We recently got our back yard fenced in (!!!) - a long awaited and much anticipated thing! Now my 17 month old, our doggie and myself can enjoy playing in our yard without the stress of running into the street, etc. Now I'm looking for fun activities for him to do outside this fall - we hadn't been able to have a lot of outdoor time aside from the park before now. What are your young toddler's favorite things to do outside?
He loves that he can now push around large toys without me re-directing him constantly, we also have a sandbox.
You can do ring toss, scavenger hunts, get a little slide, and my son had a little bug vacuum/observation kit that he loved so much!
my toddler loves taking his plastic dump truck outside and filling it with all kinds of things. We also play tag (well he chases me around a big tree lol) now that its fall he loves playing in the leaves, we bought him a little plastic rake so he can help daddy (but mostly he unrakes the piles lol)
My DD loves balls. (OK that sounds weird). We have a basketball court in our development so we run around there and I have her chase and kick a ball.
We also explore things that we find. I.E. Sticks. Rocks. And yes, (grumble) even dirt.
I also make outside a learning experience. I point out the birds and the trees "shedding their leaves," etc.
The freedom, as pointed out here, is the true enjoyment. Just the fact that your son can run around and unleash that pent up energy trumps all.
Enjoy!
I think you'll find that he will just be happy to have the freedom to move about without you constantly redirecting him. Just get out there and play and Im sure his imagination will take care of the rest
Good Luck and have fun =)
Slide + water table in this hot weather here
chalk, bubbles (you can blow, he can chase). balls, tents- have you seen toy ones with the tube tunnels connecting them?
My kid loves rocks and sticks- and water. maybe get a bucket and cup and let him scoop it up and pour it out- on the grass, in another bucket. Or get a watering can.
I also have a dry streambed with river rocks- I scatter decorative glass stones in it and the kids love to treasure hunt and collect them. And then I put them back again. this could work for any landscape, I think, if you hide them here and there.
Picnic lunches!
We are still having 80 degree weather here! trying to encourage the kids to be outside as much as possible before winter sneaks up on us!
Get him some cheap buckets, shovels, rakes--he'll know what to do with them! My girl rearranges our river rocks every week, she loves to "discover" all the bugs out there (we spray for spiders & ants), she has a sand/water table that gramma & grampa got for her, and we just installed a play set (she calls it her park) that was a freebie from a coworker who just bought a house and doesn't have kids! If you have a sidewalk or concrete patio, chalk is fun. We have a small bin outside with a tight lid where we keep all her toys--she knows that she can play with anything that's in there and she has to clean up when she's done (just like inside).
Have fun and congrats on the fence! Having a backyard is wonderful!!
The only outdoor toys we have for my 17 month DD are her sandbox, power-wheel 4-wheeler (her grandparents got it for her for christmas. lol.) and a ball. The sad thing is, that she usually ignores them. Her favorite thing to do is to find a stick, and poke it into the cicada holes in the yard. Or to collect the acorns that fall from trees. She also loves to use the sticks to bang on the fence and hear it ping. She pretty much entertains herself WITHOUT toys! lol.
One thing that I have noticed is that she LOVES playing with wood chips. I put a bunch in her sandbox, and I'm contemplating making her a 'chip' box instead. lol.
bubbles, sidewalk chalk - rake up your leaves and let him jump and play in them....big bouncy balls! - picking flowers, pulling up grass, digging in our garden, unearthing treasures of rocks, bugs, snails. We also have a little tykes play house and a slide and climber with swings on it....my kids LOVE to swing. A one dollar store water sprayer to spray the sidewalk, and water the flowers is a great toy!
Bubbles--we have a bubble machine that blows hundreds of bubbles and our son loves to chase them. I got it for about $5 at Target or someplace like that. If you have leaves in your yard, make piles to jump in. My kids also love to look for bugs and worms. Picking dandelions and crab apples are another daily activity. Playing with sticks, rocks, and our water table are favorites too. We spend a lot of time just exploring.
