Outdoor time for toddlers

[londonloves]

How many hours a day do your toddlers spend outside? I have read something this week which advises "2-3 hours per day outdoor play come rain or shine", I just can't imagine that this is feasible? I am bored shitless of the park after 44 mins absolute max...
My son is 16 months and very active, good walking/running. Wondering if this is the key to making him sleep better but interested to know what others do.

I just bung mine in the garden!

My dd has been out in the garden since she was born😂😂.
She's 3 now and spends alot of time in the garden when we are at home.

ALL very well if you have a garden..... mine probably gets an hour a day outside playing.

Just replaced our death trap decking with patio so the garden will be useable now. Anything to stop the 2am and 5am wake up calls!

Can you access different types of outdoor space. A park is nice but it's limiting. How about rivers, streams, Woods, fields, your own garden, different parks, feed the ducks, go on a colour hunt and find leaves and sticks to match the colours, collect stuff and make a collage.

Also instead of doing 'outdoor activities' as such how about doing your normal things but outdoors...like a story, lunch, take a blanket and mega blocks outside chalk the path, paint with water, musical instruments outside where you can make loud noise or playdough outside.

The other thing is to look up any forest school playgroups, or start one or just go with a couple of other parents to the outdoors once a week.

Outdoor time could be walking to the shops instead of using the car or bus

Brilliant ideas, thanks. Not quite sure about walking to the shops and stuff quite yet as he's still little and I usually take the buggy and only let him out to go free range away from roads. I'm not sure if that's over cautious?
We are in London so not much wildlife but there are other options and forest schools. Now the weather seems to be getting better we will do more daily activities in the garden for sure.

Does anyone have a view on the "rain or shine" principle? Bit of drizzle feels ok but pouring rain I'm not so sure...

Mine gets less on the day she's with me but I feel less guilty as her nursery is also a forest school so they have the opportunity to be outside as much as they like, she often spends hours outside even in the rain. They get bundled up in snow suits and wellies and love it. Is he starting nursery soon? Might mean the pressure is off you a bit as he'll get lots of outdoor time there!

44 mins is very precise.

Wtf did you read? I don’t see any need for that much outdoor time. Stop reading such idealistic unrealistic shit outdoor time when you can. Mine live outside in the summer, but grey February days where everything is damp and freezing cold- nah I’ll leave it to an occasional trip to the park / feed the ducks / go to the shops type outing.

My dd absolutely loves putting her wellies on and going jumping in the pouring rain but we don't do parks if it's wet as she won't touch anything even slightly damp outside! I think in winter 3 hours isn't happening often

Does he like trying to push his own pushchair? If you allow about a hundred extra hours to get everywhere you could get him to walk as far as he's willing before getting in the pushchair, dragging a stick along the walls next to the pavement, splashing in puddles, collecting leaves, finding and poking moss etc.

Weather is fine in the right clothes, we have a million cheap pairs of gloves so I can put dry ones on when wet ones get cold, waterproof coat, gore tex boots (second hand off ebay) and tights under trousers, or a padded rainsuit pre-toilet training. The more they move the warmer they'll be, just make sure they're dry when they stop as wet + cold = v v cold very quickly.

We live somewhere pretty cold and their school/preschool (kids are 7 and 2) expect them to play outside till it’s -10 Celsius. They have down jackets (and ski pants for the snow) and thick boots with a warm hat and gloves and lots of layers. In London both my kids walked a lot. We walked to the bus stop, very slowly when they were toddlers, took a bus somewhere, pottered, took a bus back, walked back home slowly.

I remember smugly bundling my then toddler into his waterproof onsie and heading off to the playground on a drizzly day. Oh the combination of amused horror as he shot off down the slide like a bullet, flew though the air then bounced repeatedly to a gradual halt on the other side of the playground

It's definitely harder doing outdoors in the winter (not helped by our lawn's tendency to turn into a swamp, growing up on a sandy soil was very different!)

Mix it up. Explore a range of playgrounds. Find different places to potter around/ push the pram. It does get easier as their stamina improves.

@JudgeRulesNutterButter thank you, that's exactly what I needed to hear!
It's a book called The Calm and Happy Toddler and it's definitely on the idealistic side!

RoryLeighGilmore he's not going to nursery any time soon, I'm full time at home with him so just trying to work out what's feasible. I get angsty about feeling like I'm not doing "enough"' There are a couple of forest school playgroups near us that I'm planning to check out soon.
He does like to push the buggy yeah! I need to branch out to different parks etc for sure.
Thanks everyone for helpful suggestions.

3 hours is a lot in winter I find unless you have child and parent love being outside rain or shine. It’s really cold where we are and our 4yo lives bring our in the snow whereas our 2yo doesn’t.

On rainy days the kids do love a bit of puddle jumping though in waterproofs and wellies.

Even if he's in the buggy and being pushed around, he's still outdoors. He's getting fresh air, seeing, smelling, hearing...doesn't have to be a scene from the sound of music...embrace the urban stuff...pigeons, squirrels, buses, puddles, mud, whatever you've got

Last summer mine were outside in the garden more than inside. Since about November the garden turns into a bog and I can't be arsed cleaning them up. I've been a bit crap this winter with Ds2 and need to take him out to the woods/ parks and Peak District more. Ds1 is in school and definately needs more fresh air. I used to take him out in all weather but he hated groups.