I wanted to make a special post to talk about toddler activities in my city, San Diego. I understand that things are expensive right now, and your family may be on a budget. Luckily, our city offers a variety of free activities for toddlers.

I am going to highlight 5 FREE toddler activities in San Diego 🤩

This isn’t to say you need to add more activities to your already busy schedule, but it can be fun and developmentally beneficial to expose your child to new, fun, and safe experiences.

* And if you live in a city other than San Diego, I am sure there are free activities and resources available to you as well. I will include tips for finding free toddler activities in your community that might compare to each San Diego toddler activity I am going to talk about.

1. Storytime at your local library:

   Here in San Diego most of our libraries have resumed Toddler Storytime and some meetings continue to happen outdoors at local parks. Storytime is a great opportunity for your child to socialize with other kids their same age and engage in age appropriate learning activities, like singing and participating in storytime. I’ve included a link to the SD Public Library here: https://sandiego.librarymarket.com/ - this will take you to the events calendar. From there, click on filters + age groups, select babies and toddlers, then hit apply. You will be able to see all available Storytimes and find one close to you; maybe you can even walk there (yay for saving gas!).

   If you live outside of San Diego, a quick Goggle search for "Toddler Storytime 'Your city' public libraries" should help you find Storytime near you; or you can call your local library branch to inquire.

2. Free passes or free days at local children's museums or attractions:

This is so cool and something I recently learned about! Our public library offers free passes to the Zoo, Children's Discovery Museum, and more which you can reserve online here: https://www.sandiego.gov/discoversd just for being a member of the library. If you aren’t a member of the library yet, it’s free to join and you can find more information here: https://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/services/lending/librarycard

For those outside San Diego, many museums and parks will offer free days or passes throughout the month. It make take a little bit of time searching on Goggle but it's definitely worth it!

3. Nature walks:

Nature walks were one of my favorite memories as a child. My siblings and I would take paper bags and go collect leaves, flowers, rocks, dirt, etc. With spring in their air, a nature walk is a great way to teach your child the words for things outside. Best of all, you can take a nature walk anywhere whether it's your yard, a park, or a close by trail. You can find a new walking path close to your house by visiting All Trails: https://www.alltrails.com/us/california/san-diego .

All Trials can help you find new trails all around the world, so this works for everyone!

4. Visit a park:

Parks and playgrounds offer great opportunities for children to learn. Here are a list of 15 playgrounds in San Diego: https://www.sandiego.org/articles/parks-gardens/san-diego-playgrounds.aspx

There’s a huge potential for learning at the park! I listened to the Rich Roll Podcast episode with neuroscientist Andrew Huberman this week (I promise this is related) and they talked about our attention being tied to dopamine; we pay attention better when we are having fun! If you've enrolled in my online courses you already know fun is the foundation of our lessons for this very reason. When toddlers are having fun and paying attention, they are ready to learn! At the park your children can listen and learn from what you and other kids are saying.

No matter where you live you can search for “Playgrounds” on Google Maps or a similar app to find a park or a playground close to you!

5. Contact California’s Early Intervention (EI) Program:

EI programs are a great option for parents who are concerned about one or more areas of their child's development. You don't need a doctor's referral to join and many of the services are offered for free, even speech therapy (and they might even do speech therapy at your house for free!). If you live in San Diego you can learn more on the SD First 5 website: https://first5sandiego.org/, the San Diego Regional Center Website: https://www.sdrc.org/, or by calling this number to speak to a representative with California Early Start 833-421-0061 who can help you find the resources that best fit your needs.

I've included a link to the CDC website which lists links to each state's EI program (scroll to the bottom): https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/parents/states.html. Click on your state and call the phone number listed to share your concerns and see which resources may best fit your needs.

Do you know of other free activities for toddlers? I’d love for you to share them here in the comments below so we can all take advantage of what our community has to offer 🥳

Written By: Stephanie Keffer, MS, CCC-SLP

© 2020-2023. Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLP. All Rights Reserved.

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