my toddler hates walking. good ideas please!

[stubbyfingers]

My DS is 3.6 and whenever we try and walk anywhere, he says he's tired after about twenty steps. It all gets very whingy and lacking in fun. He walks for miles with his GP's who are amazing toddler entertainer types, so I reckon I need some inspiration on how to keep him amused as we're walking along.

come on, I know you lot are ace at this stuff!

[SmilingEi]

hi,

my DD is 3.6 and is exactly the same!!
i have a little game i play with her whenever we are walking which gets her going and laughing aswell
i usually get her to move in different ways like "shall we dance to..." "shall we march to..." skip to... hop to... you get the idea this does mean i have to do a few of these aswell (which she finds hilarious) but it works and she gets a good walk and some extra excercise aswell me too
might be worth a try
xx ei xx

[Clary]

Push doll or teddy in toy pushchair

race you to the next lamppost (mine will often run when they won't walk)

scooter /scooter bike

how many xxx can we see before we get to the shops (red cars, magpies, blue garage doors, blossom trees)

Look for numbers on houses - try to find his age/your age/your house number etc

See how big a number we can count to before we get there

Throw magic walking dust on the pavement

Any good?

[UniS]

Does he like being a train? car? We regulary progress along the street to an assortment of train whistles,chuffing, changing tracks, stopping at stations and coupling up carriages....

Hunting down the next man hole cover to jump on it first worked for a while.

I also often take his balance bike as he will bike further happier than walk.

[stubbyfingers]

Ooh what's magic dust? what properties does it have?

[Clary]

Well you have some in your pocket and when you throw it on the ground - whoosh - it sparkles and fizzes but you have to run quickly along it to get the full effect.

It worked when for a while I had to get DD, then 2.6, to walk to school with DS1 and thence to playgroup, about 25 mins in total, when the buggyboard was out of action...

[stubbyfingers]

and YES! trains are very good around here. I like the the suggestion of hopping along; anyone remember the Playschool song, "come on jemima, let's go shopping. Are we walking? No we're hopping! Hop - hop - hop hop hop. What's this shop?"

[Clary]

Ah jemima was the best on playschool.

No-one ever liked Hamble best did they

oooh look

[stubbyfingers]

Oh clary, I might love you! Jemima WAS the best! Good job i didn't have any girl babies...

[Clary]

Ah but everyody liked Jemima. Tho DH says he liked Big Ted

Jemima - there's a name due a comeback amid a raft of Jessicas and Mias.