This is a list of suggestions, from the parent of a three-year-old boy to anyone who is looking for ideas on activities that give both parents and children a way to have a great time with each other.
Before we get into specific activities, I want to share a single overriding truth that makes finding suitable specifics easy. My personal experience and most of what I’ve read on parenting are in agreement on this, and for many of you it may be so obvious that the mention seems unnecessary, but I think it’s a point worth sharing.
The thing your young child wants to do more than anything else is to spend time doing ANYTHING with you. Knowing that, the details of specific activities aren’t really that important. Your toddler will enjoy just about any activity that enables them to spend time interacting with you.
Once your child has pretty well mastered walking, you have to be ready to kick it up a notch. Keeping up with your new little runner can be a daunting task at times, but you also get a fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Children probably have more curiosity when they are preschoolers than at any time in life. It’s a wonderful time to share your own interests with a new generation. Hobbies, sports and interests of all sorts can affect a person profoundly in early childhood, fostering lifelong passions and pathways.
If your child wants to do something you think is impractical, undesirable or impossible, offer a choice of two alternative things to do. My wife and I were happily surprised to find our son was willing to accept an alternative nearly every time if the choices involved doing something with one or both parents.
For parents on a tight budget, that‘s great news because it means your child will enjoy spending time hitting, throwing or bouncing a ball around with you just as much as spending time with you at a rate of $10 or $20 an hour. Most kids grow up knowing they can’t have everything they want, and those that grow up without expensive game systems or weekly horseback lessons are generally just as happy as their more prosperous counterparts, sometimes more so. The key to a happy childhood is rooted more in the memories of time spent with a loving family than to the material pleasures provided to the child.
Chances are your child will get as much or more pleasure watching you make sausage and eggs on a Coleman stove at a $12 a night state park campsite than they would from eating a room service breakfast in a nice hotel. I’m not just speculating here, as my son had both experiences for the first time on a recent weekend getaway. The campout was his reward after completing a full month after potty training with no accidents. The nice hotel was a reward for my wife and me.
My son was surprised and a bit perplexed the first time food was delivered to our hotel room, but if he felt any joy it was well-concealed. On the other hand, he was thrilled and amazed to learn that a hot breakfast was possible after sleeping in a tent in the woods. That’s the breakfast he’ll remember and the smile the lights my memory.
Time after time, the truly priceless memories come without a significant price tag, and I’m pretty sure that’s how it was meant to be.
Without Further Ado, Here’s 10 Tried and True Great Things To Do:
Visit an interactive science museum with little minds in mind. My wife and I took our son to COSI (Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, OH) which Parents Magazine rated the No. 1 museum in the country. Not only did we all have a great time, our son is still making references to things he saw or learned on the trip many months later. I went to COSI during my own childhood and my favorite memory was of watching the big pendulum knock balls off their perches. Now it’s my son’s favorite memory, too.
Read a Book. This is your chance to have a little fun putting on wild character voices to help really unleash your child's imagination. You can also increase your child’s interest in reading by finding books and magazines dealing with subjects in which they are interested. A few months after I started giving him magazines, my 3-year-old son could read many words and names. Here’s a few suggestions: All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon and Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty.
Look for turtles, frogs and fish at a local creek. My son and I rescued a turtle from a busy road and brought him home with us for a couple of days then released him in a creek near where we found him. Be sure to do your homework on providing a healthy environment for any critter you may bring home and make sure you aren’t “abducting” a legally protected species, or a dangerous one! You don’t have to bring anything home to have a great time, though. Your child will get a kick just from seeing wildlife in its native habitat.
Visit a national or state park. Great fun is available on a tiny budget at U.S. National Parks and state parks around the country. Children love to go adventuring and exploring with their parents, and these park systems offer great venues for you to show your child how awesome our world can be. Cross-country trips provide superb opportunities for such visits, even with time constraints. With a little advance research and planning, you can avoid unwanted delays. With help from the U.S. National Parks Service website, we included stops at Mammoth Cave and the St. Louis Arch on our last trip. These were very rewarding, fun-filled visits, but each stop took less than two hours! The secret is to buy tickets in advance, avoid weekends if possible and go early. Signs warning of long lines begin miles from Mammoth Cave, but there were only six cars in the parking lot when we arrived half an hour before opening time on a Tuesday.
