Do you ask for your help in releasing me from two parks a day hell

[ivftake1]

I'm having to be quite careful with social distancing and I really need some ideas other than parks for me and my 2 1/2-year-old!

Anyone

A walk spotting the season changing
Go on a stick hunt, bring sticks back and build your own stickman

Do you have any woods nearby? Just go explore them

Mark making in mud

Puddle jumping

Oh I really feel for you I would have found this a long slog with a toddler.
Can you go for much longer walks with a buggy?

Get a balance bike
Trampoline
Just walk
Go further afield on the bus/train/bike/car

I hear you on the two parks a day monotony! Woodland walks is our other main alternative.

We've also found that local museums are empty at the moment. Ours are free entry and have been a welcome change when the weather is awful.

My son absolutely loved going for a walk where he chose the direction at each junction! Granted he ended up taking me to three parks but still it was fun and a really long walk so killed loads of time! You could also feed ducks or have a picnic under trees if it's raining!

You might think this weird - but a country church/graveyard. Looks for flowers, the oldest stone, birds - you can get some amazing pics in places like this too. It's outside, not far to walk round and interesting - a change to a long slog on a path.

Pooh sticks if you can find a river/bridge or just watching leaves float down the river can be fund.

Coffe/cake outside - take a it with you and sit on a bench or take soup for lunch. Also, if you aren't walking far a hot water bottle on your lap is good!

Outdoor games in the garden - chucking loops over a pole, bowling type games, growing things (bulb's for Xmas?) all fun but not just walking round!

Thank you for loads of great suggestions!!

Going to look at museums now...

Drive further afield!

My son used to like looking at diggers at that age. Is there a building site near you? We used to watch builders and diggers for hours talking about what we thought they were digging and why! The builders must have thought I was loopy! The same also worked quite well on train platforms. Who doesn’t love waving at train drivers and talking about diesel and electric trains?! 😂

Pooh Sticks.
Gruffalo hunting in the woods.
Wintery picnic - a flask with soup or stew, and some hot chocolate instead of sandwiches.
Does DC like dogs? You could borrow a dog and take that for a walk just for a change of scene.
Make a checklist and see if you can find everything on it - leaves of different colours, different coloured front doors etc.
Making mud pies.
Are you near a beach? Get all wrapped up and go and play on the beach - sandcastles, drawing in the sand, finding pebbles or shells.

The Happity app and the Mush spp for meeting new people and/or classes in the area.

Made me smile. In Queensland, and no doubt, here; big building sites in cities had what we called 'toddler viewing platforms' where they'd cut a 10" square hole in the hoardings, overlaid with a mesh- where a small person could stand and look at the earthmoving/diggers etc within.

Feed the ducks! Make a den in the woods out of sticks.

Small aerodrome nearby? Watch the planes!

Train station? Watch the trains!

Bus station? Watch the buses!

Building site? Diggers etc.

Farm? Tractors!

etc. etc. bloody etc.

If you are collecting leaves etc. a nice way is to get some masking tape and make it into a bracelet around their arm - sticky side out - and they can stick things on. Or double sided tape on some card if they are not keen on wearing it.

Making a tent inside is always good fun - I remember once using a white sheet when mine were toddlers, they found any wintry toys (teddies with scarves, penguins etc) and it was an igloo.

Den making or making a nest for an own / house for stick man etc.

If you have a garden / driveway etc. big chalks can be fun - and when they get fed up you can make a course for them to follow (you can use pics instead of words)
Get them to paint the fence / wall / path with some water and large paintbrushes - hours of clean fun :-).

trinibrit that brought back memories! They were building new houses near us when I was on maternity with DS2. The builders were really good at talking to toddler DS1 about what they were doing!

ivf other suggestions: can you go for a walk and collect shit like fallen leaves, conkers, twigs and stick them randomly on a piece of card that afternoon? Ditto for collecting shit and then using them to print patterns on paper.
If you have some coppers lying round the house, it's amazing how excited kids can get if you happen to be walking the same way someone with a hole in their pocket must have been going!

I feel your pain here. Do you have a National trust membership? Sometimes we just go for a walk for a babychino and biscuit. Our local library is doing bundles of books for kids dependent on their interests you could collect - does your library do something like that?

I feel your pain OP. We liked pond dipping. Ducks. Conker/interesting leaf/stick collecting. I spy books, or printable tick sheet of things to spot. Bark rubbings (crayon and paper on tree or (un)interesting leaf). Bucket of water and paintbrush on a wall. Car spotting (minis or red ones etc.). Sandcastles in the long jump pit of local athletics track.

Our big attraction was bus to Gatwick airport (nearby) and riding the monorail between the terminals all day with occasional toilet break. But probably not ideal for you.

Depending on where you are look at museums, galleries and heritage sites. Lots of them are very quiet especially during the week.

Another vote for painting on the ground with water using big brushes, my kids loved this.

@AliceAbsolum

Drive further afield!

Oh I have been! Still the same wooded area, park etc. They all begin to look very similar!

There are loads and loads of ideas here:

www.treetoolsforschools.org.uk/activitymenu/?cat=autumn

@bibblebobbleblackbobble

I feel your pain OP. We liked pond dipping. Ducks. Conker/interesting leaf/stick collecting. I spy books, or printable tick sheet of things to spot. Bark rubbings (crayon and paper on tree or (un)interesting leaf). Bucket of water and paintbrush on a wall. Car spotting (minis or red ones etc.). Sandcastles in the long jump pit of local athletics track.

Our big attraction was bus to Gatwick airport (nearby) and riding the monorail between the terminals all day with occasional toilet break. But probably not ideal for you.

Haha love the monorail image.

I may take him on the tram tomorrow! Maybe between Croydon and Wimbledon!

Further to the balance bike suggestion - when my eldest was little we would go out regularly for an hour or two with him on his balance bike (first a plastic "motorbike" with chunky wide wheel and then a more normal bike type one). I would put reins on him so that he couldn't go disappearing down hills etc and the reins saved him from falling on the ground if the bike slipped.