The forest is my three year old's playground

Discovering bugs and walking our pups

Cook County, IL is known for so many things, mainly being the home of Chicago. Interesting fact, the Cook County Forest Preserve District is THE LARGEST FOREST PRESERVE DISTRICT IN THE WORLD. It was also originally designed by a world renowned landscape architect. 

I have filled this post with some pictures from my most favorite forest adventures. All of them are from Forest preserves by our house. For exact locations, just ask. 

If you're thinking, "I don't live in Chicago. I don't live near any forests or nature," you're probably wrong. A path around a pond in a park, an open field, your own front yard, nature doesn't have to be big to capture a toddler's attention. 

My Playtime Philosophy combines the "Forest bathing" & "Classrooms with no walls" concepts 

 Again, I'm just making up this stuff as I go along, and I'm not perfect, but we find this shit fun.

We judge the success of the day by the mud on our boots

Finding beauty in the dead of Winter

River Trails Nature Center is one of our favorite places on earth. Outdoor/indoor playgrounds, Des Plaines River, walking trails, it's all just so cool.

Summer colors scavenger hunt

Another Summer colors scavenger hunt

Frolicking in the Forest throughout the Fall.

The possibilities of fun are endless in the forest. We just walk, J gets to explore, I get exercise. We have picnics, go on color scavenger hunts, look for animals, count the ducks. We do a lot of talking about our senses. 

"What do you see?"

"How is that different from last time?"

"Have you seen any colors like that before?" 

"How does that flower smell?"

"Think you can climb that tree?"

"What does that feel like?"

"How does it feel when compared to this?"

The beauty of this kind of play is that I don't need to have any answers and he doesn't have to be exactly right, cause there are no wrong answers. 

Let your child lead the conversation. Last week, we actually got lost when we went off the trail and I let the three year old get me and the puppy back to where we needed to be. I knew that heading in a general direction would work, but we were still legit lost. I asked him, "What is this ground like? Have we always been walking on grass like this?" "No mommy. We came through the prickly bushes, like those!" So we walked through the prickly bushes. Then I ask, "Hey Jimmy. If we find the creek we walked by, that will get us back to the path. Do you hear anything that will tell us where the stream is?" ......thinking..........."OOOO Let's go this way Mommy! I think I hear water running! We'll make it and get back." He was so proud to figure it out and explore along the way. If you haven't been out in a while, I suggest you try it again, take your kids, have fun. Don't be afraid to get a little dirty.