Hansel And Gretel – a Toddler Trick for outdoors

I love the tale of Hansel and Gretel; following a trail of breadcrumbs home always sounded such fun.  However replicating the feat for real is fraught with not just birds but my toddler wanting to eat the trail rather than lay it!  So I have come up with a solution that works for us all.  No special skills required and it makes walking a well worn trail a lot more fun!  Great if you have to do a regular trip to school or kindy too.

This Toddler Trick can be adapted for Toddlers of all ages

What you need:

• - A pack of chalk – the cheapest you can find (I got mine from the $2 shop)
• - A pushchair if your toddler is not used to walking very far
• - Some safe walking shoes for you both!

How to play:

1. Starting at your gate draw a symbol with your chalk that you can easily replicate.  I use a smiley face, a basic house, or a cat face…make sure it is big enough to be easily spotted from the height of your pushchair.

2. Now walk a good ten strides and draw another one somewhere on the footpath.  I usually do this outward bound part with my toddler safely in the pushchair or in my backpack (it’s good exercise for the legs!)  If your toddler is older they might like to help with drawing too.

3. Don’t go too far the first time.  Once you have reached your turn around point you can start the fun part!  My toddler loves walking herself and I find the focus of finding the drawings we have left behind keeps her a lot more contained than if she is free-ranging.  I still keep a tight hold of her but she walks a lot further (and faster) when we are playing Hansel and Gretel than if we are just strolling along.

4. When she was smaller (or if she is too tired to walk) we still follow the trail home but we spot the drawings from the pushchair – she points and I run from drawing to drawing.  I guess we look pretty crazy but there is a lot of laughing and  a really quick trip home!