Mumsnet Talk

Hi all,
I have a 3.5 year old son. I've recently started working from home, and as a result I get to spend more time with him.

I'm looking for ideas of activities we could do together. This year he'll be starting school so I want to make the most of the free time he has.

We live in Surrey, on the Thames, so I take him down to the river to feed the ducks, and skim stones, but I would like to do more with him other than the usual soft play etc, football in the park. I also take him swimming every week.

I love spending time with him, but looking for some other things to do to bond (that ideally would be low cost).

Any ideas?

alright dane

ok, and in no particular order...things we get up to that cause mum minor heart attacks / washing machine overload...

1. bacon sandwiches (this could be called cooking) yum yum and a good start to the day - man food involving ketchup
2. small (ish) bonfires. we started with the stuff from the shredder bin but have moved on to larger more combustable substances. great fun, involves danger and soot.
3. air rifle. We do best of 5 shots, over 3 rounds, winner takes all. This is a deffo dont tell mum. However a good way to learn responsibility / trust.
4. the supermarket / shopping. how much cheese can you eat from the deli? answer, lots. then onto the tvs and any other gadgets laying about. trolley f1 is a good standby as well.

have fun, overcome and adapt.

cooking
teach him to cycle
www.geocaching.com/
grow your own veg&flowers

cooking is good - particularly outdoors (think small bonfire/campfire).

gardening is also good (heavy duty pruning, really dirt-under-fingernails planting - we're going to plany some spuds at the weekend).

DIY/demolition - my five year old is at his happiest when we take lump hammers to old wardrobes or other bits of furniture. Our next project is going to be knocking down a very elderly shed.

Kids of that age will go anywhere with a parent and can find it enjoyable.
Parks, shopping, getting a tyre for the car, pretty much anything.

Just enjoy being together.

So many awesome ideas here ...

How about:
Tree climbing (they never grow out of it, they only climb higher!)
Hide-and-Seek (they never grow out of it, they only hide further!)

Joe

I take dd into the woods and hunt for bugs. Usually I take a pen knife and a magnifying glass and take the bark off fallen tree trunks. She loves it, especially holding worms in her hand :-)

She spontaneously started singing ' super daddy ' so I must be doing something right.

Kite flying also a good one.

Bike rides
Geocaching
Swimming
Bug Hunting
Adventure playground
Musuems and old houses (my 3.5 yo LOVES our local stately home)
Kite flying
Climbing mountains (the smallest hills we can find in the Peak District!)

Cooking - DS loves "I Can Cook" and he got the cook book for Christmas, so we sometimes choose what we are going to cook for lunch, go but the ingredients and cook it - that's a morning.

Or pizza - buy a base mix and DIY topping.

Why not reading to/with him? Go to the library, get some books out, read through them together. He's plenty old enough to be doing that. It's also free(ish).

I agree with gardening.

Last year we got an allotment and our two boys love spending time there, even if it is mostly just so they can fire the water gun at the plants!

They have their own patch and also help us do a bit of digging; it's good stuff!

Go on an adventure! Hop on a bus that you're unfamiliar with, and see where it takes you or get off when you see something that looks entertaining i.e a new park, museum, or whatever else takes your fancy! Fun for all concerned, and even if you end up just getting off, having something to eat then going home, it's all new.