Plant some vegetables – either in a garden or a pot. This is not only a fun activity, but one that will get your child excited about eating veggies. This can be an ongoing activity due to the seasonality of some plants. Strawberries are great, though you may have to defend them from a variety of critters, such as rabbits. And speaking of rabbits, strawberries seem to reproduce like rabbits, as I started with two plants and three years later the patch covers 20 to 30 square feet. Give ’em room to grow. Tomatoes, especially cherry tomatoes, are another good choice, along with squash and zucchini. Carrots are easy to grow and great for teaching your child about edible roots. Corn is never better than when you can harvest and cook it in the same afternoon. Finally, watermelons and pumpkins are crops that will probably yield the biggest smiles from your little ones.
Break out some old school games and puzzles. In the age of Wii, PS3 and X-Box, old school classics such as Candy Land, Checkers and Backgammon are valuable means to help your child understand basic math concepts and spatial logic. Not to mention lessons in sportsmanship and social interaction. My kiddo recently played his first game of Candy Land, beating both Mommy and Daddy. Picture puzzles can also aid in the development of a child’s understanding of some spatial concepts. The new, large floor puzzles are ideal for older toddlers and feature appealing images such as Thomas the Tank Engine, a fire engine or the solar system. Once your tyke is old enough to read and write, Scrabble and Boggle will encourage them to expand their vocabulary and spelling skills.
“Take me to the river.” Most kids will jump at the chance to go swimming, waterskiing, boating or anything that gets them into or close to a large body of water. Indoor aquatic centers provide the opportunity for year-round swimming and most newer facilities have toddler-specific areas. Even if you have a pool in the backyard, your child will likely jump at any chance to go to the beach. Once they reach high school, your only role at the beach will be as transportation so enjoy the time they enjoy being with you! Motorized watercraft are another matter. Kids enjoy boating, waterskiing and personal watercraft so much that even teenagers will be happy to spend time with you as long as you have the keys to one of these. If geography or budget precludes any or all of the aforementioned activities, you can give your toddler to pre-teen some backyard water fun on the cheap with a Slip ‘n Slide. You can buy the genuine Wham-O product online, starting under $20 for the basic model. I don’t recommend cheaper imitations, as some manufacturers use insufficiently slippery plastic. Regardless of what type of water fun you propose, your child is likely to be happy about it. Naturally, safety is the watchword for all water activities and lifejackets should be mandatory for kids on watercrafts or swimming in rivers, lakes or oceans.
Ride a Train. Even when trains were the most common form of transportation, kids loved them and that hasn’t changed. Taking the train can turn a routine trip into an adventure if you live where rail passenger service is readily available. For those of us who live in states where passenger trains are few and far between, railroad museums, tourist railroads and dinner trains offer the chance to ride the rails. These operations often provide special trains for children, such as the Polar Express or Santa Claus Specials in December, or visits by Thomas the Tank Engine. Tourist trains often run through picturesque, beautiful countryside you would not see from a highway. On a recent trip to Arkansas, my family rode trains on the Eureka Springs and North Arkansas Railroad in Eureka Springs and the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad in Springdale, Ft. Smith and Van Buren. There are railroad adventures to be had in every state and no one enjoys them more than kids. Just Google railroad museum and/or dinner train, along the appropriate state name(s), and you’ll find a nearby train to ride with your child.
Go on a Big Adventure. As a reward, I took my boy on his first camping trip at a state park which featured swimming and nature hiking. My wife and I camp regularly, so the overnight was a natural choice for us since we don’t like leaving our son behind. It was a BIG adventure for a 3-year-old, and we spent weeks building up the anticipation. One great side benefit: a few gentle reminders and your child will stay on their best behavior in the weeks leading up to a big adventure they don’t want to miss!
Let Your Kid Pick an Activity – The last time I gave my son the choice, he asked to watch a monster movie and eat popcorn, two of my favorite things. Score for both of us! Give it a try - chances are you’ve got a child who wants to share in some of your favorite things.
