TinyStepper
Red-haired toddler pointing at a cat picture card while parent holds it, speech bubbles floating

Dolly Sunbathes in the Garden

Bring a favourite doll or teddy out to the garden on a warm day and set up a proper tiny sunbathe — blanket, sunglasses, sip of pretend lemonade.

Activity details

2y–4y15 minslowoutdoorBlanketsStuffed Animals

Instructions

Get ready
  • Choose a warm, still spring afternoon and a doll or teddy your toddler already has a relationship with.
  • Outside with the doll, a small tea-towel or cloth, and any playful extras — toy sunglasses, a plastic cup, a tiny book.
  1. Choose a warm, still spring afternoon and a doll or teddy your toddler already has a relationship with.
  2. Outside with the doll, a small tea-towel or cloth, and any playful extras — toy sunglasses, a plastic cup, a tiny book.
  3. Ask 'where should dolly sunbathe?' Let your toddler choose the spot without steering them.
  4. Spread the tea-towel as the doll's beach blanket. Pat it down together.
  5. Position the doll carefully — your toddler leads every detail.
  6. Offer props one at a time. 'Does dolly want sunglasses? Does dolly want a drink?'
  7. Narrate softly through the doll: 'dolly says this grass is nice and warm.'
  8. End when your toddler ends it. They usually bring the doll inside when they're ready.

Parent tip

Set out blankets and stuffed animals before inviting your toddler in so the first minute feels smooth.

Parent and child sitting face-to-face laughing together in a warm shared moment

What success looks like

Back-and-forth between you — words, gestures, shared pretend. Connection is the real outcome here.

Carry a favourite doll or teddy outside on the first warm day of spring. Let your toddler pick the spot — a patch of grass, the corner of the patio, under a bush. Together, set up a proper sunbathe for the doll: a mini blanket (tea towel), sunglasses (yours, if they fit on a doll's face), a tiny sip of pretend lemonade, maybe a book open next to its paw. Your child runs the sunbathe. The doll being the one enjoying the garden lets your toddler rehearse the whole idea of relaxing outside, in miniature, where they're fully in charge.

Why it helps

NHS early-years guidance recommends that parents 'find your inner child and role play' to help toddlers rehearse real-world scenes through play — 'pretending to be the king of a castle, an explorer in the woods or a mummy looking after their babies.' Dolly sunbathing is this, and exactly right for the child who has a new baby sibling at home or is adjusting to not-being-the-centre. By running the sunbathe themselves, they practise the care-giver role calmly, and they get to be the parent to the doll at a time when their own parent might be distracted by a baby.

Variations

  • For two siblings, each child sets up their own doll's sunbathe on their own corner of blanket — parallel play at its gentlest.
  • Swap the doll for a stuffed animal and adapt the props — teddy wants honey in his cup, not lemonade. A small new baby in the family can have their own 'sunbathe' alongside.
  • Add a doll's big brother or big sister figure if your toddler has recently become one themselves — the play runs truer when the family shape matches home.

Safety tips

  • Check the grass spot for garden chemicals or recent pesticide use — RoSPA flag these as toxic to children, and toddlers routinely touch the doll's blanket then their own mouths.
  • Avoid bare grass on a hot day without a cloth underneath the doll — toddlers get upset if they think the doll is uncomfortable.
  • Keep an eye on any chewable props — doll's sunglasses with loose plastic are a choking risk if they come off in play.

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