to paint various body parts and then put those on the paper lol.
Anything in any park is the BEST in my 18 month DD's eyes. Also anything that involves lots of other kids as she is very social so playgrounds, library story time, kiddie music groups. She's also mad about animals so the aquarium and zoo are favourites.
we live out of Melbourne and rarelyuse PT, so taking a train, tram or bus is very exciting.
love the zoo, but try to go on non school holiday days.
beach
sjate park
watch street performers
Myer Christmas Windows
go for a drive to see Christmas lights
painting
cooking
sometimes it is better to not to try fit too much in one day, or one week. enjoy the moment. for example, we could go to the zoo and spend all day and see every animal and end up with cranky exhausted kids and parents OR we can pick 3 animals, or one loop, and go at kid's pace and all have a more enjoyable day.
if you can, spend time with one child at a time, and make it their special day.
Anything outside is popular here - nature walks, collecting things (which you can then come home and make a collage of, paint, sort into boxes, use in playdough etc), park play, hide and seek outside, picnic lunch.
At home, cooking is fun. DS also loves ooblek (google it!).
A trip to the library to play with their puzzles, games etc
Museum, zoo etc - and yes, the bus/train trip is part of the day out
Anything with water will be popular in Summer...water play, coloured ice cubes, water parks, beach....
Morning or afternoon tea in a cafe (not sure how an 18 month old will go with that one)
The park is our thing, and DD loves collecting treasures, so we take her treasure box and she puts anything and everything in it..... Pink flowers mostly!
At home cooking is our thing. We made biscuits the other day, and I get her to help me chop things up for the dinner. An activity which doubles as practical. I love getting her involved in every day things.
DS would have always loved getting in the car and following the rubbish truck around the streets, reading books together, cooking, parks and swimming.
Over this time, I have found that the boys are equally happy with a trip to a local park with left over crusts for the ducks and a $2 pack of crackers as they are with a $100 trip to the zoo. The importance seems to be variety - so we've scouted out about 15 nearby parks, dubbed them all with names (the forest park, the duck park, the rock park, the adventure park, the dinosaur park, the hide and seek park, etc) and then sometimes mix it up with the pool, the bike park, etc.
And we've got them really good quality weatherproof coats and hats and gumboots, so even if it's wet, we can still get out and have a play.
They need activity above everything else. That's what works for us
I totally agree. DS is only 2 so the expensive zoo trips go right over his head. He is most happy in a park with slides and swings or at the beach/pool.
DD has been to the zoo twice, and DS once. They both loved it, they're mad about animals. It's so cute to see their faces when they see an animal they've never seen before
I'm loving the ages they are now because they play so well together - very little input from me required, and if I'm honest I don't entirely enjoy being on the floor playing their games so it suits me fine. They both love babies, so DD gave DS one for Christmas so he'd stop taking hers, and they play with those a lot. Also cars and trucks, they drive them around everywhere. Most of the time though, they're on the trampoline or swing set.
For something different, they love to help me bake, but that's a bit rare these days.
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Your best day activities with toddlers?
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