Some days, the outing is returning books and buying dinner. Start there. A small change can give you something to laugh about on the way home.
1. Judge a book by its cover. Wildly.
On your next library visit, let your child choose a picture book they haven't read. Before opening it, invent the story together from the cover. That very serious bear might be late for a wedding. The pigeon might be running the whole operation.
Then read the beginning and see how far off you were.
An LA version: the West LA branch of the LA Public Library has Family Storytime and Songs on Thursday, October 22 and 29, from 4:15–5 p.m. It's free. Make that the middle of your library visit, then choose a book for your own cover-story experiment afterward.
2. Cast a creature in the produce aisle.
While choosing vegetables for dinner, look for one that could pass for a creature. A broccoli tree with an attitude. A potato that looks mildly disappointed. A carrot with excellent hair.
Your child names it and decides what its voice sounds like. Back at home, it gets a dramatic introduction before becoming part of dinner.
A Culver City version: the farmers' market on Main Street runs Tuesdays from 2–7 p.m. (October 20 and 27). Use your normal produce stop for the creature casting, then choose something from a prepared-food vendor for dinner. Keep the game to looking and choosing what you're buying.
3. Discover the neighbors nobody notices.
On the usual walk, look for places an imaginary, thumb-sized neighbor might live. A gap beneath a fence could be a front door. A leaf could be an enormous patio umbrella.
Let your child choose one resident and explain their unusually specific problem. Perhaps the snail next door keeps parking in their driveway.
Next time you pass, check whether anything has changed.
4. Give takeout dinner an opening act.
Pick one small performance to go with dinner: a few songs, a puppet show, a short storytelling stop. Keep the meal and the entertainment together so the evening stays manageable.
An LA version: the Autry Museum in Griffith Park has a Halloween night on Saturday, October 17, from 5:30–8:30 p.m., with a Bob Baker Marionettes puppet show, crafts and food trucks. Make the puppet show and dinner from a truck your whole evening, rather than trying to do everything. It's ticketed, and food is extra.
5. Take a toy somewhere it has never been.
Let your child bring one favorite toy on an errand you already need to run. Today, the toy is visiting for the first time.
Your child gets to explain the essentials: what the crosswalk button does, why dogs sniff everything, how shopping baskets work. Take one photo of the visitor at the most important stop.
At home, your child can report what the toy found most surprising. It may turn out to have strong opinions about the supermarket.
Make one around your own afternoon
Give Sidequest the rough version: "We have 45 minutes in Culver City on Tuesday, and my five-year-old loves monsters." Let it put something together around your child, your time and what's nearby. It's free to try, and you don't need to sign up to make a plan.
Free to try — no signup needed to make a plan.