First, I want to give a shout out to Mike for TWENTY-SIX blog entries in the month of August. Way to embrace the blog, Gsheckles.
I'm also pleased to post that we've had another wonderfully active week this week. Jogged three times, yoga once, and we took a family bike ride to breakfast this morning. Bike riding is fun. I'm so glad we're getting back into it.
But what I really wanted to post about was creative outings with toddlers. It's summer and it's HOT. I'm always looking for things to do with Halle to get her out of the house but also keep her out of the sun. Two of our favorite places to go during the day are Barnes and Noble and Blockbuster.
Barnes and Noble has a wonderful kids section, with tons of bright colorful books with characters she recognizes. They also have tables and chairs set up that she can sit in and we can read books together. Since she has plenty of books at home, I don't actually buy anything while we're there, but she enjoys walking around and exploring and finding books that look interesting to her.
It may not seem like it, but Blockbuster is actually just as fun for her. The store is almost always empty in the morning when we go, so I just let her walk around and explore on her own. She's always thrilled when she walks into the kids aisle and sees the Dora, Diego and Backyardigans dvds. They're just her height and playing with the boxes entertains her quite a bit. There's also a big glass wall at our local Blockbuster where she stands and looks out the glass at the birds walking by. She'll stay there watching those birds for quite some time. I've learned that these late morning outings almost always equal three hour naps, so they make us both very, very happy. :)
If anyone else has a creative outing idea to share, please do!!
4 comments:
Yesterday we took our first family trip out of the house to the mall. We found lots of things for Annabelle to do there, and I'm sure Halle would love them too. First she ran around in Dick's Sporting Goods (which I know Halle already likes to do with her Daddy), she pretty much ran through the entire mall stopping at the fountain to splash her fingers in it, visited the puppies at the pet store, ran around KB Toys playing with and on the toys, then played in the kids play center for a long time! She LOVED playing with all of the kids in the play center, and went down the slide SO many times. We should take the girls there together sometime. :)
Thanks for the blog shout out! I have fully embraced my blogness.
I'm sure angelle is better to answer this kinda stuff, but i always like taking Leah to Lowes. I let her test out the mitre saws and cordless drills. But in all seriousness, we often just go to mcdonalds when its hot or rainy so she can play in the play area. although we have to buy food there, and thats not super healthy...Monkey Joes is awesome for kids when they get to be about 2, although they did have some smaller things for kids. See if theres one in melbourne, and if not, you should TOTALLY open one. cuz you just buy the place, a few big bouncy things, charge $5 per kid, bam. rich.
I would never have thought of Blockbuster. Thanks for the idea. i would probably have to rent one though, Leah will insist on taking at least one video home.
We go to story time at the local library every week (or we did before Erin). Then we do puzzles in the children's area and check out books. At least a one hour outing. :)
We like to go to the Youth Museum. They have an indoor "town" with all kinds of props and activities in each area of the exhibit. I'm sure there's something similar to it almost everywhere.
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