Activities for 18-month olds..

mrsxoxo1598

Hi all My name is Amber and I'm new to this board, well, recently new. I use to frequent more when I was a SAHM a while back but hope to be more of a regular going forward.

i don't lurk much so I apologize for just coming on to ask a question (i promise to make up for it!) but I was hoping you guys had suggestions for activities for a 1.5 year old (boy)?

we took him to the aquarium (and oh my he loved it!) and frequent the local parks. he's been to a bouce house (again, another hit!) and have plans to take him to the la zoo when the weather is better on a weekend but i'm looking for something new to do with him.

 what do you do with your toddler? i wish there was a bounce house-type of place only for toddlers, so he doen't get trampled on by bigger kids. do you know of one?

thanks so much for any recs and again, i apologize for being rude!

Sammysu

If it is just for weekly small activities than the beach and parks or the mall are great. If it is for more elaborate activites than what about the science center? We don't go out to places every weekend but occasionally when we take the kids out to places other than the parks or beach we usually take them to museums or to griffith park/ observatory, science centers, train museums, zoos, downtown disney, The Pike in long beach, local festivals, farmers markets.

mrsxoxo1598

Sammysu:

If it is just for weekly small activities than the beach and parks or the mall are great. If it is for more elaborate activites than what about the science center? We don't go out to places every weekend but occasionally when we take the kids out to places other than the parks or beach we usually take them to museums or to griffith park/ observatory, science centers, train museums, zoos, downtown disney, The Pike in long beach, local festivals, farmers markets.

 

oooh, the science center! i like that! thanks so much for the recs. it's like i know things/places are out there, for the life of me my brain isn't working, though. thanks again!

5dogs

We do our local Gymboree's "open gym" time whenever possible - it gives her the best chance to run, climb, and get all of her wiggles out around children who are close enough to her same size. While we love Gymboree's classes, the open gym has been totally worth the cost of membership and at our location (Corona) is offered 3x a week.

mrsxoxo1598

5dogs:

We do our local Gymboree's "open gym" time whenever possible - it gives her the best chance to run, climb, and get all of her wiggles out around children who are close enough to her same size. While we love Gymboree's classes, the open gym has been totally worth the cost of membership and at our location (Corona) is offered 3x a week.

this sounds great! i'll look into my local gymboree's (wondering if they do this at all store locations?). i can't even image where they'd have the space at my local store, hmmm. thanks for the rec, i appreciate it

lujain

My kid really loved Pretend City in Irvine.  It's a children's museum. 

https://pretendcity.org/

I also have this book, Baby's Day Out in Southern California:

https://www.amazon.com/Babys-Day-Out-Southern-California/dp/1889786365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298435408&sr=8-1

cstw

I try to have one activity per day just to get out of the house. Every week we do a mommy & me swim class at Waterworks, Music Together class, and I attend MOPs at Mariners Church. We try to walk Balboa Island once or twice a week. DD also loves Pretend City, the little OC Zoo in Santa Ana, Science Center (just went there for the first time and she loved it!).

k&mcol06

My DS loves to go to Pretend City.  We also go to the Parent and Me classes in My Gym in HB.  He goes to free plays there sometimes.

Irvine Regional Park has Pony rides, Train Rides, and a Zoo. He loves going there.

Centennial Farm is a good place to take him to see animals.

Ride bikes by the beach is also fun to do.

  

OCKylie

Totally agree with Gymboree, Pretend City and Discovery Center (especially with the Elmo exhibit now) .  Another great one Max loves is Zoomars in San Juan Capistrano.  We should all do a playdate together!  Next week maybe!!

mrsxoxo1598

ooooohhhh! pretend city, i've heard of that place! sounds so cool. i wonder if ds is too young for that? i'm guessing not since y'all recommended it

thanks for the recs.

cstw

Definitely NOT too young. DD is 18 mos and just spent 2 hours there today. She was toast afterwards!