By Eli Alperstein
We live in a ‘cottage’ style house with a small backyard. There is a wonderful tree which has grown big enough for us to make use of it to the fullest – with rope ladders, rings, a trapeze and two ropes for climbing and swinging. My husband has also built a jungle gym structure out of fallen-off branches that we find on our walks. The girls are very creative in finding new ways of using the garden, whether it is new tricks on the ropes, making a house under the jungle gym or digging and mixing with sand and mud.
Waldorf kindergarten
My children go to a Waldorf kindergarten where a lot of the day is spent outdoors, and the seasonal changes form an important part in their daily routine there, something we try to follow through at home. I do find this a bit difficult since my inner clock is still on northern hemisphere seasons (I’m Norwegian) and get quite confused by preparing advent activities in the midst of summer… We generally cook with seasonal vegetables, go mushroom picking in autumn and go hunting for treasures that are specific to the seasons.
Embrace the weather
We try to embrace the changes in weather and, unlike many South African families, try to get outside also when it rains. I have brought in a range of rain clothes from Norway so that we can go puddle jumping and walking in the forest throughout autumn and winter, as these kinds of clothes are not available in the shops locally.
Mountain and sea
Cape Town is set in the most magnificent nature, with the mountain and the sea literally on our doorstep, and we love going for hikes. Unfortunately, there are safety issues to be considered, and I miss being able to take the kids out on hikes or bike rides on my own. But on the other hand, the city is doing lots to improve the ‘bikeability’ of the city, so we see more and more cycle paths popping up.
Favorite places
Our favorite places for the kids are to ride and scoot are our local parks, but particularly the new park that was built around the Cape Town Stadium after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We enjoy exploring new places (both coffee shops and nature places, and luckily, these can often be combined!) so we often try out new hikes with friends or go off on the weekends to a place we haven’t been before. I’m lucky to be able to combine my work with pleasure in this way, and I can share new discoveries with my readers on www.capetownkids.co.za
Eli Alperstein lives in Cape Town, South Africa with her husband and two gorgeous daughters. Visit her site Cape Town Kids for child friendly and cool ways to explore Cape Town. You can follow her on Twitter and engage with her on Facebook
ActiveKidsClub.com has readers from all over the world, and we love to feature parents with an outdoor and playful lifestyle. I suspect that every one of our readers have great stories and important insights into our everyday lives as parents. Hopefully we can all learn and inspirer each other to live life to the fullest whether the outdoors is set in an urban environment or more remote wilderness.
