While in Scotland over Christmas, my mum left a print-out in our bedroom for us to find (along with cuttings from the local newspaper on people I went to school with and a broadsheet interview with Henry Holland who I used to work with). Taken from Scottish Government website Play Talk Read, it was an amazing list called 30 Things To Do Before You’re 3. I love lists like this. It gives parents ideas of things to do and reassures you that the silly things you do with your toddler are, actually, meaningful and worthwhile…
1. Feed the birds
2. Dig out your wellies, jump in a puddle and make a splash!
3. Make a foot/hand print
5. Catch a snowflake
6. Take part in a treasure hunt and collect sticks, stones and leaves
7. Play hide & seek
8. Pull a silly face in the mirror
9. Play peek-a-boo
10. Sing ‘The Wheels on the Bus’
11. Build a secret den – throw a sheet over a table or chairs for a new space to play in!
13. Get busy in the kitchen– create a clown face with fruit or help dad with some rock cakes
14. Take a trip to the park and go down the slide frontwards and backwards
16. Pretend you are your favourite superhero
17. Burst-a-Bubble (download the free app from playtalkread.org)
18. Get noisy and make your own drum kit with pots and pans
19. Plant a seed and watch something grow
20. See a creepy crawly up close
21. Visit a castle
22. Climb on an adult for a piggy back/horsey ride
23. Have a laugh in the bath getting playful with soap and suds
24. See how many different animal noises you can make
26. Do the hokey cokey
27. Spot a plane in the sky
28. Do the actions to Incy Wincy Spider
29. Spot and chase your own shadow
30. Build a tower and knock it down
My two year old has done 17 of these, and we’ve got nine months to tick the remaining 13 off her list before she turns 3. Think we’ll start this weekend by making a den. Do you have a toddler? How many have they done?
Proud parenting moment as I realise my toddler’s done 26 of these things – maybe I’m not such a failure after all! Better start saving now though, as the only way I can see her doing the snowflake one is a holiday somewhere snowy in the next 6 months. Damn.
Fantastic!
Hmm maybe you could make paper snowflakes and throw them in the air to catch? It was actually snowing one day last week when we were in Scotland so we could have ticked that one off the list ourselves then!
26 for us, too. But mine is nearly four, so we’re cheating a bit
Tick off the last four this week and we won’t tell anyone!
Ahhh my daughter was 3 October just gone and we have done them all! Quite a lot of them more than once! Feeling like more of a fun mummy now!
Excellent – and it’s not just being fun, it’s giving them valuable life experiences!
Cute! Our kiddo has about a month to go before she’s 3. If you count that big green dinosaurs are her “super hero” then she’s done most of these. Not all, though! Hard to find snowflakes and castles in Southern California, but we will try this weekend for snow.
Well, we’ve done 19 of those — 20 if you count the bouncy castle at the local Canada Day festivities.
Our daughter will be 3 in February. Looks like we’ll need to plan a treasure hunting expedition, and several other activities as well…
I just love this list…my daughter is 3 1/2 and has done many of these things…my 8 month old will have a ball as well! Too bad we can’t have sweet lists like this for each age!!
Just found you through BritMums #MBPW, what a fantastic list! Think we are doing pretty well on 25, and 10 months left to go
Joys of having an older sibling I think.
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Ooo We’ve done 28 of these – but Ozzy is about to turn 4!
I quite like the idea of doing a 38 things to do before I turn 38 now… I better get my thinking cap on!
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What a great list! Still got a few to get to though.
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Must get onto visiting a castle (although my youngest is now 4) – as otherwise we have done them all.
Pinning from the pin party
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What a great list! My son is two and a half and I think we still have visit a castle, do the hokey cokey and catch a snowflake to do. Great list. Thanks so much for joining in with the Pin-It Party. Have pinned and followed
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