Does your pre-schooler have loads of energy, running around and jumping everywhere? Yet as soon as you want him to walk from A to B it becomes a chore, whining and complaining “I’m tired”, refusing to walk and looking to be carried or use a buggy. This can be very frustrating and it can be hard to keep your patience. Dinoduo has a few ideas to help those reluctant walkers.
- Start with short, achievable distances and loads of praise when they finish. Once your pre-schooler develops their walking endurance you can begin to lengthen the walks
- Add in a variety of activities to make the walk more interesting, jump over the lines in the footpath , jump onto their shadow, twirl around every time they pass a sign. Add a little story to add to the drama, the ground is breaking”, “Quick, catch your shadow before it gets away on you” or “ There is a strong wind blowing, twirling all the leaves around”
- Play the counting game, pick a colour car and count each time that colour car passes and see how many cars you have passed when you reach your destination. Count signs, count bicycles, count dogs. There are endless possibilities
- Marching along to a song or marching rhyme. Dinodad has a little rhyme that goes “I had a good job and I left , right!”. Marching songs such as “The ants go marching” or “ the Grand old Duke of York “ are great marching songs
- Push along a toy, pram, wheelbarrow, trundle toy
- Pull along a toy on a string or even your dog! (with supervision)
- Stop to enjoy the flowers or blow some dandelion clocks
Remember! Lots of encouragement and praise for your child. Your child is more likely to walk another day if they have had fun!
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Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash