If you’re in NW just hop over to Rock Creek. There are tons of trails. Or terragon conservatory (near Klingle trail), or pierce mill or C&O or Roosevelt Island. Or head down to the mall. Parking is probably easy right now.

Anonymous wrote:getting in my car and driving to the 8 million open spaces within an hour of dc. do you have a car?

We do have a car. What are your top 5 recommendations of the open spaces you are thinking about? That are age appropriate for almost 3-year olds? Within one hour is fine on the weekends, but it's hard to manage during the week when DH and I are still working from home relatively full time with the kids at home.

I don’t live in DC and I have a seventeen-month-old toddler. We have one beautiful park within walking distance to our apartment so I have to keep thinking up new things to do in our park. Today we are going to collect “a bucket of bark”. Yesterday we collected leaves. We have hopping races. We eat lunch outside. We bring little cars and trucks...

It’s hard being out of our usual routine and with limited open spaces in the city but I figure our gorgeous park is like a backyard!

We live in an apartment AND we don't have a car. We go to the green space in the park at 7am before anyone is there. We also go up to our rooftop for afternoon recess.

We don’t live in an apartment, but to mix things up for the long haul, we are going to non-playground parks for scootering/ kicking the soccer ball and playing in streams. Yesterday we went to the empty school parking lot for scootering and chalk/bubbles. New empty space helps my elemntary/preschool kids not go crazy.

Just want to say thank you, OP, for avoiding playgrounds. There's a different thread on DCUM where some parents are obliviously talking about taking kids to playgrounds, despite the fact that kids shouldn't be interacting with others and despite the fact that the virus does live on surfaces for days (and we don't know that play structures outside are "safe" just because they're outdoors). So thanks for being smart and not going where other kids are!

getting in my car and driving to the 8 million open spaces within an hour of dc. do you have a car?

Canal Road has a nice park and there are trails for biking/cycling. Not crowded at all.

We are in Bay Area. I went to a blacktop today. There were some other children there and we stood on opposite sides and played music and freeze danced.

I just went to a small park and we all took turns stepping way off the trail. I’m in tears thinking of my kids having no play dates. I’ve lost my nest egg and I’m terrified about getting sick with no support or about getting sick or hurt and needing to go to the hospital, but for all that I know how fortunate I am. But something about no play dates just does me in. Especially as I know my husband and I are a lot less fun and have a lot less laughter than we’d like.

We went for a walk today and discovered some bird nest around the neighborhood that we can check up on a couple times a week.

We did a long walk around the neighborhood today.

Scavenger hunt! You can practice listening skills with listening walks too.

Just get out and walk around the blocks near your apartment. Everyday, take a slightly different route. It is spring and things will be changing.

do you have an alley? get some cones and block it off for a bit.

We live in NW DC in a three story condo. We obviously don't have a yard so we have to trek outside to get outdoor time for our almost 3 year old toddlers. We've been avoiding playgrounds and so far have done the Klingle Valley Trail twice and went to Meadowlark Botanical Garden over the weekend which wasn't busy at all. What other ideas do people have? Especially closer to NW DC so we can take them out quickly during the work week as we all try to work from home...