The Romsey Show

the Romsey Show 2011

Who said that the best place to learn is a classroom?
Hands-on learning should be taking place all over all the time.  When you think about it, almost any activity can be educational, especially with primary school aged children.

We recently had a great time going to the Romsey Show as a family.  My daughters LOVED it, and they learned a lot too.  Farmers were there with all kinds of livestock, and there were also workers from a bat hospital, otter sanctuary, falconry group, and other animal-related groups.  We were able to get really close to the animals, and my girls had a chance to talk to some of the workers about them (in addition to asking us questions).  They learned a lot about animals, agriculture, the local food industry, and the environment (especially environmental issues that impact local wildlife).  If we had just told them the information at home, they'd probably have promptly lost interest.  Since we actually saw the animals, they'll be talking about this day out and the things they learned for months.

To find out more about our visit to the Romsey Show, click here.

Out and About in Winchester

Over the summer we've been trying to do lots of fun and educational activities with our kids.  One of our fun day trips was into Winchester in Hampshire, England.  There's a lot of history in this beautiful small city.

We saw part of the original Roman wall and talked a little about the Romans (we later learned more about them at the City Museum, which has a lot of activities for children).  We also went to Wolvesey Castle.  My girls had a great time running around the castle ruins, imagining what life would have been like in the middle ages, and trying to piece together as much as they could about the castle from what's left.  They learned a lot about history, and got really excited about it as they could actually see and explore it.  After that we walked around the city and saw other sites like Jane Austen's house.

Field Trip Books

Whether you homeschool or go to school, field trips can be really memorable and educational experiences.  One way to make the most of a field trip is to make a book about the experience.  Children can draw pictures, write about the experience, put in photos, and do related activities.

Here's a page my daughter did after a field trip to the zoo.  They have a book for the class.  Each child gets a turn to bring the book home and fill in their page.  As she's in kindergarten, this meant that she drew pictures of herself and some of the animals and wrote the name of each.

The National Gallery and Discussing Da Vinci

Trafalgar Square, London
view next to the National Gallery (where "The Virgin of the Rocks" by Da Vinci is)

This week I was able to take my children with me on a day trip to London.  Miriam (my kindergartner) really wanted to go to an art museum while we were there, and Anya (my almost preschooler) was mostly excited about riding on trains.  To make them both happy, we took the tube to Charing Cross and went to the National Gallery.


Rather than trying to see everything there, we walked through rather quickly and then stopped at the pieces that interested the girls.  We were there for about an hour, and spent almost all of that time looking at only three pieces of art.  Of those, we spent the most time with "The Virgin of the Rocks" by Leonardo Da Vinci.  (I have also often heard this piece called "The Madonna of the Rocks", but I will use the name assigned by the National Gallery.)

We sat down in front of the painting and spent a long time discussing it.  Rather than lecturing my kids about it, I asked them questions and encouraged them to think about the painting for themselves.  We talked about a lot of the symbolism in the painting and some about Da Vinci.  While we were there an art historian from the Open University joined in and supplied some extra information.

Afterwards we went out into Trafalgar Square where they enjoyed chasing pigeons, looking at the fountain, etc.

Miriam is already asking when we can go to another art museum, and she kept talking about "The Virgin of the Rocks" and Leonardo Da Vinci.  Not all of you can take your kids to the National Gallery in London, but there are art museums around the world.  I think it's really beneficial for children to be brought to museums and galleries, exposed to art, and encouraged to think about it.  You can tie it in with lots of subjects.  For this painting, for example, you can study the painting itself, learn about Da Vinci and the time period, learn more about what Da Vinci did and his contributions to both art and science, make your own version of the artwork, write a story inspired by it or a paper about it...

For more information about Da Vinci's "The Virgin of the Rocks", click here.
For free lesson plans about Leonardo Da Vinci, click here.

The Tate Modern

One of my favorite museums is The Tate Modern in London.  This amazing museum holds one of the most important collections of modern art in the world.  If you are teaching or living in the area, this is a great place for a fieldtrip with students of any age. 

Modern Art is a great way to get students interested in and involved with art, and they have the chance to see many different styles and mediums in the Tate Modern.  Not only is it useful for teaching about art, it's also a good place to help develop critical and creative thinking skills that will aid students in all subjects.

To visit the official Tate Modern website, click here.

For a field trip assignment for students to complete at the Tate Modern, click here.