G.I.V.E. Get Involved, Volunteer in Education

Great Educational Trips that Extend Learning in the Summer

By Bura Rogers, Parents' Source, May 20, 1999

Children learn best by experience. A parent's role is critical in shaping these experiences. By traveling with your children, you can open their imaginations to other cultures, histories, geographies, and climates. Turn your family travel into learning adventures. Arrange field trips that spark a child's imagination, increase cognitive development, and promote enthusiasm for life and learning. Learning vacations can be as simple as a day trip to a living history museum, or as involved as a week-long archeological dig for Indian relics. Vacations are wonderful times to learn new skills, dance to different music, and eat different foods. Your options are limitless.

Do dinosaurs still roam in your home? Dinosaurs may be extinct, but they're definitely alive in the hearts and minds of many children. Today families can travel all over the world to dig for bones and help in paleontology labs. Many natural history museums have fabulous exhibits, some with viewing areas to see how bones are cleaned and reassembled into skeletons. Families can Dig-for-a Day at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, attend Family Dino Camp in Colorado, or take a weekend getaway at the New England Dinosaur Trail. Someone in your family might even uncover a new bone or fossil to show to the whole world!

Westward Ho! Enter into the pioneer spirit when planning a trip out west. If your children enjoy playing Oregon Trail computer games, they'll certainly enjoy tracing the paths of pioneer families, an activity which improves geography, mapping, and history skills. You can visit landmarks and museums along the way, and even experience life aboard a prairie schooner.

Cruising provides a safe family environment with activities designed for specific age groups. "Circus at Sea", Adventure Science programs, and "Save our Seas" environmental programs keep children busy having fun and learning, while providing parents some private time together. Shore excursions expose family members to different cultures, sounds, and activities.

Learn about Native American peoples who are an integral part of our cultural fabric. Native Americans have preserved traditional languages, arts, spiritual practices, crafts, and agricultural and hunting traditions. On certain reservations in Arizona and New Mexico, tribal elders meet with visitors to share their wisdom and knowledge, while guides offer tours that teach tribal history and culture as well as about the land itself. Families can choose to stay with a host family or in a traditional tepee. Many programs include hands-on instruction. Native encounters offer a rare opportunity for multicultural learning in its purest sense.

Take a vacation worth cheering about. Whether your family enjoys watching, playing, or just learning about a sport, any vacation can be combined with sports. Visit ball fields and take tours, or attend a sports camp together. Tour factories that make sporting equipment, or take a step back in history at a sports museum. From major league to the minors, professional to amateur, you can bring a new sense of team spirit to your family.

The Caribbean is home to a wealth of the world's cultures. This mixed heritage results in unique art forms, rich history, endless activities, and excellent cuisine. Dozens of festivals celebrating music, art, food, and traditions take place throughout the islands and fill the streets with color and sound. Beneath the surface, there is a rich underwater world of colorful fish and vast coral reefs. Snorkel, scuba dive, take a glass bottom boat ride, or submerge in an observation submarine to discover creatures you've never seen before. Learn-to-sail programs will find you exploring untouched beaches and cays. There are even learning aquariums where people can swim with dolphins.

Consider what your children are studying in school when planning your vacation, and get them involved in the planning process. Help them check out books about their destination, search the Internet, read travel magazines, and write to tourist bureaus for information. Visit a travel agency and benefit from an agent's expertise in finding the best values and access to choices. Join a family travel club for free information on family travel options, brochures, videos, and specials

These are just a few of the varied possibilities for fun, learning, and excitement on your family vacation. The whole world is your child's classroom, and traveling is one of the best ways to enhance your child's education. Along the way will also be opportunities to strengthen the bonds that connect family members to each other and to the greater world. From day trips to extended adventures, travel = learning = fun.

Bura Rogers has always loved learning and traveling, both of which she continues to do with
her husband and three sons. She is a Family Travel Specialist with Flyways & Byways in Shillington, and hosts the Club S'miles Family Travel Club. You can reach her at (610)796-2780, (610)777-7306, or brogers@ptd.net.

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