Materials:
Comfortable clothes
Old comfortable shoes or boots
Time to walk at a young child’s pace.
Allow them to stop, look, listen, and see.

Instructions:

Put on those old clothes, comfortable shoes and take your preschooler on a walk around town. Choose a day that is mild so that you won’t mind staying out for a while.

In our town, we can park and walk to several places in one trip. I always have letters to mail. We walk to the Post Office. Let the “little one” put the envelopes in the slot. I sometimes buy stamps while I’m there. I usually have banking to do, so we go to the bank. We stop buy the Ben Franklin Store. We also always go to the library. We read 2 -3 books together. He only gets to pick 1 book to bring home.

While we are walking we are always talking. We talk about flags flying, different kinds of vehicles going by ( Brinks trucks, delivery trucks, emergency vehicles, ice cream trucks), fire hydrants, how to cross the street and parking lot safely, and the different kinds of stores.

Using the language is very important. Repeating the walk many times is also important. Let your child retell what s/he saw on their walk to someone else with your help. That will get them using the vocabulary on their own. Enjoy your time together!