Before we get into specific activities, I want to share a single overriding truth that makes finding suitable specifics easy. My personal experience and most of what I’ve read on parenting are in agreement on this, and for many of you it may be so obvious that the mention seems unnecessary, but I think it’s a point worth sharing.
The thing your young child wants to do more than anything else is to spend time doing ANYTHING with you. Knowing that, the details of specific activities aren’t really that important. Your toddler will enjoy just about any activity that enables them to spend time interacting with you.
Once your child has pretty well mastered walking, you have to be ready to kick it up a notch. Keeping up with your new little runner can be a daunting task at times, but you also get a fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Children probably have more curiosity when they are preschoolers than at any time in life. It’s a wonderful time to share your own interests with a new generation. Hobbies, sports and interests of all sorts can affect a person profoundly in early childhood, fostering lifelong passions and pathways.
If your child wants to do something you think is impractical, undesirable or impossible, offer a choice of two alternative things to do. My wife and I were happily surprised to find our son was willing to accept an alternative nearly every time if the choices involved doing something with one or both parents.
For parents on a tight budget, that‘s great news because it means your child will enjoy spending time hitting, throwing or bouncing a ball around with you just as much as spending time with you at a rate of $10 or $20 an hour. Most kids grow up knowing they can’t have everything they want, and those that grow up without expensive game systems or weekly horseback lessons are generally just as happy as their more prosperous counterparts, sometimes more so. The key to a happy childhood is rooted more in the memories of time spent with a loving family than to the material pleasures provided to the child.
Chances are your child will get as much or more pleasure watching you make sausage and eggs on a Coleman stove at a $12 a night state park campsite than they would from eating a room service breakfast in a nice hotel. I’m not just speculating here, as my son had both experiences for the first time on a recent weekend getaway. The campout was his reward after completing a full month after potty training with no accidents. The nice hotel was a reward for my wife and me.
My son was surprised and a bit perplexed the first time food was delivered to our hotel room, but if he felt any joy it was well-concealed. On the other hand, he was thrilled and amazed to learn that a hot breakfast was possible after sleeping in a tent in the woods. That’s the breakfast he’ll remember and the smile the lights my memory.
Time after time, the truly priceless memories come without a significant price tag, and I’m pretty sure that’s how it was meant to be.
Without Further Ado, Here’s 10 Tried and True Great Things To Do:
Visit an interactive science museum with little minds in mind. My wife and I took our son to COSI (Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, OH) which Parents Magazine rated the No. 1 museum in the country. Not only did we all have a great time, our son is still making references to things he saw or learned on the trip many months later. I went to COSI during my own childhood and my favorite memory was of watching the big pendulum knock balls off their perches. Now it’s my son’s favorite memory, too.
Read a Book. This is your chance to have a little fun putting on wild character voices to help really unleash your child's imagination. You can also increase your child’s interest in reading by finding books and magazines dealing with subjects in which they are interested. A few months after I started giving him magazines, my 3-year-old son could read many words and names. Here’s a few suggestions: All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon and Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty.
Look for turtles, frogs and fish at a local creek. My son and I rescued a turtle from a busy road and brought him home with us for a couple of days then released him in a creek near where we found him. Be sure to do your homework on providing a healthy environment for any critter you may bring home and make sure you aren’t “abducting” a legally protected species, or a dangerous one! You don’t have to bring anything home to have a great time, though. Your child will get a kick just from seeing wildlife in its native habitat.
Visit a national or state park. Great fun is available on a tiny budget at U.S. National Parks and state parks around the country. Children love to go adventuring and exploring with their parents, and these park systems offer great venues for you to show your child how awesome our world can be. Cross-country trips provide superb opportunities for such visits, even with time constraints. With a little advance research and planning, you can avoid unwanted delays. With help from the U.S. National Parks Service website, we included stops at Mammoth Cave and the St. Louis Arch on our last trip. These were very rewarding, fun-filled visits, but each stop took less than two hours! The secret is to buy tickets in advance, avoid weekends if possible and go early. Signs warning of long lines begin miles from Mammoth Cave, but there were only six cars in the parking lot when we arrived half an hour before opening time on a Tuesday.
