Tips for Traveling Unplugged

If you have been following my blog for long, you know that we allow our kids to play video games, watch movies, etc.  But, I also feel that it can be a huge waste of time and doesn't usually cultivate deeper relationships. So, while we do allow it in our home, we carefully monitor and limit how much time the kids are wasting playing.  :)

Usually, when we are traveling, we take along a portable dvd player for the meltdown phase.  But, on our most recent trip we really wanted the focus to be spending time together and strengthening relationships.  Children learn how to entertain themselves and become creative after going through a stage...yes, it is just a stage...of boredom.  So, we decided to leave the dvd player (and all electronic devises except our phones) behind.  Scary, I know.  But, personally, I enjoyed this trip so much more since I wasn't having to compete with electronic devices for the attention of my family members.

So, here is how we intentionally helped our kids work through the bored stages and learn to appropriately entertain themselves.

*Map the Route.  We took a few minutes before starting out to show the kids a map and the route that we would take to drive from Phoenix to Anaheim.  We pointed out key cities along the way and then talked about them as we were passing through.  We brought the kids attention to the mile markers and the border crossing from Arizona to California.  This is the best kind of geography lesson! 

* Memory Book or Journal - I created a spiral notebook for the four older kids with a picture of a car the the words "road trip" on the front.  This functioned as a memory book/journal.  As we drove, they could draw pictures of what they saw and then write summaries of the days to remember later.  They could tape receipts, tickets, maps, etc into the book as well.

* Travel Games - Because we are studying US geography this year, I decided to get a US map window cling for the kids' viewing pleasure...haha.  And, gave each of the older four kids a state license plate game.  This was basically a page printed from the internet with all 50 states' license plates.  They would watch plates of vehicles around us and X out the ones that they found.  They they could find that state on the window cling and see how far that vehicle had traveled to be in Arizona or California.  It was fun to see how many they could find. 

* Art - Art in the car?  That really sounds like a disaster.  Yeah.  It was.  But it was super entertaining and we knew that our van was going to need a good deep cleaning after the trip anyway:)  Our kids love to draw.  So, we picked up some sketch books, pencils, pens, markers, crayons, etc. at the Dollar Store for each kid.  We also found a few 3D dot-to-dot books with cool glasses and spiral art projects that could easily be done in the car.

*Audio Books - We used our phones to stream a free version of Peter Pan during parts of the drive.  I have to admit that I had never read this book before and Peter and I both found it to be a delightful tale.  And, it kept the kids anticipation high for the ultimate Anaheim destination:)

* We would usually have snacks available for the kids but didn't find the need for that until the trip home when everyone was tired and the littles were just a bit more squirmy.  I did have some tootsie pops available for the meltdown and they came in handy for the two year old.

 (My son took one of those call-your-name-and-snap-a-picture shots.)

Here is a list of unplugged ways to entertain kids on the road that I put together when planning this trip.  I'll probably refer to this list on our next trip:)

audio books, books, view masters, crochet, knit, magnadoodle, etch-a-sketch, needlework, drawing, story telling (place your kids' names into familiar fairy tales), singing, word searches, bring hats and put on a seat play, naps (my personal favorite!), puppets, snacks, review math facts, read aloud, post it notes for sticking all over the car, make cheerio necklaces (messy but entertaining), play different license plate games (ABC, finding 50 states, etc), play slug bug, wiki stix, quiet books, paperclip creations, marshmallow and toothpick creations (definitely not for the preschool travelers), have the older kids calculate gas mileage, felt books, origami, magnetic games, journals, bring a few favorite toys from home, stickers, rubber band fights, lacing cards, picture taking, kaleidoscope, review memory work, and just talk about whatever the kids want to talk about:)

Here is a great website for making travel fun that could be easily adjusted to fit a family trip.  I used the license plate game from this blog.



Click here to see my other posts on travel ideas.



How do you entertain your kids on the road?

Science at the Zoo...classification

Today was another zoo day. We love to use the zoo as a resource for learning and this year it actually fits nicely with the Science that we are already studying.   On this trip, I decided to have the kids classify animals.

I found this great site for classifying animals with kids.  It gives a simple explanation of each group in kid friendly language.  We read and discussed these groups and then played this online game to test our knowledge before the trip to the zoo.

