We went out to the Environmental Learning Center in Mokena, IL. The kids had a great time, I think mainly because they left to explore and make discoveries on their own.
Here are the girls bringing up their net....
and checking out what they found...
After they had a nice collection of specimens in their buckets, everyone went to the lab to get a better look at what they had caught....
They had guide books and identification sheets lying around for the kids to use.... but again they left them to make their own discoveries instead of it being an over structured "educational experience". The kids really seemed to delight in figuring it out themselves and then excitedly showing the other kids.Next was lunch. It's funny.... whenever a group of homeschoolers get together we joke about their lack of social skills since they're not in school (since that seems to be a main concern to random people we all come across). Immediately after eating, the kids (most of whom had never met each other before) came together to play tag... running and laughing around the picnic area. It really is too bad that they don't know how to interact with others :-)
After lunch they went animal tracking through the woods. They were to keep their eyes open for any signs of animals. Once we started to look we saw all kinds of signs... tracks, scat, gnawed off trees, woodpecker holes, etc. We also learned how to identify quite a few native plants along the way (and the kids even sampled a few of the edible ones).
It was a beautiful day to spend outdoors!!
2 comments:
That looks like a great day! And yes, I know what you mean about how our "unsocialized" kids play together :)
I wish we had somewhere nearby like that. very cool.
Post a Comment