by Summertime brings the joys of playing outside with your twins. Here’s how to make the most of playtime outdoors with them.
What Do Your Twins Want?
Each of your twins is going to have very distinct preferences, likes and dislikes. As you involve your twins in your backyard playscapes, toys, and activities, have each of them contribute ideas of what they’d like to have.
Maybe one of your twins wants a slide and one of your twins wants a swing. In that case, you can incorporate both of those things. Ultimately, both of the twins will enjoy each other’s contribution as well, and probably won’t just stick to the one thing they recommended.
Playing Companion
One of the great advantages of having twins is that there’s a built-in playmate. So when it’s probably just a little too hot for you as a parent to go outside and play with your kids, your kids are still more than eager to go outside and play. This is also going to lead to mischief and trouble and probably shenanigans in the backyard. It’s part of being a kid, part of growing up.
Mischief
The twins seem to build on each other’s enthusiasm for getting into trouble and doing things they probably shouldn’t do. You need to set clear expectations with your kids of what they can and cannot do outside. If you don’t explicitly state what is on or off limits, they’re going to explore, discover, and get into trouble with whatever it is that they want to do.
Taking Care of Things
We have seen that when the kids are helping to maintain something they tend to respect and treat it better than otherwise. For example, we have a garden and the kids help take care of it. Because of this, they have started to respect and put that part of the yard off limits for play. Of course that’s accompanied by us explaining that they’re not supposed to play in the garden.
(RELATED: Still expecting twins? Will you be having two boys, two girls, or boy/girl twins? Answer these quick questions to see what several old wives’ tales claim you’ll be having….)
Make sure you have a good balance around your house. Include both functional aspects and plenty of things for them to play with to keep themselves entertained. Twins also need room to discover. We love to see what each of our individual kids finds most fascinating outside. One of the kids will love the bugs and the other kid will love a particular plant or discover how something blows in the wind.
Be a Kid Again
Playing outside with your twins is a lot of fun. If it’s helping in the garden, taking care of mowing the grass, watering the plants or even riding bikes is a blast. Make sure you pay special attention to when both twins can be involved at the same time. Some of them may need different activities at the same time to keep them occupied.
Have fun!
Picture by Sarah
