Winter Babywearing Bucket List: Ten Activities to do with your Baby this Winter

wrappingrachel

5 years ago

Have the winter blahs? Feeling cooped up and ready for spring? Winter months are so long and hard, especially February. It’s the month that feels the longest, even though it’s the shortest! I decided to put together a list of fun activities you can do during winter with your worn baby or toddler! There’s only one more month until spring! This winter bucket list will give you a few ideas to help you enjoy the last month of winter with your baby!

Visit an indoor pool! Take along a water carrier and get in the water with baby! Experiencing the water from the safety of your arms or a sling can help baby feel comfortable in the pool. Using a carrier also leaves your hands free to assist siblings.
Wearing a water ring sling with a one year old baby
Walk a mall or local indoor shopping area! Pop that baby into a carrier and do some laps around your local mall or shopping center. Bring along a friend and you can chat and wear babies together.
Visit a museum. Museum’s can be fun for babies too! Take your baby to the local natural history museum and show them the stuffed creatures or your local art gallery to check out the artwork. Even a small local museum or art gallery can have things that would interest a baby or toddler. From a baby carrier, your baby has a great view of the art or artifacts and can easily hear you while you’re talking about what you see or watch you signing about what you notice.
Walking through the sculpture garden in DC with a Preschooler
Visit a pet store. We call our local pet store the “small zoo.” Put baby in a carrier and walk around to see all the different animals. Sometimes you can catch staff feeding animals or taking an animal out to show people.
Visit your local library! Libraries are so amazing. Let your baby explore the toys and choose some books, then pop baby into a carrier and head over to the adult section to choose some books for yourself too!
Sleeping baby at the library in Robin’s Hip Carry in a woven wrap
Try a local movement class with baby in tow! A lot of yoga studios, gyms, and dance studios offer classes where worn babies are welcome. This can be a wonderful way to meet other baby caregivers too!
Take a winter hike. Bundle up (using the cold weather tips here) and take a hike with baby! You’ll probably both love the time outdoors!
Hiking with Baby in Tow
Head to the zoo and plan to spend time in the indoor exhibits! Babies love watching animals. The secret to enjoying the zoo with small children is to plan to spend a longer time visiting 2-3 exhibits rather than spending a minute or two at many exhibits while trying to see the whole zoo. Choose a few animals you’d really like to see that are indoors and head to your local zoo to see them. In the winter, the zoo is rarely crowded, so you can sit in the mammal house for as long as you’d like watching the meerkats or whatever captures your child’s interest.
Find your local nature center! If you have a nature center near you and you haven’t visited yet, winter is the perfect time to check it out! Most nature centers have books to read, animals to view, and toys and puzzles for children. Sometimes they even have trails you can walk to look for animals. A babywearing walk on a new trail is bound to be fun and when you get chilly, you can head into the nature center to explore some more.
Head to a babywearing group meeting or your local brick and mortar babywearing retailer for a class! Find the babywearing group or babywearing retailer near you and check it out! You’ll meet other people who are caring for babies and who think babywearing is cool. Hang out inside and try out some new carriers and make a new friend. Maybe you’ll meet someone who would like to take babywearing hikes and mall walks with you. Building yourself an in-person community makes caring for small children so much more enjoyable. Visiting your local babywearing group can be a great place to start finding community. <3