What's your favorite outing with your 18 month old?

charmcitygirl · August 2010

I was looking at some pictures from today on pamela-matt's FB page. Jacob loves the the library, the park, Gymboree,pool, etc. But I'm thinking that there must be a lot more outings that other do.

Am I missing things? Do they get the zoo? (We live 15 minutes from the National Zoo.) What about sporting events (baseball game, football game)?

sommerrayne · August 2010

We took her to a baseball game (at 2.25) and she BARELY made it and I know that anytime before that we would have paid full price for 1/4 of a game.

That said, I think they LOVE the zoo even if they don't really "get" it.

Do you have an aquarium? She loved the interactive "touch" stuff aroung 18 months. Along with seeing the fish.

What about story time? Its FREE!

Have you ever looked for blogs on free of cheap things to do with kids in your area? There's one for my area and there's tons of awesome ideas.

Mommy and Me movies.

Mommy and me creative movement classes (like dance but not structured).

We LOVE(D) and still do gymnastics drop in 30-40 min mom and me classes. Very lax and fun. Call around to gymnastics places to see if any offer them for tiny kids. If they don't, ask if they have any idea who does.

I really liked music classes (doesn't have to be spendy like Gymboree - can be local community ed type places).

Any farms in your area have fall kid camps or just places to pet animals? Again, I'd call around to farms who have pumpkin patches and ask.

That's all my brain is giving me right now

If I think of more, I'll post again

cmw&tdm · August 2010

We go to our children's museum a lot, like at least a couple times a week right now (we have a pass). It's very hot outside and not much else to do indoors. But DD LOVES it. It's nice to just let her loose and follow her around.

We go to the zoo a lot too, but that one is harder for us with a 15 mo old because I can't really let her run wild there. She won't sit in the stroller for that long either.

Mr.&MrsS · August 2010

We've been to the zoo a bunch of times this summer...and both boys loved it! I dont think at 18 months they get it, but it is still something fun for them to do. We also do the children's museum, the aquarium, we go into the city so we can take the train (Brady loves the train) and then just walk around, go to the splash pad, find a playground, go to lunch, things like that. Some of those things are things we could do around home, but making the trip on a train and then going to a new playground is a lot of fun for the kids too.

I dont dare go to a sporting event...Brady would last all of 5 minutes in the seat and the rest of the time would be spent chasing him all over the stadium!!

LisaandBryan · August 2010

No otther ideas then the above. We do story time at the library , gymboree, park. Took them to the zoo once. They didn't get it. I wouldn't attmept a sporting event.

TheSkimmy · August 2010

Charlie can sit through a whole baseball game and stay for the fireworks after... but he is really into sports. He will watch a game on TV.... but not a cartoon. His first game he was probably 3 months old.

Charlie loves any park, zoo, fair, restaurant that is themed anything (trains, Rainforest Cafe etc) mall play areas, indoor play areas, etc.

Charlie is not a kid to enjoy the library... he needs more physical activities.

kme930 · August 2010

I don't have an 18 month old, but my brother was 18 months old when we lived in Baltimore (and I was 10) and he loved going to the aquarium. That was such a great museum for both of us!

Not sure if it's still as great, but I have very fond memories.

keg · August 2010

I've been taking DDs to the zoo for a while. I think they are only now starting to "get" animals, but they've always enjoyed it. Even if they don't get into the animals, they enjoy watching the people! We just did the aquarium for the first time and they liked that too. I think that anything that moves is good. We do the botanical gardens some too.

We did bounce places for the first time this weekend and they really enjoyed it. I wouldn't attempt a "real" sporting event that I'd have to pay a lot for tickets to, but I've thought about going over to the university down the street and exposing them to some games/events that way (it's not a high power athletic school). They also do the Special Olympic games there every year and I'd love to take DDs to some of their events. Or I might find some friends with older kids and take them to their soccer games or something like that. We did take them to my nephew's soccer game and they were interested for about 15 minutes. I figure if we went to a less "organized" event, they would have more of a chance to run around when they get bored.

ETA: Oh, free concerts are another great thing. One of our local restaurants has a band that plays big band music every Sunday night and DDs really enjoy that. Oh we also did an outdoor jazz festival a couple months ago and they liked that.

rockvillebride · August 2010

We really enjoyed the 3rd floor of the Maryland Science Center. They have a toddler room, but there's also a lot of other stuff up there he liked - like the water tables. Oh, he also likes the fountains at the Rockville Town Center. This might be a great week to do that!