Back in ‘the good old days’ before the corona virus threat I took the children in my care on several trips ( always with written permission from parents).
Often I would arrange to go with another child minder; this meant that I could have some adult conversation, plus there was someone to watch the children if I needed to take one to the toilet.
A favourite place to visit was a local attraction called The Milky way adventure park ( we managed to negotiate a discount on the entry fee because we were regular visitors and child minders ( it’s always worth asking) . This place has both indoor and outside facilities so is great for any weather conditions. The indoor play is full of ball pits, slides and climbing, frames. I went down what we referred to as the bumpy slide more times than I can count; with a child on my lap, plus one on each side we all went down together often the children would scream in delight.
A toddler group that we attended would put on a summer trip to a farm park we travelled by coach which some of the children had not been on before making it even more exciting for them.
Once there we could wander around with our children as we liked then we all met up at lunchtime for a picnic together; the children played on a large trampoline while the adults set out the food.
Our child minding network organised an outing to an organic farm which was really educational for us all; I learnt that they kept the chickens safe from the fox by spreading human hair around the enclosure. We saw the cows being milked after washing our muddy boots off using the hose that the farmer uses to clean the udders before attaching the milking machine, one little boy insisted in getting every scrap of mud from his boots. Later we had some milkshake made from the milk we had watched being collected.
When a parent visited my setting a few weeks later about getting her child a place and she asked what I did with the children a child with speak delay told her “Carn ( his way of saying my name) oink, oink, oink” Karen’s a pig ?the woman asked “Yeah, yeah” he replied, I quickly explained that he had seen some pigs while he was visiting a farm with me!
Other places we have been to are the fire station, Manning’s pit here, heddon’s mouth here and the beach here
Read more of my child minding experiences in my e book here.
I have written this post hoping to inspire other child minders to take children out and to give parents an insight to what a child minder does
day in the life of a child minder here.
As always questions and comments are welcome.
Until next time.
Karen
x
Linked with
All of these would be so popular especially the outdoor ones on a nice day as they would be free.
Thanks, Pearl, the only trip that was free was the outing to the beach, but then I still had to pay for the car park
Actually on thinking about it the walks around Manning’s pit and Heddons mouth were free apart from the petrol thanks for your comments, Pearl
Some lovely trips for the kids, farms and play centres are always winners (as is the trampoline). Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next time
Oh farms are a massive win with my kids! #kcacols
Thanks for sharing, Nancy
I’m in Plymouth and we loved the Milky Way when we went. My eldest was in his element! #KCACOLS
The Milky way has that effect on most children, thanks for sharing, Helen
We loved the Milky Way Adventure park – we went while on holiday nearby. So much for kids to do! 🙂 #KCACOLS
Yes, the milky way is definitely worth a visit, thanks for stopping by, Hannah
So many good stuff and of course a park is always a winner. I have never appreciated parks more then this year when they were closed X #stayclassymama
It’s funny that how we don’t miss things until they are no longer available, isn’t it? Thanks for sharing
Such lovely places to visit with chiildren and I expect they had a fabulous time (you too!). I’ve no idea how life will be for you going forward, but I hope the children get to go out and explore again! Sim x #PoCoLo
Thanks, I will be back out there, using my electric wheelchair now, once it is safe again, thank you for stopping by
I think it’s so important to take children out as much as possible. Let’s hope we can get back to that soon. #StayClassyMama
I know there’s nothing my girls love more than a day out, even if it’s as simple as going for a picnic. Some of these activities look really lovely. It reminds you how easy it can be to keep children happy #globalblogging
It’s easy when they are young, not so simple when they become teenagers, thanks for stopping by, Treacey
A lovely list of activities and places to visit. Such a great idea to arrange trips with other child minders to make toilet trips with the kids easier and to have some support. Thanks for linking with #pocolo and hope to see you back later this week
Thanks for your thoughts, it certainly worked well for us
I think it is great that many activities have special rates for child minders as trips out enrich learning. However, a good walk can be just as beneficial and rich in opportunity! Thanks for linking up with #stayclassymama
Trips to adventure playgrounds are a win for my kids.
That slide looks fun.
#kcacols
The slide was great the children loved it, so did I actually thanks for stopping by, Rachel
My childminder doesn’t tend to take the kids too far, because she has a wider age range, but she does take them to parks, to adventure playgrounds and for playdates and out and about. It’s lovely that you were able to do that. So good for the kids. #stayclassymama sorry it’s late, the last two weeks have been crazy here…
No worries about the late comments, better late than never
What lovely adventures you took the children on! The sort of experiences that say with you. As a childminder, you really enriched their lives. Xx
Thanks for your kind words, Cecilia, I did my best