Family Fun at The Park

Sometimes it's the simple things, and on Sunday afternoon, Glen, Bridget and I spent a couple of hours at the local park which was super fun.

With only water for Bridget, who's now 19 months, and bread for the ducks to carry; it was a really relaxed, enjoyable afternoon and cost us absolutely nothing.

Bridget has a swing and a slide in our garden so you'd think the novelty of these on the playground might have run thin - not so. She was delighted to run between the various slides and climbing frames and insisted on either me or Glen joining her for a few of them, which had us laughing all the more - Mummy and Daddy bottoms are not made for infant playgrounds!

Slide fun

Just loves to climb

Too much fun on the swings

Again and again, Bridget climbed the frame
and came down the slide giggling the whole time. A joy for her and a joy for us to watch.

A few other children were enjoying the playground and one happened to be sporting a Peppa Pig t-shirt, which instantly made her a firm friend for Bridget.

After an hour at the playground we went in search of the ducks, with Bridget doing her hand motion and saying 'quack quack'. After recently visiting Old MacDonald's Farm and London Zoo in the petting area, Bridget was holding her hand out with the bread on it, hoping they might peck it off of her hand, which they obviously didn't - cue more laughs for me and Glen. 

Loving the daisies

We had a good old run around in the park too and pointed at different things along the way. The toddler age is an important one for learning and we try to teach her as much as we can whilst out and about - she knows what the likes of the sky, grass, trees and flowers are from our garden and books but it was nice for her to recognise them and show us. She picked a couple of daisies and was oohing away in awe.

She also absolutely loves all animals and excitedly chased birds all round the park and we tried to point out the different ones. We saw a few dogs too and a couple of squirrels so she was in her element.

We have a cherry blossom in our garden, but a very mature one at the park had some low hanging branches, which absolutely fascinated Bridget, and she loved shaking them and seeing the blossom scatter over herself and the ground. 

On Daddy's shoulder's

Loving the cherry blossom

Family fun

We love to get out and do things at the weekend, but I often hear people lamenting they 'can't afford' to have fun with their family. I disagree as there are thousands of free parks around the country and an off-the-cuff afternoon like ours just proves what fun can be had without spending a penny. You could pack a picnic in the summer and make a day of it and some parks even have lidos or splash pools to add more to the adventure.

Some of my favourite parks in Essex and East London:

1. Victoria Park - fond childhood memories of the huge slides, zip wire and splash pools
2. Bedford's Park - sprawling woods to explore close to our home, at a high vantage point offering views right across London, plus the added bonus of seeing some reindeer and other wildlife
3. Valentine's Park - fairly local to us and with a huge adventure playground and a boating lake