List o' fun--Toddler Open Gym

Remember my list 'o fun?!  It's been a while since I've done any of those type of posts.  I figured for the sake of getting a blog up (and displaying pictures of my adorable daughter!), I'd go ahead and post one.

Yesterday we went to a toddler open gym at the Rec Center.  I use to go to them in Ohio with Little Man a well.  It's basically a big open gym and they fill it with all sorts of kid friendly items.  You pay $3 per child and get to roam free.

I'm not going to lie... the Ohio ones were better.  They had more toy options and items for smaller kids (like blocks and kitchens, etc). BUT, it was still nice nonetheless.

We went to the McKinney Rec Center.  They had ride on toys, push toys, houses and tunnels to crawl through, and some bounce houses.

Olivia loved this thing.  It's like a personal trampoline.  It also has buttons that can play music, but the place was too loud to hear anything coming from a toy.  Of course, she isn't quite big enough to jump on her own yet (they just said at Little Gym last week that jumping was a 2 year old skill), but she bounced at her knees and every once in a while I'd lift her and help her "jump".

She also liked to ride in this.  Since the ride had stopped while I was taking her picture, she was trying to climb out.  She also rode on one of these at a friends birthday party recently.  I see them for resale all the time on the facebook "online garage sales" that I'm obsessed with.  I've been tempted to get her one, but Michael says NO MORE STUFF!

Playing with her friend Camdyn.

 She was climbing in one of the houses.

The age group for our open gym was 5 and under, so we did have to watch out for the big kids.

A little blurry, but loving the bounce house.  It was big enough that I got in with her.

She had just used one over the weekend at a friend's birthday party and fell in love.

Places like toddler open gym are great for so many reasons...

*We get out of the house--good for mommy and child.

*It's cheap!

*It's an easy way to socialize and meet new people--great for mommy and kid!

*It's a big open space to roam, so it's good exercise for the littles.

*It exposes the kids to new surroundings, new toys that you may not have at home, and new experiences with a big crowd of people.

You should check to see if your Rec Center has one.  If they don't, you should mention it!