I created a page with the five categories for them to classify the animals.  There was a column for mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, and fish.  Here is what it looked like.  This time I created each child their own page!  Haha.  I also decided to have the kids start keeping these pages in their MFW folders as part of their learning portfolio.  So, it makes more sense to have one for each child.

 
As we walked through the zoo, the kids would write down the names of animals under the correct category.  (I view this as a creative writing exercise so I don't worry about spelling...especially since I want to have  light, fun, creative learning experiences...and none of us love spelling...haha!)

Wesley really wanted to participate so I had him draw pictures of the animals under each category.  How cute is that! This one is going in his art file to keep.

We always practice some map skills while at the zoo.  This is one of their favorite parts.

Wesley was really serious about his "school" and wanted to take the time to draw his pictures well.

On the way out, the boys found a turtle that they enjoyed touching and were amazed watching it swim around.

 Just had to include this sweet little face.

Then at the end of the trip, when the desert heat had warmed us up, we stopped by a "splash pad" for the kids to cool off.

 
The boys found more turtles to watch in this area too.  They were all so amazed by these turtles.  Maybe it's time to invest in a tank and turtles...maybe...haha.

After we were back home, we tried this online game again to review what we had learned.  It was fun to see how scores improved after the day at the zoo.  So we had a great time laughing, researching, and learning together about classification of animals "hands-on" (which they are more likely to retain long-term), and never opened a book.

We will open books next week:)

The Zoo: An Outdoor Classroom

I simply love using the zoo for enriching our homeschool experience.  It is out in the fresh air and sunshine and it is "hands-on".  It seems that we all learn new things about God's creation with each trip to the zoo.

This year we are studying the days of creation and we have just completed day six...animals. So, I thought this would be a good year to renew our zoo membership.  Here are some of the things that we have done and a few new ideas that I am planning to do in the next few weeks to add a little salt to our zoo field trips.

Some have links to specific posts here on this blog.

1. Have each child create a book of their day at the zoo as they are walking through.  

2. Have each child draw a cartoon map of the zoo with a little dotted trail showing the path we took.

3. Keep a list of the animals that they saw and list details about each animal.

4. Classify the animals they see by fish, amphibian, bird, reptile, mammal (or by other attributes like walks on two or four legs, has fur, scales, or feathers, etc.).

5. Go on a zoo scavenger hunt.

6. Draw pictures of zoo animals or plants.

7.  Write a structured report about several things they saw or did at the zoo.

8. Write a poem about the zoo or a specific animal.

9. Paint a zoo mural.

10. Make finger print animals with ink pads.

11. Take a zoo map and let the kids take turns picking the next place to go and leading the family there using the map.

12. Have the kids write a creative writing paper about what they would do all day if they were an animal at the zoo.

13.  Have the older kids use a concordance to see how many verses they can find about specific animals in the Bible.

14. Print off coloring pages of animals for younger kids and color them while watching that animal...and while older siblings sketch in their Science notebooks.

Some of these things we did years ago and we are going to recycle the ideas.  As we do them, I will post and link it here.  I thought I would get these ideas out there sooner rather than later so that they could be utilized this spring.

How many of you have a zoo in your area?  What things do you do to learn at the zoo?

Happy zoo learning!!

Election folders

I was raised in a very patriotic family.  It rubbed off on me and I not only love this country but I love everything government and politics!  

Well, I guess it would be more accurate to say that I have a passion for government and politics but it isn't always lovable.  

Because this is one of my passions, I thought I would take advantage of the current elections and all of the events and information to get my children involved and educated about American politics and government.

So, we put together election folders for each child (even Sethy who is 2 as he LOVES to do what the older kids are doing).  And, you know that if I am making folders for all of my kids, they will be color coded...haha!  Here is a picture of the color coded folders that we put together.

We created a page for each candidate in the primary.  On each page is a picture of the candidate, room to take notes, and a list of the issues that are important to our family.  Here are the pages that I made.

*These are in alphabetical order...no preference was given to listing order (my attorney husband made me put that in...haha.) 

As the primaries and debates take place, we will watch clips of debates or town halls (entire debates are too long for my kids).  The kids mark the issues each time a candidate says something that they agree with (check) or disagree with (X).   They can also take any other notes they want about the candidate.

