Fun With the Kidlets

If you’re looking for ideas for fun activities with kids, you may find something here. A review of my adventures with grandchildren through 2018.

December–the end of the year and the beginning of reflections.

I was idly scrolling through some pictures from the past year. Not surprisingly, my grandchildren make frequent (lol, who am I kidding–that should be FREQUENT) appearances in my photos. This makes reviewing photos a fun–and often funny–pastime. It also brought something else to mind.

My generation is at the stage of our lives where we are once again often a part of young children’s lives. As much as we may look forward to the babies, the spoiling, the cuteness, the first gassy smiles and toothy grins–some of my peers have admitted to me of feeling out of touch with what ‘to do’ with them over any stretch of time. Those who don’t yet have grandchildren but see them on the horizon are often a little nervous of this. If we are lucky enough to live close (which I am), we want to make the most of the quality time we have with our grandchildren.

I decided to do an actual little review…what DID the kidlets (what I call my grandchildren lol) and I do this year? Two of them I see almost every day and usually walk (sometimes drive) them back and forth from school. But what about other times? Visits, holidays, sleepovers? For a day, a week? 

This year my grandchildren ranged in age from two-and-a-half to nine years old. What follows is a month-by-month log of the ‘fun’ stuff we did. There are no conversations in here about costs…everyone’s budget realities differ as well as opportunities to perks, passes, Groupon-like deals, etc. 

You’ll notice the number of activities increase in the summer. Most of my grandchildren are now in school so the opportunities to spend time with them are limited by that. Many of our activities take place outdoors which is a personal preference of mine. I live in a part of the world where we enjoy all four seasons and I like being outside, even in Winter. This is partly why I thought I’d show this by month–although some things may be weather and/or season specific, it’s nice to see how much can be done regardless of the time of year.

JANUARY 

  • Nature walk – theme: exploring snow. Although I may not advertise it to them, I always have a theme in mind when I take the kids out for a Nature walk. I live within a 10-15 minute drive from a National Park and generally our Nature walks are about 1-2 hours long (we dress for success!)
When going out for a Nature walk to learn about snow, its always good when there’s lots of it!
Dressed for success!

FEBRUARY

  • Nature walk – theme: animal tracks!
  • Playing in a local park
  • Crafts – toilet paper roll groundhogs!
A chilly day at the local park.
Groundhog craft for Groundhog Day!

MARCH

  • Two Nature walks – themes: one was looking for signs of Spring and the other was a scavenger hunt
  • Crafts – decorating foam Easter eggs
  • Two separate visits to local parks
  • Went to the annual Teddy Bear Clinic at the local hospital
  • Visit to the Toronto Zoo (this major attraction is local, less than a 10 minute drive away)
Signs of Spring were elusive on this Nature walk.
Getting the gears at a local park.
Cooperation is the key to a successful scavenger hunt.
Snack time at the local park.
Decorating foam Easter eggs.
The local hospital cares for the WHOLE family!
Learning how casts are made.
4 children looking at several small fish in a large aquarium
The kidlets challenged each other to ‘count the fish’ in the Lake Malawi aquarium at the Toronto Zoo

APRIL

  • a visit to the Toronto Zoo
  • two separate visits to local parks to play
Minutes later they were rolling down this huge hill at the local park.
Learning about ponds at the Toronto Zoo.

MAY – actually, beside the usual walking to/from school and after-school fun, we didn’t have any extra-curricular adventures this month.

JUNE 

  • two separate visits for picnics at the beach (there is a local beach, less than a 10 minute drive)
  • an indoor paper airplane tournament
  • visit to the Toronto Zoo
  • a night-time special event at the National Park  to learn about owls, bats, and star constellations
  • science experiment to make homemade volcanoes
  • cooking – making homemade meatballs
  • cooking – making homemade pizza
  • on a river cruise through the Peterborough Lift Locks and then tour the lift lock museum (about an hour drive away)
Beach picnic!
Getting photo bombed by a friend at the Toronto Zoo.
At a night-time event in Rouge National Urban Park to learn about owls, bats, and constellations.
Building their homemade volcanoes.
Making pizzas!
On a river cruise, approaching the Peterborough Lift Locks.

JULY 

  • two Nature walks – one with a theme of trees, the other about pond life
  • a visit to the Toronto Zoo splashpad
  • a separate visit to the Toronto Zoo
  • craft – painting miniature birdhouse wind chimes
  • visiting the splashpad in a local park
Out in Rouge National Urban Park on a Nature walk to discover things about trees!
In Rouge National Urban Park learning about pond life.
Splashpad fun at the Toronto Zoo.
Enjoy a summer day at the Toronto Zoo.
Creating beautiful birdhouse wind chimes!

AUGUST

  • a visit to the Indian River Reptile Zoo (about an hour drive)
  • a visit to the Pickering Museum Village (about a 20 minute drive)
  • a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum – ROM (about an hour away on public transit which is part of the adventure!)
  • doing a science experiment learning about mountains and rivers
  • two separate visits to the Toronto Zoo
  • a visit to the Ontario Science Centre (about a 30 minute drive)
  • Nature walk – theme of butterflies
  • two separate visits to local parks
At Indian River Reptile Zoo, kidlet big brother helps hold onto a very large–named Friendly!–Burmese python while kidlet little sister goes up to say Hi.
At the Pickering Museum Village, kidlets learn what it took to make rope ‘back in the day’.
Meeting ‘old’ friends at the ROM.
Making like paleontologists at the ROM.
Facing their fears at the special spider exhibit at the ROM
Yeah, I hummed ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ (The Bangles) for the rest of the day.
At the ROM, channeling his inner warrior.
Channeling her inner butterfly at the ROM lol
Becoming a bubble master at the Ontario Science Centre.
Peaking into….
Climbing the walls at the Ontario Science Centre.
Searching for and recording butterflies on a Nature walk.
Learning about graphing to record their butterfly findings.
Nan and kidlets reach new heights on the Gorilla Climb at the Toronto Zoo.
Watching polar bears swim at the Toronto Zoo.
We discovered cicada exoskeletons at the local park.
Working on an at-home science experiment, learning how rivers are born.

SEPTEMBER – another month that, other than back-to-school excitement, we didn’t have any extra-curricular adventures.

OCTOBER

  • a visit to the Toronto Zoo
  • Nature walk – theme of Autumn leaves
  • baking homemade banana bread
A woman and 2 children with red autumn maple leaves.
Autumn leaves!
Kidlet is not convinced that the squishier the banana is, the better.
Small girl working in kitchen
Will this banana bread have a little extra ‘crunch’?
2 young children holding loaves of homemade banana bread.
Banana bread!

NOVEMBER

  • baking homemade cookies
  • Nature walk – theme of snowmen!
Cookies!
Do you wanna build a snowman?

DECEMBER

  • craft – mason jar luminaries
  • Nature walk – theme of Winter
These mason jar luminaries will look so pretty on the Christmas dinner table!
A mild winter day can bring out surprises!

If this quick look at one year of fun inspires or enlightens anyone looking for ideas, that’s great! If you have questions or want to know more about what we did, feel free to use the Comments section and I’ll respond as best I can. It’s been a great year and it’s not over yet!

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