Age for berry picking

[Cicero]

Can anyone with some experience recommend an appropriate age to go berry picking? I'm thinking about taking M blueberry picking. I think he'd have fun but I'm wondering if at his age (22 months) it would just be a giant PITA.

[aspentosh]

We took DD around that age (well, actually like 18 months) and she did great and had a great time. I say do it!

[lilac05]

I'm not sure. DS2 might be OK at 22 mo, but DS1 would not have been OK at the same age.

Check with the farm. Some of them have age requirements, especially for strawberries. Not sure about blueberries.

[jenn248]

Probably a little bit of both We took DD strawberry picking Memorial Day weekend and she was 29 months; she had fun and did okay with it, but definitely needed someone watching her at all times to make sure she wasn't pulling off all of the green berries or shoveling everything into her mouth. She definitely squished her fair share of berries as well.

[boxerdog]

We went last weekend with my friends 25 month old and she did well!

[aspentosh]

And worst case, you let them carry the bucket

[countthestars]

I took DD at 23 months and she really liked it! We didn't last long (like 15 minutes) because it was super hot out, but we picked a small little bucket full for $2 so it was definitely worth it. And we ate some while we were out there

[runblondie26]

We took my 18 month old last month and he had a great time. He a some along the way, we kind of gave up stopping him after the first few, but a lot ended up in the basket too.

[water*drop]

We went strawberry and blueberry picking when DD was a little over 2,and she did great. We did devote one parent to supervising her and one parent to actually picking berries because we wanted a lot, but she had a blast.

Some varieties of blueberries have taller plants than others. The farm we went to recommended that we pick one of the shorter varieties since DD was with us. I don't remember what type we picked, but it might be worth calling around because it was really nice for her to be able to reach the top of the plants.

[momin2013]

We're planning to take DS (2.5) blueberry picking this summer. I was kind of afraid to try strawberry because I thought he might trample the plants.

[blueberry10]

We took DD for the first time at about 19 months - she saw the blueberry bushes as pretty much an all-you-can-eat buffet, but she loved it.

[havarti]

At 2.5 ds knows which berries are ripe. At 1.5, not so much.

[djc315]

We did raspberry picking at 10 months - he was in the carrier and ate most of the raspberries I picked.

The next year we did strawberries at ~20 months and raspberries at 22 months. He did great and did quite a bit of picking.

[robot]

We live near tons of berry fields, so we started pretty soon after the kids could walk. Mine love it.

[ryry]

Do it! We took the girls strawberry picking a couple of weeks ago (DD2 is 23 months). They both loved it. DD2 didn't quite grasp picking ripe strawberries vs the green ones, but she loved picking them and filling up her little basket.

[redheadk]

We've been twice this year, dd is almost three. She probably could have done it last year just fine, so long as we were okay with only picking for 20 minutes.

[arch01]

We did it at 2y5m and it was great. He needed some guidance (and ate more than went in his bucket) but we had a fantastic time.

[rex]

i took L last year at 8m and had zero issues. i have taken her twice this year at 21m and it was also completely fine.

[Cicero]

Jul 1, 2015 9:29:29 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

I'm selfish, so my first thought went to how you would feel doing this pregnant in the summer. I'd let that be the deciding factor.

I like the way you think. The reason I was contemplating doing it in the first place is that I'm off tomorrow and it's only supposed to be 70-73ish in the morning. I'm trying to come up with a way to take advantage of the break in the heat.

[kershnic]

My girls loved strawberry picking at 15 months. They had no sense whatsoever for which berries were good so we did have to watch them, but they loved being allowed to shove them in their mouths immediately. The rows of bushes contained them and they didn't try to walk across the plants, so they just ran up and down a row between adults.

[Yankees21]

We just took DS cherry picking at 15 months and he loved it. He loved grabbing them and putting them in the bag; it was so cute.

[t]

We took DD last summer around 22 months and she loved it. My older nieces and nephews helped her. She did better with blueberries since they were easier to find. We told her to only pick the blue ones and it worked. She ate her fair share as well

[babyrn]

We took DD last year when she was around 17 months. We did strawberry picking and it was a lot of fun. We didn't stay out very long because it was going to rain so she didn't have time to get bored.

We will be taking her blueberry picking as soon as they are ready here, I can't wait!

[rt2008]

I took DD a couple weeks ago. She's 23 months. She did so well! She helped me pick them and put them in the basket herself. She loved it!

[Deleted]

I took DD 2 summers ago right before she turned 2. She did fine. She pretty much ran up and down the rows with the Mennonite kids whose parents ran the place. We were there a long time though, picking for my sister's wedding jam favors.

She's almost 4 and is in our garden strawberry patch having a field day pretty much everyday.

[spk926]

We took DD raspberry and strawberry picking last summer at about 19 months and it was great. We never showed her what to do, she just knew or something. It was fun! Go for it!

[redpenmama]

I took DD strawberry picking around that age and she loved it.

DS is 18 months and would probably be a terror doing it. But he's a tiny terror doing anything, so I think it depends on the kid's personality.

[cinco]

Any age! Pre toddling stage we took them in the Ergo.

[CrazyLucky]

We took DD at that age. She did fine, but you have to go in with the expectation that you will end up with a lot of unripe, squished berries.