Strawberry Picking – a Toddler Trick for outdoors

Strawberries are an absolute favourite in our household so we have come up with a great way of having a strawberry picking experience in your own back yard. Over the holidays we were lucky enough to actually go strawberry picking, so we have also given you some tips and ideas of mounting your own strawberry exbidition if you are lucky enough to live near a strawberry garden as there is nothing like picking and eating sun kissed fruit on a summers day.

This toddler trick is perfect for any toddler.

Strawberry picking at home

What you need:

- Punnet of strawberries
- 4 -5 small container lids
- A toddler sized container to collect the strawberries in

How to play:

1. Divide your strawberries between the lids, 3-4 strawberries per lid.

2. Dot the strawberry filled lids around the gardenGive your toddler the container and demonstrate how to pick up the strawberries off the lid and place in the bucket – it won’t take them long to get the idea.

3. Encourage them to sample the strawberries as they go – as that is the best part of strawberry picking and all part of the fun.

4. Wash the strawberries when you get inside and chop up to serve with icecream or yoghurt and lots of praise for the strawberry picker!

Strawberry picking outing

Strawberries really are the perfect fruit for toddlers to pick; with the plants being so low to the ground it makes it very easy for your toddler to pull off the branches and navigate themselves around the garden. Most pick-your-own gardens are very tolerant of children but be sure to ask if there are any ‘rules’ before you head out.

What you need:

- A pick-your-own strawberry (or other fruit) garden; local papers or a quick internet search should help you to find one
- Sun block and a sun hat (there won’t be much, if any, shade)
- Sturdy shoes in case there are prickles
- Clothes that won’t show the berry stains- red is the best!
- Water bottle because it is thirsty work
- Wipes for a quick wipe down before jumping back in the car – strawberry tasting can be messy!

What to do:

1. Select a picking space that is away from others so your toddler can focus on the job at hand. It is best that you hold the container for the strawberries and that your toddler puts their strawberries into the communal lot.

2. Show your toddler how to lift up the leaves to find the red strawberries that are hiding there. Show them the difference between the green and red berries and get them to pluck a few red ones and put them in the container with your close supervision.

3. I had expected an absolute over-kill of strawberry eating but inspite of strawberries being my toddler’s favourite fruit she turned out to be very intent on picking and not so interested in eating! She did nibble on a few (as did we all) but by in large she picked far more than she ateIt really didn’t take long – probably 15-20 minutes of actual picking to fill two large containers between the four of us.

4. My toddler had a lot of fun just running up and down the rows, showing us the big berries she had found and checking out all the strawberries in the containers.

A Toddler Trick outing

Jan 9, 2012

toddlertricks

No Comments

Zoo Visit – a Toddler Trick outing

We are very excited to be visiting the Taronga Zoo with my toddler’s best friend this week. We have been planning the visit for some time and over the past week we have had a lot of fun getting ready to get the most from the experience. If you are lucky enough to be visiting a Zoo or wildlife park here are some ideas to make the visit a whole lot more fun for even the very youngest toddler.

This toddler trick is perfect for any toddler.

What you need:

- Internet access

- About half an hour set aside every day for ‘zoo time’

What to do:

Visiting a zoo is not a cheap exercise but we have found it to be definitely worth every cent for the experience. What it does mean, is that you do want to make sure that you get the most out of going – rather than just passively taking your toddler around the animals. So take half-an-hour out each day to engage in some zoo orientated activity:

1. Read about it! We have been lucky enough to have been given some great wild animal picture books (see our photos below). If you have something similar at home – great! If not, see if you can borrow from friends for a week OR borrow from your local library. Gather them together and put in a special box so you can access them easily…decorate the box with animal stickers, magazine pictures or similar if you have time. For older toddlers write the word “Zoo” in large letters on the box so they can start associating the word shape with the activity.

2. Sing about it! “We’re all going to the zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow”…make up your own song or take a listen to what we have found on You Tube!

3. Watch and learn! We have had a lot of fun finding zoo animal related links on the internet. We practiced making animal noises with the “Zoo Sounds” I phone app which is fantastic! I was also lucky enough to be given a Baby Einstein DVD World animals; I watched this the first time with my toddler but after that she has been more than happy to sit and watch this a couple of times by herself.

4. Act it out! Elephants are our favourite; my toddler imitates the trunk with her arm by her face and makes a credible elephant trumpet; Lions are also very popular with ‘claws’ up and going “Raaaaaar”; Crocodile’s big snappy jaws are easy to do; and since we have learnt to jump recently, bounding about like a kangaroo is also pretty popular. Monkey is the latest addition with hands tucked up under arms and making “whooo, whooo, whoo” noises. I guess I look pretty ridiculous doing it with her but she thinks it’s a lot of fun!!

5. We were fortunate enough to go to the Zoo a few months ago and that first trip taught us quite a bit:

a. It is very pushchair friendly and while my toddler liked to walk for a little bit (hand held under close supervision) it was great to be able to cover the distance between animals with ease.

b. Definitely take a good amount of snacks and drinks. It is thirsty work and while the cafés were great it was pretty busy and a hungry toddler is not generally equipped to wait in queues. There were plenty of picnic spots with fabulous views and this was a good way of keeping costs down.

c. Sunscreen and hats (take a couple, just in case you lose one); or if its wet a change of clothes can be a good idea too. There were changing facilities in most of the toilet blocks and a family area in the centre of the zoo.

d. Hand sanitizer is also a good idea; for both you and your toddler. Even in a pushchair they seem to want to touch everything so a touch of hand cleaning goes a long way (wipes can be used for this as well).

e. Pay attention to the animal feeding and demonstration times; watching them ‘do things’ is a lot more entertaining for your toddler than just seeing them in a static pose – so try to take in the elephants playing or the seals being fed as part of your overall experience. The children’s petting zoo area was also a big hit!!

This list is by no means complete. I would be really interested to hear other ideas that you may have that we can try out before our zoo visit at the end of this week. Please comment below and we will let you know how we go!

Get our tricks sent to your inbox

Hi I’m Lou from Sydney

____________________________________ I'm a young mum with a passion for coming up with creative ideas to keep my toddler entertained that don’t cost a lot. Other mums and dads seemed to like sharing my ideas and have encouraged me to develop “Toddler Tricks” an online box of great ideas to keep toddlers entertained. If you read my blog you will see that I also have a passion for food and with a partner who is a personal trainer we are big on getting out and about as a family. I look forward to meeting other parents through this blog and sharing ideas, stories and some funny moments.