Mummy, let's do something different today!
They may be small & know little of the world, but toddlers love going out and love new experiences. These tendencies mean that they can quickly tire of the local park or playgroup.
An obvious next stop is a big, child-friendly destination like a zoo or aquarium. But attractions on this scale can sometimes disappoint pre-schoolers, who struggle to see over high fences and find a dozing lion swishing its tail in the sun an anti-climax.
The zoo or city farm
The alternative is to get hands-on. Sydney's Taronga zoo has a section called 'Backyard to Bush' that boasts farm animals to pat and a water play section when the excitement of animals dims. If the thought of this kind of big outing seems like overkill, Fairfield City Farm is more centrally-located, has friendlier admission prices and offers hands-on activities like animal feeding and cow milking.
Museums
If a major outing of this sort is a little more elaborate than you want, consider the possibilities at other cultural institutions. Take a large pad and a packet of Textas to your local art gallery and ask a toddler to draw the paintings and you will often be surprised by the amount of time they will spend producing impressive interpretations of the art on offer. Museums also offer many interesting objects to discuss, admire or re-create and some, like the Art Gallery of NSW, offer child-friendly tours on the weekends.
Trains and ferries
Half the fun of attending these attractions can be getting there, especially if your toddler is old enough to understand the basics of a train map. The coloured lines on these maps can make it easy for a toddler to plot a journey, which will often seem mercifully swift as they insist on checking progress on the map all the way to your destination. A short journey of a station or two can also spice up a trip to a familiar park in a nearby suburb. Ferries represent the pinnacle of transport excitement for some toddlers. Others think public transport in heaven is provided entirely by steam trains, a form of conveyance operated quite regularly by railway historians. And if your toddler doesn't want to ride, consider merely visiting your local station, where the rushing trains can generate all manner of excitement for some children.
Large machines
Another free, local, attraction, which many toddlers will adore is watching large machines at work. A building site with working bulldozers or cranes can be a surprisingly easy way to take an hour out of a toddler's day. Some parents even swear by watching tree-loppers at work and will ask their local council where their crews are working. Both of these activities will require you to stay a sensible distance from the action, yet the roar of the machines at work will nonetheless satisfy many toddlers.
The local wharf
Another outing that requires some care is a trip to a nearby wharf. Toddlers are often amazed that it is possible to walk on a bridge over the water and, if a shoal of fish swim by, may be more effusive than they will ever be at an aquarium. As most small children will also eat fish and chips quite happily, this can be a convenient and affordable way to sneak in a meal as well. Weighing up whether or not your toddler will insist on paddling in the water can, however, be a complication that makes a spare set of clothes in your nappy bag a sensible precaution.
Shopping early
Don't write off shopping as an outing, either. Many suburban supermarkets open at 8:00AM and are wonderfully empty at that time of day. This means a faster shop and the chance for some zooming down the aisles and spinning of the trolley that simply are not possible when the shops get busier. A couple of these tricks can quickly build into the kind of routine toddlers adore, a big win because it means turning the weekly shop into a fun outing you and your child can actually look forward to!
Discuss your toddler with other Mums in the same boat!
