What to do in the autumn winter

[RedRobyn2021]

My DD is 18mo and seems to have so much energy, I make sure to take her out every morning and then in the afternoon we walk our dog.

Loads of the places I take her are going to be closing September/October and I'm not really sure what we are going to do to keep her busy.

I've started making a list of things we can do which include;

Swimming
Visiting the Library
Toddler Music Group
Local Stay & Play

I also bought a tuff tray so if the weather is particularly horrible we could try to get creative with this?

Any suggestions on other things? What do you do with your children at this time of year?

I prefer the colder weather than the hotter weather for outdoor stuff, so we still do parks, walks, woods, national trust etc in the winter. We just wrap up well! If it's raining, all-in-one puddle suits and wellies, and off we go.

@Somethingsnappy

I love the autumn in particular, I do have a national trust membership that will last until May, so I'll have to check what will still be open near me. Thanks, I don't know why I didn't think of that 🤦🏻‍♀️

Just get outside regularly, as you're already doing. At that age you don't need to worry about having activities planned every day or new places to go. She's 18 months old, the world is still so new to her that even things that seem mundane to you like popping to Tesco are big learning opportunities for her.
Get lots of fresh air, tire her out running around, and don't worry too much.

At 18 months you don't really need child-specific activities every day. She'll be happy to run around any park or green space - mine loves our local cathedral and churchyard, which I used to take him to during Covid because everything else was shut.

Local museum? Ours is in a big old house with seemingly fascinating staircases.

Pond or lake with ducks to feed? (Take oats or actual duck food, not bread.)

Make sure your puddlesuit is actually waterproof, as small children have a habit of sitting down in puddles which tests them to their limit. Hint - the Sainsbury's ones are not. Also their feet get cold in wellies, they'll need thick socks in Jan/Feb.

I also prefer the autumn winter, we still go to the park but mine are much older and prefer it as it’s not so mad busy like in the summer but rainy days we would go soft play etc

Is the soft play closed? I admit it can be pricey though so can’t be going a few times a week. Just walk until child is tired, take buggy as well x

I bought an excellent puddle suit, wellies and a balaclava and we just cracked on. My 2 y.o. loved:

• riding his balance bike
• jumping in puddles
• jumping in piles of leaves and collecting the biggest ones to take home
• collecting conkers which he stored in the basket of his ride-along toy
• making hooting sounds in the foot tunnel of one of our longer walks
• going to the post office and supermarket
• driving in the car to the soft play centre

Sounds lovely!

My DD would definitely enjoy collecting leaves

Where are you going that close in September? The only place I can think of is something like an outdoor splash park? I'm not being sarky here - I'm genuinely intrigued as I find lots of toddler activities shut down over summer and restart with the new school year.

Oh and to be a bit more helpful - here's what we do locally in Autumn winter:

• playgroups
• story time/rhyme time at local library
• play dates at friends houses
• gymnastics centre toddler free play session
• soft play
• swimming
• local park (playground, collecting leaves/conkers, take a flask & snack)
• national trust
• supermarket shop
• airport viewing park
• museum with toddler area
• pet shop/garden centre
• baking (walk to shop, buy ingredients, bake)
• 'gardening'

We usually do one of the above in the morning then quieter afternoon playing at home.

Baking, then painting, salt dough shapes (extra Autumn bonus points for adding cinnamon 😂)

Put any out of date cereal / rice / pasta / lentils in bowls and give utensils to play with

Cornflour & water “gloop”

Puddle splashing

Visiting garden centres / Christmas barns when their decs are out

Beautiful memories of doing these with my kids…some they still enjoy now at 7 & 8

I think you just have to embrace the mud and go with it. I found that keeping a water spray in the car helped get the worst off. Also a box in the car for muddy stuff. Anywhere coastal is good for less mud when it gets too much!

Definitely yes to getting a puddle suit/ snow suit, wellies/ snow boots and more pairs of gloves than you can ever imaging you’ll need 😂.

Our local garden centre sells tropical fish. We've spent many happy afternoons in there looking at the fish.

Find local toddler groups - usually run in village halls and church halls - go to those.

Local park, all weathers.

Local lake/rivers to see the ducks.

Hunt for frogspawn in March.

Parks!! I went in all weathers apart from absolutely soaking. There are far fewer people there on damp days so DC get full use of the play equipment. Take an old towel with you for drying off swing seats and a plastic bag for you to sit on. Chuck towel in washer when you get home. Get wellies and waterproof trousers on and out you go.