Find a New Playground

Briles Takes Pictures

Less than a week after wearing scarves, hats and mittens for some outdoor fun, we had a glorious 80-degree day. (That's what we get for living in the Midwest!) We have a park and playground a block from our house, but my instinct on this beautiful day was to take it up a level and head to a park we haven't visited in a while.  [...]

There's a park near us that has a play area perfect for little ones. It has a bunch of baby swings, springy surfaces below the play areas, a sandbox, and a wide variety of unique play equipment. Of course, there are always plenty of older kids there, but the little kids don't get trampled.

From pfly

But I digress. It's so much more work, at least in my head, to hop in the car and drive to a park when I have one within walking distance. But if there's one thing I keep learning over and over these days, it's that novelty is key in keeping a toddler's attention.

It would be exhausting to be constantly coming up with new activities and places to visit. But it wouldn't be that tough for me to hit a new playground every week or two, just for the variety of it. Even if the park turns out to be a little on the "lame" side, it's still a new place to run, explore, and kick a soccer ball.

Is this something I'm going to commit to do for this spring and summer? Hmm, I don't know about that, but it's just one more idea in my arsenal.

Oh, and by the way, we had a perfect afternoon/evening at the park. I tossed every conceivable portable food item into a lunch cooler, and we had an interesting picnic lunch of cheese, fruit, and some miscellaneous snack foods. Then we played on every part of the play equipment, with lots of shrieks of delight. He got to bed long past bedtime, but it's about as happy as I've ever seen him.