One of the best learning days that I can remember happened many years ago when my eldest child was about six or seven. I was listening to the radio while doing some chores and heard that a whale and her calf had been spotted off a local beach. I told my kids (I had three at the time), and they got very excited. Could we go to the beach? Could we see the whales? Of course! We abandoned the chores, packed a picnic, climbed into the car and headed for the coast.
Soon we were sitting on the beach whale-watching. The mother whale breached many, many times. It was fascinating. I took a few fuzzy photos with my old-fashioned camera but mostly, we just absorbed the experience with our eyes. After a few hours, I wondered if it was time to go home. But then the whale would once again leap from the water, twisting its body in the air before descending with a huge splash. How many people get to see a whale doing that? Would we ever have the chance to see a breaching whale again? It was hard to leave.
My kids had lots of whale questions. I did as well. So on our way home, we stopped at the library to borrow a huge stack of whale books. For the next few weeks, we read the books, and my kids drew hundreds of pictures, and we talked and talked about whales. We didn’t do much else. But that was okay. It wasn’t long before my kids were whale experts.
When we don’t make formal plans for our kids’ learning, we’re free to take advantage of every learning opportunity that comes along. There’s nothing standing in the way of us saying, “Anyone want to go whale-watching?” We can set out on a spur-of-the-moment adventure. If we wait, the adventure could disappear. Whales don’t hang around forever.
Something Extra
We don’t necessarily need whales to have an adventure. Adventures don’t need to be complicated and involve something unusual. In my blog post, Enjoying an Unexpected Little Adventure, I wrote:
How many times do we rush through our busy days, crossing things off our to-do lists, failing to watch out for opportunities to have little adventures? Adventures don’t need to be complicated or expensive. They don’t need to take up much time. They can occur close to home. All we needed today were a few iced buns, four beautiful girls and a lake in our local town.
Perhaps you’d like to read the whole story!
Photos
I have no idea where my fuzzy whale photos are, so I’m posting photos from another beach adventure instead. These photos of Gemma-Rose and Sophie were taken in October 2016.
So, I’m wondering if you and your kids have been on any wonderful learning adventures recently. Have you immersed yourselves in one particular topic? Have you had an unexpected little adventure? Or maybe, like us, you have wonderful memories of learning adventures from many years ago.
