Toddlers are very much still in the phase of sensorial exploitation where they want to touch everything, ask what that sound is and sometimes taste things too. Havvie and I try to go on nature walks to fulfill these sensory needs.
We take it very much at Havvie’s pace with her making decisions on where we go on our walk. This could mean we walk one kilometer in 2 hours, but it means Havvie can take in all the sights and sounds and spend as much time as she wants in one place.
We recently did one of our walks at Bicentennial Park in Sydney. Havvie got upto quite a lot, such as picking up sticks, gumnuts and other treasures along the way, throwing a stick into a flowing creek and seeing how the stick floats down the creekbed, climbing up and down a watchtower to watch a family of ducks paddling and touching tree stumps to see how rough they feel.
Doing nature walks is definitely very calming and allows us to practice being silent and still. This is very hard to do with our constantly busy lives and Havvie and I treasure these moments where we get to take a step back and take in the environment around us.