Next, we printed off several blank USA maps and placed them in the folder. Here is a link to a USA map.  

We labeled them "primary" and "general election".  I gave each candidate a different color..I even color coded the candidates...haha!  After each primary, we fill in the state with the winning candidate's color.  For the "general election" map, we will color states blue and red for the two parties.  


Until the general election, we will continue to add to these folders with information or pictures that pertain to the elections.   

Here are a few pictures of the kids working with their election folders.

Coloring in states by candidate...

 Learning about the different candidates...

 

Watching a few debate clips...

 

 Yes, we have our laptop on a cooling rack as it has been overheating...haha.  It's time for a new computer!

 And, here is Wesley proudly showing off his election folder.

((If you missed my previous posts on ways to get your kids involved in government/politics, you can see them by clicking on the "learning through the elections" link at the right of this post.))

Map skills at the zoo.

We like to go to the zoo...and often.  Now that we have our annual pass, we can go for free as often as we like:)


We also like to learn hands-on and out of the house when we can.  So, I look for ways to incorporate different types of learning into the zoo trips that we take.  This makes each trip unique, keeps the zoo interesting,  and helps us maximize the learning.


Today we went to the zoo and I decided to focus on "map skills".  What better way to learn "map skills" than at the zoo with a map in hand!  I like to let each child pick an animal that they want to see, find it on the map, find where we are on the map, and then route out the way to get there.  It is so much fun and the kids really get a kick out of being the one "in charge".  Everyone gets a turn and it takes us most of the day.


As we were coming up to the zoo the kids wanted to stop and look at the fish, turtles, and ducks from the bridge.  Here is a shot of them looking at a huge goldfish.

And, here is one of my Abby girl...so grateful that the Lord decided to give me a daughter!

As soon as we were in the gate, I gave Wesley the map and let him choose the first place that we would go.  I showed him where we were on the map and let him choose something that he wanted to see.  He chose the snakes and frogs.

He studied the map for a while and then, with a little help from older siblings, he pointed us in the right direction and we all followed.

The Arizona trail is always a favorite for the boys:)

 

So glad we don't have this in our backyard!

After that we decided to have lunch and play at the tree house.  This place is usually a stressful place for me to let them play as there are several different entrances and exits and it's hard to watch them all.  Abby got away from me as a toddler and it took us and our friends a while to find her...all the while, I am thinking about how close we live to the border, etc..  Since that day, the tree house has never been the same to me.  But, this time, construction was going on behind the tree house.  There was a fence around the area and therefore only one way to come and go...nice:)  So, the kids were treated to a rare opportunity to play at the tree house.


After lunch, we walked the African trail to get updated pictures of Wesley holding his toy safari animals in front of the actual animals at the zoo.  He requested this when he found out that we were going to the zoo,  Then he ran and packed all of the plastic animals in a back pack for the trip.  You can see the old pictures on a previous post by clicking here.  Funny how much he remembered the previous pictures and really wanted to take them again:)  You just never know what little thing will mean the most to each one of them and what they will remember.  Here are the updated pictures.  You can't really see the giraffe in his hand as it is camouflaged by the real ones behind him.

 

 

 

Actually all of the "real" animals are hard to see...you have to know where to look but to him they are wonderful pictures!


Here is one of Seth playing with a giraffe in front of the giraffes.  These are great realistic plastic animals that we picked up at Wal-Mart for $1 each several years back.  For a few days following a zoo trip, they become the favorite toys of the preschool kids:)

Brennan and Abby both wanted to go to the "barnyard" area next, so they mapped out the way to get there and led us along the paths.  Here is a picture of Wesley and Abby studying the map together.

Nathan then wanted to see the Bald Eagle...one of his favorite animals at our zoo...so he led us there.


Here is a great picture of all five of the older kids checking out a small pond on the way.  The photographer in me loves it when they all get together like this on their own:)

You can see my little free spirited two year old trying to jump right in!

Ransom just hung out for the day but seemed to really enjoy the excitement that he sensed in the older kids.  Although he doesn't look too excited here...haha!

So, an entire day was devoted to learning and practicing map skills, and enjoying a beautiful December Arizona day...the best time of year to be in Arizona!


What things do you do with your family to learn outside of the classroom?