Fun "Outside of the House" Activities for 10 Month-Old and Mommy and Daddy

I think the best mall play area for a crawler is the one in Plano, off the Tollway I think, Willow Bend. It's a little drive, but usually not as crowded and geared more towards younger kids than Vista Ridge or Galleria.

This may be a day late, but the Vista Ridge mall has a nice soft play place, although weekends may be alittle crazy for you over there, but just stay close to her, and have some fun. Also Kids Muze has a nice infant play area that is pretty fun for her age. (It is on Sandly Lake close to Grapevine Mills mall). Another idea when the weather is nice is the arboretum. It is a very nice place to walk around, and there are plenty of nice grassy spots to enjoy. And pretty soon, even the zoo would be fun for her too:) Enjoy all of the family time you can get!! ~A.~

Have you been to the dallas world aquarium yet? We actually went yesterday with our girl (6yrs, 4 yrs and 3 mos) and they loved it. The good thing is that it's inside and not HUGE, it takes about an hour to 2 hours to go through, depending on how long you spend looking at each animal. They have a lower level so you can sit and watch the animals(manatees, turtles etc) swimming around. They also have a tunnel inside the shark tank so you can see them swimming over your head. Very cool. Even my 3 month old loved it. She was laying in the stroller looking at the trees and the birds flying around.She loved the sharks too. It was nice, we were kind of like you guys. Just sitting around and decided to go do "something" so we were able to go spend a few hours instead of an all day trip like the zoo!

All your suggestions are awesome (mall, zoo, arboretum) but don't forget "adult" things like museums also. At 10 months, she'll like being out and about, it doesn't have to be just for kids! The Dallas Musuem of Art is free on the first Tuesday of each month! Have fun.

One of the local news did an artilce on clean play areas a few weeks back and Vista Ridge play area was the cleanest in the area. They shut down and clean every day at 2:30. We havent been in a while, but it used to be less crowded right after lunch. We always loved going to NorthPark mall and seeing the ducks and turtles, especially at Christmas. Then you can see all the puppet shows, Santa's story time, the trains at North Park, SPCA animals, and than eat lunch and head home.

Have you taken her to the zoo yet? Our son loved us taking him for walks in his stroller at the zoo before he was able to walk. The soft play areas at the mall are too crazy on the weekends and your little one would just get trampled on. Try going there during the week when it's not as busy to let her experience before putting her into a situation that may just be too overwhelming.

Since it's nice outside you can take along a big blanket and have a picnic lunch outside at the zoo, they have plenty of open grassy areas with lots of trees.

The zoo in Ft. Worth is my favorite, but the Dallas one is great and there is one up in Gainesville which is smaller scaled. I'd call the one in Gainesville because they may still be closed due to all the rain.

North East Mall has a nice indoor play area, near Nordestrom.

It is a drive, but well worth it. We started taking our son to the Wiggles Play center in Frisco about once a month starting when he was 5 months old. We first went for a birthday party. Our son liked it so much he started crawling! Then walked across the room for the first time there when he was 8 months old. I guess it is all the stimulation. We only went twice on a weekend and after that stuck to Friday's during the day when my husband was off early. It can get way crazy on the weekends, although our little guy liked it, we didn't. Great place for play dates too. The absolute best part: FREE until 1 year.

For a 10 month old the play center at Willowbend is probably better than Vista Ridge. Everything is a lot lower to the ground making it much easier for them to get around. Also the zoo or the Dallas World Aquarium would be fun places.

Thep lay area in the Lewisville mall is soft, but often very crowded. You might think your little one would get trampled! The Denton mall play area is a little lower key. I often see crawlers there having a good time.

The Gainesville zoo would be a fun family trip. It's a small zoo and there is a huge, shaded grassy area and park where you can picnic, let her push a ball around, etc. There's also a little train that goes around the park and zoo. I much prefer it to the Ft Worth or Dallas zoo for babies and toddlers. She might think it's fun to feed the giraffes there too. http://www.frankbuckzoo.com/

Also, I'm not sure how the old Downtown Lewisville area is set up, but old downtown Denton has a courthouse square that we often take the kids to (and have since they were born). There's an ice cream shop on the square where we get ice cream comes, then we go eat our ice cream on the courthouse lawn.

Really, anywhere that you can push a stroller is fair game. Take her to the places you enjoy. If there's something you want to do where you don't want to take a baby (you'll figure out which places are just too much trouble), hire a sitter and make it a date!

They like going where you go at that age. Try everything & anything!!!

We're going to the MOdern Art Museum in Ft. Worth to see the Ron Mueck exhibit. If you go during her nap time and let her nap in the stroller, that could be fun for you and your husband.

M.
"My son finally eats all his veggies. Even the green ones."
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