Monique of Green Acorns is with us todaywithto share a wonderful project for helping children connect to their community and develop a strong sense of place.
Did you grow up in the place where you currently live? I did not and it took me quite some time before I felt truly connected to my new place. My roots were somewhere else and so much of my identity is linked to that place. This new place, however, is where my children are being raised and where their roots are taking hold.
As I reflect on the significance of “sense of place”, I find myself becoming more mindful of the experiences that my children are having and the impact they leave. Every trip to the farmer’s market and local farms, every exploration of surrounding parks and nature preserves, every event attended in our community, every observation made in our own backyard, is being woven together to create my children’s unique sense of place.
In my previous post I mentioned drawing favorite places on a map of your town as a way to nurture your child’s developing sense of place. This is a fun activity that gets kids thinking of places in their environment that are important to them and is a wonderful opportunity for parents to gain some insight on the matter. It’s also a great way for children to see the range of their community and where each special place is in relation to others.
It’s fairly simple:
Ask your children to make a list (or dictate one to you) of their favorite places within your town. It could be a park, the library, a store, or a spot right in your backyard.
Next, find a detailed map of your town. We chose to make a collage of images printed from Google Earth. My children LOVE Google Earth, by the way. They get such a kick out of locating a particular place and zooming in on it. And the 3D street view is so cool! It has so many features and is really a great tool.
Once you have your map, it’s time to locate all the places on your children’s list. Older children may be able to identify most themselves. For younger children you may want to mark some specific locations beforehand and help them to identify the places.
Time to get creative. Ask your children to paint or draw a picture or symbol that represents each place right on the map near the actual location. Allow your children the freedom to decide their own representation, providing guidance only if they seem stumped. They may also choose whether or not to label each place. My children decided together to not add place names but instead created a legend of each symbols meaning.
Now you have a beautiful sense of place map and a wonderful tool to encourage further exploration!
Today Emma from 95 Acres of Sky is with us to share some great ideas for Olympic inspired activities to share with the children in our lives.
A year and a half ago, in the summer of 2012, I fell in love with the Olympics. I think it may the fact that it was being held in my home country that triggered in me the excitement and enthusiasm of my own childhood, but it took no time at all for my boys to become as enthralled as I had been at their age. For once I was able to share a screen experience with my boys rather than restricting it, they could watch any of the coverage, any of the events, without my worrying about what they were being exposed to. More than that, they were witnessing people who were in the spotlight for actually achieving something, rather than for behavior that is less than commendable.
At the core of it, this is what I adore about the Olympics. These athletes are people I can point to and say “See! Look at what is possible!”. My boys are witnessing what hard work and dedication can achieve and I am overjoyed to expose them to those values, values that are often overshadowed by superficial glitz and glamor that ignores the need for simple hard work.
When I saw my eldest son, pelting along our bottom field and launching himself over a hay bale, I knew the message had taken hold. He was inspired by what he’d seen and wanted to push himself to his own limit. It was a lovely thing to witness and we’ve shared other moments together, watching videos of ice skaters as the boys learned to skate this winter, videos of ballet dancers launching themselves into the air when they are unsure if ballet can be ‘for boys’. I’ve been able to show them wonderful examples of what endeavor can really look like.
Living as we do in the frozen north (that’s not a metaphor, it really is cold up here) the winter Olympics are even more relevant to us. The sports are all cold climate ones, many of which are in the mainstream here in Canada. We have easy access to skating rinks, ski hills and are literally surrounded by snow. The winter Olympics shows us what is possible in a climate like ours, inspiring us to get outside and make the most of it when possible.
As homeschoolers we have the luxury of spending our school time exploring our subjects of interest, but I’m sure that all of the following activities and ideas would work just as well on a weekend or after school. Even just a few books at bedtime can serve as a gentle and fun introduction to this great event.
This month we are using Amanda Bennet’s unit study on the Olympics as a spine for our work. She really has done all the hard work for you! The unit is broken up into days and weeks with lesson plans outlined and resources hyperlinked. This is a great opportunity to explore the Olympics in more depth, researching different events, learning about the history of the Olympics and of the great athletes who’ve participated through the years.
The Magic Treehouse book Hour of the Olympics and the companion fact tracker book Ancient Greece and the Olympics, is a great way to explore the world of Ancient Greece and learn about the origins of the Olympics. Brother and sister Jack and Annie magically travel through time to the ancient Greek Olympics and experience much magic and adventure. The companion book allows you to explore the background to the story revealing even more historical details.
We are exploring what our library has to offer around the subject of the Olympics, each branch will have different offerings but look out for the Usborne book The Story of the Olympics for a good overview of the games. We also enjoyed Look What Came From Russia, as an introduction to Russian culture, as well as Asterix at the Olympic Games, which was very popular with my 8 year old son!
If you are looking for some crafty fun I have a pinterest board where I’ve begun compiling crafts for different ages around the theme of the winter Olympics. So far we’ve made our own Olympic torches as well as a miniature ice rink and our own ancient Greek Lego stadium.
The online world has plenty to offer too, there is an official Olympics app as well as apps from specific news outlets, we have the one from CBC for Canada specific information.
If you’re exhausted after all that Olympic related fun, why not enjoy a movie as a family? One of my all time favorite films is Chariot’s of Fire, a truly inspiring story can be enjoyed by the whole family. This film really highlights the dedication and determination of athletes participating in the Olympic games 90 years ago. Or for the slightly older crowd Cool Runnings tells the true story of the first Jamaican bobsled team, a great movie to enjoy over a big bowl of popcorn while the snow falls outside.
For me the true message of the Olympics is to celebrate excellence and to enjoy watching what is possible when determination, devotion and passion meets hard work. I delight in sharing with my children the excitement of witnessing people who strive and strive again, to achieve something truly exceptional and worthy of our admiration. We can’t all be Olympic medalists but we can all encapsulate, even in the very smallest of ways, the Olympic spirit in our own lives.
