Dad needs some advice on things to do with son....

[DaneC]

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.

I live near a river, too, although nowhere near as big as the Thames. I took my lad fishing from about age 4 using a short 5ft fishing rod. He caught a little brown trout in his first 10 minutes and has been hooked since.

I'll tell you what my ds loves- hope this helps .....

Catching newts in the pond at the park. Take a bucket or large container to put them in. Just need a kids net.

Park and picnic.

National trust type place or woods. Collect nature things like leaves, lady birds, ants, berries etc talk about what each thing is and what they do.-- birds eat ants, ants live together and they live sugar etc

Swimming

Beach for the day. Take a disposable BBQ and some buckets and a football

Blow up balloons and play with them in or outside

My ds likes to help dh do the gardening and clean the car and sort out the garage

Take photos and collect things from whatever you do and make a collage. We stick four pieces of bright coloured a4 paper together and do a collage of the beach etc. stick couple of photos on some shells, draw some fish, put tickets on from a train ride etc.

We stick these on ds bedroom wall and he still talks about things we did two years ago Because he sees the collages to remind him.

Bbq's and burning small fires of sticks and cardboard always goes down well. Fires- especially in the evening after a busy day.

A petting zoo or farm?

Crazy golf.

Always take a juice bottle where ever you go and if you're not taking a picnic then take a couple of snacks. A sit down half way through what you're doing And a drink, snack and chat always goes down well.

But I think most of all, whatever you do, you just have to be patient and enthusiastic. Suggest climbing a tree. Race to the sea edge and jump over the little waves. A bit of slap stick like falling over the waves always goes down well too.

Have fun. Three is a lively age. Our ds1 is five now and having fun with them just gets better Nd better.

The fart game. Fart loudly and blame him for it. Try to keep a straight face. Then deny like mad to his mother that you've intrduced him to the fart game, insisting all kids play it. :o

Natural History Museum / Science Museum / V&A
^ dinosaurs!

Heathrow / Gatwick (to look at the planes) / Clapham Junction (ditto trains)

Farm / petting zoo

Park: swings. An oldie but a goodie.

Seaside.

Groups / classes, e.g. painting, music. (Can be pricey).

Swimming pool. Guildford Spectrum centre is v. good for kids.

www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/search.php?county=surrey

Speaking as a skint dad...

walking... I live in a fairly rural area, so there's lots of paths and tracks. Go out (take a detailed map, OS Explorer maps are good, also Google maps/ on yer phone) and when you come to a crossroads, let them choose which way you go. Keep an eye on where you are (discreetly) and you get a long walk & knackered child, while giving them the sense that they're exploring, not just passively accepting the route you decided on earlier.

Start a tradition!

DIY pizza topping and movie night on a Friday, hot chocolate at a particular cafe when you go to the park, sleep on the lounge floor at the weekend...

Go on a boat / train / double decker 'just because'

Start playing cards - its not too young to learn and its a real bonus when you have to wait e.g.Dr appointment. DD(7) a mean pontoon player with a poker face now! Start with snap, UNO type game.

DS (4) and I have a hot chocolate and colouring in together 15 mins session together in the mornings when we are both home....so nice for them for you to do their activity for a change

We're going on the train and to the manchester museum tomorrow. Things like that are what kids adore.

Today we rode the train because it was free if kids brought their teddy bears, we had a little snack and rode home again.

Young kids really don't need much because the whole world is an adventure to them.

I'm very interested by geocaching, I think that will be a new hobby, especially for DS1 who is six and has the long summer coming up.

I would also suggest simple things like visiting the ducks, walking in the woods or just down your road and letting them pick up twigs and leaves, etc.

Ds2 loves doing that on the school run.