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How to Plan a Fun Weekend For You and Your New Baby
If your baby is approaching a suitable age for outdoor adventures and socialisation away from the main family unit, then congratulations! It’s time for you to leave the safe haven that is home and venture forth into the wide-open world with your growing bub! We know how daunting those first few steps can be, so we’ve compiled a few small ways you can ensure that both you and your baby have a lot of fun-filled weekends to look forward to. Read on to discover our baby-outing secrets.
Double trouble
Double prams aren’t just for twins! They can actually be a really valuable tool when it comes to early socialisation. If your baby has a slightly older sibling, using a side-by-side double pram on family outings can be a fantastic way of nurturing familiarity and positive feelings between your two children. Despite their generally wider size, side-by-side double prams have been praised for being an easy facilitator of parallel play experiences. When two young children are able to experience the world and all of its complexities together, innate bonding occurs without the need for active interaction.
Sensory development destinations
Sensory stimulation is incredibly important in regards to your baby’s cognitive development. Many paediatricians, child psychologists, and long-time parents alike have spoken highly of the importance of allowing children to experience the outdoors and nature as a balanced means of boosting their sensory development. But where are the best places you can take your baby to ensure that their experience of the great, wide world stays well-rounded and consistently fascinating? Your regular morning stroll route can only do so much here, so it’s recommended that you venture out into an array of different local parks or parklands with a picnic lunch, and when your baby’s feeling ready, city centres and areas with greater population density.
But of all of these local sensory hotspots, one of the single most important destinations in relation to sensory development has to be the beach! Beaches are an incredibly texture-rich environment, one that also boasts a dynamic array of auditory stimulants, like ocean waves and bird calls. Just be sure to bring suitable suncare necessities, like brimmed hats and sunscreen that’s suitable for infants.
Join or host a playdate
Not all weekend activities need to take place outdoors. In fact, some of our most memorable weekend plans resulted from what we thought would just be comfy Sunday afternoon house visits with dear friends. But even simple house visits can pave the way for some adventurous play! Encourage young children to play with one another indoors by suggesting exciting activities which break away from everyday life, like building pillow forts, or having a LEGO build-a-thon. If your little ones are really feeling boisterous, it might be fun to head out to the backyard and let them make mud pies, under adult supervision of course.
Curate your calendar
Finally, a surefire way of ensuring that both you and your baby have a fun-filled weekend can simply be by staying up-to-date on the best family-friendly activities that Melbourne has to offer! From night markets to outdoor film screenings, Melbourne is always boasting a great array of one-off family-friendly events in all corners of the city and across all of its bubbly suburbs. Websites like Mamma Knows West and What’s On are consistently updated with all the most exciting upcoming family-friendly events, guaranteed to be a whole lot of fun for every member of the family.
Weekends are for family time, and it’s important that you and your family make the most of weekend activities during your children’s earlier years. These are precious years, and you want to prioritise family fun wherever possible!
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