“Little Walks, Big Adventures: 50+ Ideas for Exploring with Toddlers by Erin Buhr is a wonderful resource for parents and teachers. The world is full of learning opportunities, and Buhr uses daily activities and common neighborhood places to provide easy activities for parents and teachers to utilize. The book is laid out in an easy to read format. Each location is paired with easy learning activities and tips for parents, including what to bring and what to consider when you go. The author gives lots of little ideas to incorporate while visiting each location or going on each walk. The extension activities that she includes for each adventure cover a wide range of skills, and they are easy to set up with minimal materials and simple instructions. Your own neighborhood provides all kinds of adventures, and this book really helps the reader to see that. Not only does the book give lots of ideas that you can use right away, but it inspires the reader to look at their world in a new way. This book should be on every family bookshelf!”

Vicki Wilkinson
Babies to Bookworms

“The book “Little Walks, Big Adventures, 50+ Ideas for Exploring with Toddlers” by Erin Buhr gives the reader—whether a parent or a caregiver—a well-rounded introduction into stepping outside of the home and the school environment in order to learn and discover. In addition to encouraging exploring the world with your toddler(s), the book also provides ample learning opportunities ranging from vocabulary building and counting, to improving motor and cognitive skills. In fact, while most of the walks take you into the outdoors and your community, many of the activities can be adapted for using indoors if necessary. The activities are all presented with thoughtful care; each begins with details on what to bring along, what to take into consideration, and what to notice before or during the activity or walk. This section helps you to be prepared for situations you may not have already considered, or in some cases are helpful in adapting the activity for children with special needs including dietary restrictions, etc (something this mom to a kid with a dairy allergy found heartening!). I was pleased to find that the activities in this book are simple yet impactful, requiring very few materials. Furthermore, those materials are often things you will find around the house or on the walk itself. The activities themselves are extremely flexible and adaptable. “Little Walks, Big Adventures” is a great resource for finding themed activities even if you don’t incorporate a walk. The walks and activities are set up to be independent of each other, meaning you don’t have to do one for the other to have an impact. I recommend the book for anyone who interacts with toddlers and even preschoolers. Even though the book specifies an age range of roughly 15-36 months, I can see myself adding most of these activities into what I’m already doing with my 4.5-year-old. As I read through the book, I found myself saying over and over, “Oh, I want to try this activity.” If you want to instill a sense of wonder about our world with your little ones while also fostering cognitive and motor skills in your day-to-day with your toddler(s), “Little Walks, Big Adventures” is an absolutely wonderful resource for you!”

Julianne Thomspon
Julianne Gray Blog

“As a mom to 3 kids, I find myself struggling to think of new activities for my toddler. Just reading through the first couple of adventures made me breath a sigh of relief—I was making it way harder than it needed to be. Erin gives teachers and parents like me ideas for fun adventures and how to take advantage of simple everyday experiences. Every adventure includes an activity to do afterwards., such as practicing “stop, drop, and roll” after visiting a fire station. One of my daughter’s favorites was hammering golf tees after exploring tools we saw at the hardware store. This book came at the right time for me and I will be recommending it to all my mom friends with young children.”

Rebecca Hayne
Minneapolis Toy Library

“Like many parents, I am constantly thinking about whether I am doing enough to support the development and learning needs of my children. This book really grasps the active and wild world of toddlers and doesn’t try to tame it but instead to embrace it. The simplicity of the activities here are what grabbed me the most. They take no time at all to prepare and mostly can be cobbled together from the contents of your stationery drawer or recycling bin. I actually found myself exclaiming out loud at their simple genius and humble beauty. The other thing Erin manages here, maybe because she is a twin mum or maybe just because she has worked in education, is that these activities can be undertaken with more than one child at the same time. This is a problem for lots of parents; perhaps you have multiples and you need to be able to have both engaged in something without needing a 1:1 ratio or perhaps you have trouble thinking of activities that cross developmental ages for siblings. I really do believe the vast majority of these activities span both scenarios.  Little Walks, Big Adventures does exactly what it says on the tin. My review could basically be boiled down to two simple words: “buy it”. Erin, you have until I’ve gotten to the end of these activities to write the next one!”

Katie Flaxman
Katie Flaxman Writes

“This book is amazing! My daughters and I go for a walk almost everyday. We connect in our walks and we find it so helpful to improve our mood when we are having a hard day. However they tend to be the same walks day after day. Even if we have a 3-4 places where we normally go. I love how this book is packed with great ideas to turn every day walks into an exciting adventure. The book also includes 2-3 really simple yet fun activity extension ideas to do after the walks. As a mom of an almost 4 year old and a soon to be toddler I think the ideas in this book are perfect to do with a toddler and a preschooler and a great way for siblings to have some bonding time.”

Isabel Arango
Uno-Zwei-Tutu Montessori

“This is a great book for parents, homeschoolers, and day care workers. It's a manual of easy, free field trips that anyone could take with their toddlers or preschoolers. It not only tells you where to go, but what to take with you, how to talk about it with your kids, what to look for on the walk, and much more. I also love the book list at the end of each walk and the list of related activities for every walk. I recommend this book for everyone! It would also make a great gift for baby showers, birthday, and holidays.”

Missy Pea
In Our Pod

“As a homeschooler, I treasure Little Walks, Big Adventures because it is an easy way to incorporate “tot schooling” into our everyday routines and helps me to remember to include our littlest member in our family adventures. It is a welcome resource for caregivers of these curious little people. It takes everyday outings like a trip to the grocery store or a walk through your neighborhood and helps you shift your perspective to see it as the big adventures they represent for someone so new to the world. Moreover, it provides considerations for each and how to adapt for younger and older toddlers, so that your adventure is enjoyable for every one. The author has extensive experience as a parent as well as a caregiver, so she has practical suggestions for going on adventures with your own children or at a care center. Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy for review purposes; however, all opinions are my own.”

Leanna Alldonemonkey
Homeschooler

“While most activity books for raising toddlers encourage indoor explorations, there are countless adventures and learning opportunities outside the house or apartment! Going for a walk or exploring the local community with your toddler can bring about much more than just exercise. "Little Walks, Big Adventures: 50+ Ideas for Exploring With Toddlers" by Early Childhood Educator Erin Buhr will help a parent teach their toddler about his/her surroundings through fun and adventurous local explorations, outdoor games and activities that promote and enhance learning. Parents and caregivers will help their toddlers enhance their: Vocabulary; Language skills; Cognitive skills; Motor Skills; and so much more! Profusely illustrated, 'real world practical', thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Little Walks, Big Adventures " is unhesitatingly and unreservedly recommended for both family and community library Parenting instructional reference collections.”

James A. Cox
Editor in Chief