things to do with a 2year old in herts?

[misdee]

i am trying to wangle a full day off from caring for peter now dd2 is at nursery all day. which means once a week it will be just me and dd3. so what can we do? its been years since i have had to do anything like this.

was thinking about swimming?

How far are you from Broxbourne? Am just about to renew my annual pass for Paradise Wildlife Park. Animals always a hit, couple of fairground rides included in price, great outdoor play area, new indoor soft play, a train, tractor rides, huge paddling pool (outdoors so not really relevant on a day like today!!).

about 40min drive from broxborne. usually head towards willows though. how much is paradise wildlife park?

am in the welwyn area.

I was going to suggest Willows. Topsy Turvy world in Hatfield is fantastic accornig to DD1, she has been to a few parties there and it's supposed to be much better than Jungle Mania.

List of open farms and zoos from county council website.

Also kids days out

And Kids in Herts (is a map) (the URL is "Herts Wedding Cars" for some reason, always makes me laugh!)

Toddler groups are fun, and cheap. Or soft play centres.

How old is dd3?
My dd 2.9 loves Dinky Dancers - there seem to be quite a few around this side of Herts - I go to one in Ware on Friday mornings.
It is dancing with Mummy as part of a group for example before Christmas we were doing this routine that was basically freestyle dancing, then stop and pretend to be a star (arms & legs stretched out), bauble (crouch down small) or rudolfthe red nosed reindeer.
It is not ballet, thankfully, but it is good fun

Is Bekonscot far from you? It's closed for the winter until Feb 10 but I bet DD3 would love it, she's just the right size!

Paradise Park costs £11 for adults £8 for children. Annual membership is normally about 5 times that price. Wouldn't consider paying per visit especially with los. I find their attention span disappears after 2-3 hours, but having the membership means you can pop in for a couple of hours and don't feel that you have to stay all day to get your moneys worth!!

If you shop at Tescos you can use their clubcard vouchers there (and thus cost a quarter of the entry price). Your dd3 could be just under 2 if you want to go and check the place out first (IFKWIM ).

There are quite a few Tumbletots round your way although most of them seem to be on waiting list terms, and it would have to be the same day every week. (Welwyn is Friday afternoon)

St Francis has a really good toddler group on wednesdays and Parkway has a great one on Tuesdays and The Free Church(opp sainsbury's) on thursday. All very good and cheap.

I took my dd to little fishes swimming classes when I was on mat leave-she is a bit younger than your one but they take up to five year olds I think and they do the lessons all over Herts in swimming pools at schools and such.Sure there were lessons in Welwyn on the list..Think it was £40 a term, but very good, they teach the child to go under water and not be afraid of splashing and they have a 'toy bit' at the end.
Also Action tots at Wodson Park in Ware-sort of spft play where the kids can just run wild!Think its on a Friday morning..Not sure that its not only about £3 a session as well, so quite bargainous..
Or Adventure Castle in Hertford-never been but supposed to be pretty good, also soft play I think..
In summer, Ware Lido as well, but not in Jan clearly!-I spent most of last summer when it was baking there and it was fab!(might see you there when weather warms up, I will be the one with two babies and most likely scoffing a cornetto!)

oh sorry, i should say, i DO NOT DO toddler groups. lol. i want some good quality time with dd3 on her own, not spending the whole time wondering if she is fighting some other kid and stop her pulling a poor childs hair lol. or stopping some other kid beating her up.

she is too small for jungle mania main frame, but gets bored in the small one.

bekonscot looks lovely jan.

thanks for the suggestions of toddler grups btw, but they arent for me.

she is 2 next month.

If you do want to try swimming with her misdee, this page lists what looks like all the pools in Herts and a few round the outskirts as well - you could go to a different one every week and then pick a favourite!