Educational Activities

Are you trying to plan a summer vacation on a budget? If so, you may feel as if you are trying to accomplish the impossible. Your family may be used to spending a week on the beautiful beaches of Hawaii, but what if you can no longer afford that type of trip? Do you want to stay closer to home? If so, think outside of the box. You might not have given state parks a close look before, but they are the perfect vacation destination for those on a strict budget.

Right about now, you may be asking yourself “a state park; really?” Yes! At the least, you could easily spend an entire day at a state park. It sounds nice, but remember your family is accustomed to weeklong vacations. You can still give them a weeklong vacation. The goal is to create a state park tour. Each day you visit a new state park. Start with the parks near your home. The first two or three days, your family can return home and sleep in their own beds. As you get further from home, find an affordable hotel or motel.

Once again, you may wonder about state parks. Family vacations are supposed to be fun. Won’t your children get bored with visiting state parks again and again? Yes, they might. Luckily, each park is different and has something unique to offer. Speaking of which, many have campgrounds. Consider camping a night or two.

Returning back to making state parks fun, the key is to pick unique locations. If you and your children have visited a state park before, forego that one and move on to the next. To save money, make your first two visits closest to home. As you move away, consider the activities. The more activities you have available, the more fun you are likely to have.

The key is to also do something different each day. For example, day one can be at a local state park known for their natural pools underneath a waterfall. If the weather is nice, your family could easily spend hours swimming. Then, plan a barbeque lunch or dinner or both! Before you know it, the day will be over with. For day two, visit a state park known for their great hiking trails. You and your family could spend the entire day hiking. Stop for lunch or dinner. Once again, before you know it the day will be over with.

In addition to making use of the activities state parks make available through facilities, consider brining your own activities. For day one, bring baseball equipment. You and your family can easily a fun game of softball or baseball. For day two, bring a Frisbee to throw or a soccer ball to kick around. The younger your children, the easier it will be to plan activities. For example, a bottle of bubbles could easily keep a toddler occupied for an hour.

As for the costs, most state parks do charge admission fees. You should consider this when comparing your options. If you have two state parks within a half an hour drive, opt for the one with the lowest price. Parks that charge by the carload, as opposed to the person, is usually a good deal. As for food, make use of the picnic areas and barbeque pits available. Start planning for your trip beforehand. Stock up on drinks, snacks, and meat whenever you see a sale at your local grocery stores. Then, use a cooler to transport your goods to the park.

In short, do not forego your annual summer vacation just because you are on a budget. Instead, think closer to home and outside of the box. Yes, state parks are usually reserved for day trips, but you can easily turn them into weeklong vacations by visiting a new state park each day. Luckily, all states have multiple state parks. In fact, some have hundreds. You should not have to travel too far, keeping your summer vacation costs low.

Want a fun project for the whole family that is also educational? What about creating a nature collage bracelet? Yep, even the boys will love this one. Here’s how to do it:

Supplies

• Wide masking tape or duct tape
• Construction paper
• Glue or spray adhesive

Step #1 Wrap your child’s wrist with tape, sticky side out, so they have a few inches of sticky tape to work with. You’ll want to make sure your child has plenty of wiggle room and that the tape isn’t too tight around their wrist. If it’s too tight they’ll spend the next few steps trying to get out of the tape and they’ll miss the fun.

Additionally, if you’re using duct tape, you may want to touch it a few times with your fingertips to reduce the stickiness. Delicate items like petals and leaves can tear when you try to remove them from duct tape.

Step #2 Head outside for a nature walk. (Hint – if you have to drive to a nature area, don’t put the tape on their wrists until you get there. If you put the tape on too soon they’ll spend the car ride touching it and getting stuck to things and then the tape won’t be sticky enough for the activity.)

Step #3 Start the hunt. Depending on the age of your children, you can structure the hunt any way you desire. You can ask kids to find things in a given category like “green” or you can let them run with it and find things they want to make their collage with on their own. The goal is to use the sticky part of the tape bracelet to collect their items. So, for example, if they find a rock or a frog it probably isn’t going to stick.

However, a flower or a leaf will. Consider giving them a time limit so they know what to expect. For example, you could say, “We’re going to go on a twenty-minute hike and you can collect items during that time.” If they’re particularly young you may want to let them know not to fill their bracelet up in the first five minutes or they won’t have any room for things they find later.

Step #4 Head back inside. Have your child choose the color of construction paper they want and get ready with the spray adhesive.

Step #5 Tell your children to carefully remove their items from their tape. They can spend a few minutes deciding how they want to position the items on their collage. When they’re ready, you spray the paper with the spray adhesive and your child can position their items.

The project can be completed or you can let your child continue with the project by coloring and labeling or decorating their collage further.

A nature collage is a fun and inexpensive way to combine your child’s imagination with a good outdoor hike. It’s also an educational experience as your child learns about nature and the elements.