One reason I love spring is because it means we finally get to air out the house, the kids and me. We’re all about outdoors everyday—at least everyday it’s not raining, which for here has been almost a full week. Right now we’re reveling in the sunshine.
Spring is the perfect time for Baby Bunchers because just being outside is entertaining enough for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. So here are a few ideas for spring activities and a few must-have items to enjoy the outdoors.
Bug collecting. My kids could spend hours looking for worms, caterpillars and other buggy things. Get yourself a little bug cage and set them loose in the backyard to find things to put in there. It may be rocks and sticks, but who cares if they’re busy. We also go to the dollar store and buy a stack of pails (the beach kind) and carry them everywhere with us. Also great for “collecting” things and if you have extras you make friends at the playground.
Picnic. This means anything you eat on a blanket. Keep a good picnic blanket in the back of the car and you’ll be amazed how much fun goldfish and apple juice can be outside. If you manage to get some kind of food for you in there too, it makes it even better.
A garden visit. Most cities have a botanical garden or some other public garden area. It’s a perfect place to plop small baby in the stroller while big baby roams around and chases butterflies. Just being outside with nature can help lower everyone’s blood pressure, unless you meet mean geese people.
Take a ride. No, I'm not talking in the car here I mean a ride on any "riding vehicle" such as a scooter, big wheel, tricycle, push car, wagon, etc. If you're not set up for a good place to ride, head to basketball/tennis courts with friends.
Farmers Market. This will really depend on the age of your kids. Mine were OK with this at one point then last year they were so bad about wandering off that we couldn't go anymore. But this year it seems to be a perfect outing for them. Most farmer's market come with free samples, snacks and kid friendly people.
Berry picking. My kids have done this every year since my youngest was able to walk. If your kids actually LIKE to food you're picking it's even better, but many places have animals or other festivities around berry picking time.
Play ball. This is another one you can do anywhere. Just keep a ball in the back of the car for those times when you see an open field. If you can pick up a few extras it's great because kids have trouble sharing sometimes.
Bird watching. Ok, so they're probably not actually watching the birds, but a pair of cheap binoculars can keep them busy for a while.
Puddle jumping. It's only the moms who hate the rain and puddles jumping, kids do not. Don't let the wet soggy stop you from going outside. The best investment I ever made was in a pair of rain pants and boots. These rain pants are perfect to take to the playground right after it rains when normally it's too wet to play. Kids can play and keep their clothes clean and dry.
I know there are tons of other activities out there, let us know what you enjoy doing with your Bunch in the spring.
We live in FARM country, so there's a limited amount of things to do...however, some of our favorites are:
Letting them run outside wherever they want...
That usually means we end up at Mom and Dad's next door to chase down the barn cats and see whatever the new kittens of the week are.
The swingset it a HIT this year and my kids are little...1 and 2. But they manage better than you might think.
Walks.
Going to the children's zoo, though this is an hour away. I told you we lived in the middle of nowhere!
Posted by: JessPond | May 13, 2009 at 03:31 PM
what a great list. we also like to dig for worms. we've never actaully found any worms, but the digging is dirty fun.
Posted by: jenni | May 20, 2009 at 10:50 AM