Taking little ones for walks can be rewarding in so many ways. Most of the time children go with the flow and while some kids may just walk beside you others start to jump, skip, run or do what ever they can come up with along the way.
If the path that you will be walking is a path that you know, prepare yourself up front, with things that you can talk to you child while walking, do some research on things in the path.
Things that you may find while walking:
- An old building: talk about it, the materials it is constructed of, it’s colors, the history behind it, is it a vacant building/property, how many floors does it have, etc.
- Show your child the difference between a building and a house.
- If you encounter a garden or maybe just some flowers; talk about the different types of flowers, their colors, how are we to take care of garden.
- The sidewalk, grass or dirt path you are walking can be another topic of conversation: the color, texture, why does it exist? is it man made?
- I spy is always a fun and interesting game to play with children and you can make it as simple or as diverse as you wish. Have them give you clues as to what they see and keep it going to see how far they can take it.
- The same skipping and or jumping can be turned into an educational game, have them count how many consecutive skips they can do, then ask if they can add 2 to the total and see if they can do it.
Children are very curious by nature, it does not take much to get them going on a subject. You can be walking, talking, playing, learning and having fun together all while doing something that will benefit both yours and your child's health.
Take advantage of every opportunity to teach you children new things, they are little sponges that absorb everything, specially when it comes form mom or dad as they are the people that they look up to the most.
As parents we need to remember that we are the very first teachers of our children, and we set the example as to what is good and what is not.
Don’t expect your child to do things just because you say so, if they see you doing it they are more likely to do it than if they just hear you say it.
And always remember to have fun with your little ones, time is precious, ones it’s gone we don’t get it back. Do you go for walks with your children? If so. what are things you talk or do as you walk?
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