Planning a picnic is a fun treat that will give your little one plenty to think and talk about.
You don’t have to wait until the summer to have a picnic, and you can use food you already have at home, you don't need to buy anything extra.
When you include your child in the picnic planning, you will find lots to talk about.
- First, decide where you’re going to have the picnic. In the garden? The park? The kitchen? or the living room?
- Decide who's going to come to your picnic, a younger sibling, Grandma, some dolls and teddies, or just the two of you!
- Next have a chat about what you need. Let your child suggest some of their favourite foods or drinks.
- If you do need to go to the shops this can be a fantastic way to keep your child interested, write a shopping list together.
- Make some sandwiches and talk about what you’ll put in them. You can have fun preparing the food and drinks together.
- Remind your child of other picnic things you’ll need, like a blanket, napkins and a bag to carry your picnic in.
- Talk about and name all the things you’re getting ready, to help your child learn new words.
- When you eat your picnic, chat with your child about what you're both doing. Questions and instructions are good too, for example, can you pass the crisps? or please can you put two sandwiches on the plate?
Top tip:
If you don’t want to make a full picnic, you can have an imaginary teddy bears’ picnic or a snack time picnic.
Good to know
This is a great activity to introduce some mathematical language. This helps children understand phrases such as next to, more, and how many?.
