Keeping Your Toddler Busy During Summer

Well, summer is here, and that means my toddler and I can start playing more outside. It’s about time, too, as I think she’s had enough inside play until next winter. After seeing that my toddler is acting really bored this summer with her babies and begging for too much TV time, I decided to make a summer weekday schedule for us to stick by. When she wakes up each morning, I tell her what we will be doing that day, and she can look forward to something happening every day, instead of wondering and begging for TV.  

So, here’s our summer weekday schedule. Maybe it will be something that you can use with your little one(s), too. 

Mondays: 
Morning - Walk or bike to the park down the road. Remember a hat and sunscreen for you both - it’s hot! And bring along iced water to drink after some good calorie burning. (Wal-mart has a kiddie chair that hooks onto the back of an adult bike - around $40.) 

Afternoon - Play games together: Hi Ho Cherry-O, Memory Game, Chutes and Ladders, and Hungry Hungry Hippo are some good ones.

Tuesdays:
Morning - Library Story Time and quest for new books to check out. Don’t forget to just let your child watch the other kids. My daughter would rather do that at the library than find a book (and she loves books!). 

Afternoon - Go Browsing at thrift stores like Goodwill, Savers, The Salvation Army. Allow your child to find and purchase one special treasure that only costs a few quarters. 

Wednesdays:
Morning - See the free children's movie at a participating AMC theater (or check out your own movie from the library and have a special-event movie time in the living room - of course with popcorn!).

Afternoon - Visit Interactive Fountains, and let your child run through the water, screaming with the other children. Watch from the side in a lawn chair with a magazine and bottled water. (Don’t have fountains in your town? Get out the water hose and squirt her...or buy a lawn sprinkler.)