This Activity starts with a list of different places to go. Today's activity description starts after the "Outdoor Activities" List.
As a parent, spending quality time with your child is the most important gifts you can give them. Spending all day at home isn’t exactly what you thought of when you hear “spending the day with your child”. Let’s face it, spending all day cooped up in the same place can become too much for anyone, especially kids who have a lot of energy. The following is a list of indoor and outdoor community and neighborhood activities which are fun for the whole family.
Outdoor Activities
- Neighborhood Parks
- Outdoor Community Concerts
- Swimming Lessons
- Hiking/biking trails
- An Open Field or Meadow
- Downtown Live Music (in shopping centers or parks)
- Farmers Markets
- Flea Markets
- Bird Watch Areas
- The River
- The Beach
- Fishing
- Camping
- Fish Hatcheries
- Kayaking or Tubing
- The Lake
- A Leaf Hunt Around the Neighborhood
- Miniature Golf
- Children’s Farms
- The Zoo or Wild Animal Parks
How do you Teach Children at these Places?
Throughout daily life, children are engulfed in new sounds, new sights, new textures and new problems to solve. As a parent or caregiver, following a child’s lead is crucial to finding out what they are interested in and how to incorporate their thirst for knowledge into their daily lives. When your child asks questions, answer with more open-ended questions, encouraging more thought and in-depth investigation of the topic. For instance, this child who is so interested in the bug in their backyard and calling for another person (mom’s) opinion about it, would enjoy learning more about it.
Here are some questions that could be used in this situation to promote learning:
- Wow, what color is it?
- I wonder what they eat?
- Where do you think that bug lives?
- Where is it going?
- How many legs does it have?
- Does it have eyes or ears?
- How long is it?
Today's Activity
Open ended learning happens everywhere, all the time.
Before you leave on today's adventure, write down 10 questions that you would like to ask your child, that relates to the place that you are at.
- Write down the answers your child says.
- Take some photos of different topics that you are discussing.
- When you get home, show your child the photos, draw a few photos about what they learned.
- Over the next few days, print out the photos you took today.
- Staple the photos, child's drawing and questions/answers together to make a book!
- Allow your child to look through the book whenever they would like. Ask them about it when they are looking through it.
Next weekend, pick another place to go and repeat!
