Over the summer I took a class, which was the basis for our article Family Travel to Build Emotional Intelligence. I learned that significant emotional events help not only to teach us but to form the sort of people we will become.

As a result, here are some ideas I plan on trying to do with our boys (and some we have already done that I would love to do again). These are one day activities that any family on any kind of budget could do.

1. Visit a local hiking spot and take a nature hike, allowing children to fill a bag with found items or photograph them. At home sort the items or pictures into interesting categories and/or label them. Older children can write their own labels. Sorting based on categories your child comes up with on their own is a great way to promote higher order thinking.
2. Go somewhere where you can feed animals (local fish hatcheries, duck ponds, zoos, and farms are great for this). Allow children to feed animals that are okayed by staff for feeding. Get out library books about the same animals when you come home and or draw the animals.
3. Visit an old fashioned town or history museum to see history in action. Be sure to have your child ask questions of the rein actors. It is super fun to try and get the actors to leave character when asked twenty first century type questions (be sure to ask some questions to gain insight into historical facts as well).
4. Visit a factory; food factories are the best. It is very interesting to children to see where their favorite foods and candies are made.
5. Pick fruit at a local orchard. Many children think fruit comes from a grocery store. Make some sort of fun recipe or smoothie with the goods when you arrive at home.
6. Go to a sports hall of fame or museum. Children love sports, but they often do not know the origins of their favorite games. Many of these ideas on this list of ten including this one support multiple intelligences. They can apply to learners with a variety of learning preferences, not just active learners or visual learners alone.
7. Go to a high school or cheap local theater play. Many favorite movies and children’s books are made into wonderful live theatrical performances. Kids need to see plays for the experience that cannot be matched by just movies and television.
8. Go to a restaurant that serves food from another country. We love taking our children to a favorite Vietnamese restaurant and trying new foods. We also like that the owners are Vietnamese and enjoy talking to our family each time we visit about their food and culture.
9. Take your child on grocery or hardware store for errands and have them calculate the bill as you shop. Older children could plan and coupon clip and budget for the trip prior to going, young toddlers could label food and colors.
10. Take children to a cooking class or art class as a family. Nothing shows children that learning is fun more than being a lifelong learner yourself!

I hope my thoughts on Learning through Experiences and travel strike a chord with you as well. Most of all, I hope they awaken your inner learner to experience some family travel. Happy memory making!

Do any of you have favorite one day family trips or family bonding ideas to add to these lists? Please comment on what your family enjoys doing to learn together. These were pretty standard ideas so I would love to hear more creative places and things to do for my family to do together!

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