Plant some vegetables – either in a garden or a pot. This is not only a fun activity, but one that will get your child excited about eating veggies. This can be an ongoing activity due to the seasonality of some plants. Strawberries are great, though you may have to defend them from a variety of critters, such as rabbits. And speaking of rabbits, strawberries seem to reproduce like rabbits, as I started with two plants and three years later the patch covers 20 to 30 square feet. Give ’em room to grow. Tomatoes, especially cherry tomatoes, are another good choice, along with squash and zucchini. Carrots are easy to grow and great for teaching your child about edible roots. Corn is never better than when you can harvest and cook it in the same afternoon. Finally, watermelons and pumpkins are crops that will probably yield the biggest smiles from your little ones.
Break out some old school games and puzzles. In the age of Wii, PS3 and X-Box, old school classics such as Candy Land, Checkers and Backgammon are valuable means to help your child understand basic math concepts and spatial logic. Not to mention lessons in sportsmanship and social interaction. My kiddo recently played his first game of Candy Land, beating both Mommy and Daddy. Picture puzzles can also aid in the development of a child’s understanding of some spatial concepts. The new, large floor puzzles are ideal for older toddlers and feature appealing images such as Thomas the Tank Engine, a fire engine or the solar system. Once your tyke is old enough to read and write, Scrabble and Boggle will encourage them to expand their vocabulary and spelling skills.
“Take me to the river.” Most kids will jump at the chance to go swimming, waterskiing, boating or anything that gets them into or close to a large body of water. Indoor aquatic centers provide the opportunity for year-round swimming and most newer facilities have toddler-specific areas. Even if you have a pool in the backyard, your child will likely jump at any chance to go to the beach. Once they reach high school, your only role at the beach will be as transportation so enjoy the time they enjoy being with you! Motorized watercraft are another matter. Kids enjoy boating, waterskiing and personal watercraft so much that even teenagers will be happy to spend time with you as long as you have the keys to one of these. If geography or budget precludes any or all of the aforementioned activities, you can give your toddler to pre-teen some backyard water fun on the cheap with a Slip ‘n Slide. You can buy the genuine Wham-O product online, starting under $20 for the basic model. I don’t recommend cheaper imitations, as some manufacturers use insufficiently slippery plastic. Regardless of what type of water fun you propose, your child is likely to be happy about it. Naturally, safety is the watchword for all water activities and lifejackets should be mandatory for kids on watercrafts or swimming in rivers, lakes or oceans.
Ride a Train. Even when trains were the most common form of transportation, kids loved them and that hasn’t changed. Taking the train can turn a routine trip into an adventure if you live where rail passenger service is readily available. For those of us who live in states where passenger trains are few and far between, railroad museums, tourist railroads and dinner trains offer the chance to ride the rails. These operations often provide special trains for children, such as the Polar Express or Santa Claus Specials in December, or visits by Thomas the Tank Engine. Tourist trains often run through picturesque, beautiful countryside you would not see from a highway. On a recent trip to Arkansas, my family rode trains on the Eureka Springs and North Arkansas Railroad in Eureka Springs and the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad in Springdale, Ft. Smith and Van Buren. There are railroad adventures to be had in every state and no one enjoys them more than kids. Just Google railroad museum and/or dinner train, along the appropriate state name(s), and you’ll find a nearby train to ride with your child.
Go on a Big Adventure. As a reward, I took my boy on his first camping trip at a state park which featured swimming and nature hiking. My wife and I camp regularly, so the overnight was a natural choice for us since we don’t like leaving our son behind. It was a BIG adventure for a 3-year-old, and we spent weeks building up the anticipation. One great side benefit: a few gentle reminders and your child will stay on their best behavior in the weeks leading up to a big adventure they don’t want to miss!
Let Your Kid Pick an Activity – The last time I gave my son the choice, he asked to watch a monster movie and eat popcorn, two of my favorite things. Score for both of us! Give it a try - chances are you’ve got a child who wants to share in some of your favorite things.
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