Hello community!
By the time I'm starting to write this, me and Caleb are playing a game...I love when my 4 year old gets creative and comes with new inventions. There are no rules and yet, there are so many which he makes up right on the spot and changes them continuously from one minute to another..😁
This is the game, a mix of a bunch put together down on the floor. And now we're counting, rolling the dice and move the pawns from one place to another, until he decides who wins and why. Lol.
I was looking for a picture and I found some other pictures I would love to share and write a few lines about them.
I mean Pictures taken in some of our last vacations, last year, that I still have on my phone.
And seeing these pictures once again, I thought about how education and learning dont remain only in our house space or when its organized.
Vacations, actually, are great opportunities where our children get to learn a few things and even more. It depends of course, on many things.
Mostly, children learn when they're experiencing new places, people and cultures. In these vacations, they sometimes learn by asking questions, by doing different actions and activities, being in another environment or simply by seeing stuff happening around them.
What I'm about to share in this post is a mix of many things: memories, thoughts and ofc, learning opportunities while being in vacation, far away from our home space.
I wouldnt post in the community if I wouldnt believe this post is relevant here.
But also, my post may be a bit off topic on occasion and expect to see some photos of my son Caleb having a good time, feeling, exploring and living new experiences in his early years. Memories for life! Ohh how I love motherhood and my sweet little angel! Almost crying thinking hehe 😭💙
And I surely believe that these experiences are something to help with their development. New places and environments are big opportunities to learn from.
Busy time and play time in vacation
First, I never ever went on vacation and not taking toys, books and some games/tools to keep my kiddo busy. I guess this is common for all mammas out there.
I always took those toys I considered appropiate with the place where we were going.
I use to have one bag just for toys, books, resources. I found it more relaxing (for me) to know that my kid wont get bored in vacation, especially if there would be a lot of "dead" time, like just staying in the hotel.
And considering that screens are not an option to keep him busy for hours, it was clearly to me I need his toys and Books. Always books ❤️.
Here's how I usually organize our toys for vacation time.
Books. I have some sort of a list in my head on bow to chose Books for travel
- books my son is in love with ✅️
- books that are interactive and keep him busy ✅️
- no heavy books 🚫
- books to have for reading time right before bed (1-2) ✅️
Toys.
I always put some toys that are open ended toys, meaning they can be used in so so many ways, depending on kids imagination and creativity.
When my son was little and in love with numbers, these were in top of the list. Numbers everywhere and I was covered. That goes too with letters.
I tried to find those toys easy to grab and go, not to small, not something to be rolled and go one km away (marbles and similar).
And I always consider my son's interest at the moment. You can't go wrong with this. For example, if your kid loves cars, take toy cars with you. If the kid loves animals, put animals in vacation bag.
I had toys for car, easy to be played with while staying in carseat.
I always have notebooks, pen and crayons.
And I always take a game that keeps him busy like puzzles, logic game, memory game.
I try to find games perfect for the times we go to restaurants, toys for the beach (no books, no textiles), etc. Perfect toy for every occasion. And I like to think I became pretty good at it. Cause every toy I would have bring with us in vacation was very well planned and it was used 100%.
This is how our hotel room looks like, when possible.
I like to create a spot for my son in order to make him comfortable with the new place and feel like home.
I always put his toys together, finding the best spot in the room for them and create a "toy" corner.
I'll upload some photos and try write a short description on each of one.
At the hotel
Like I said before, I think twice before I prepare our bags for vacation, including toys and resources for Caleb.
I take those toys I'm sure he will use and are not too heavy. Here we have some building mini blocks, "Snakes and Ladders" social game, Numberblocks, Animals Domino.
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I also take with us an Activity Book because its just one book, but the activities in it are so versatile.
I like to take this book when we're at the restaurant and pick the ones he likes and the ones that doesnt need additional tools, like scissors.
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Here we are at the balcony, on our hotel room. I'm just enjoying the view, reading, talking on the phone, or whatever and Caleb is making his puzzle. Here he was 2.5 years old.
In my experience, all these games and toys were really helpful when on vacation.
Kids love to explore but they get easily tired and they like to have something like a routine. And I found out that what worked for us was to have his toys around. This way, all of us could enjoy a vacation.
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On the ferry
Here we had a long conversation about the sea, the seagulls and boats. Well, that was a ferry but whatever. I do think we explained to him that it is a ferry because we can take our car on it. And that usually, bots are only for humans.
We were on our way to Greece here, last year.
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Playing with sand, pebbles and goat poop...😱
Kids are the best to find "great" things and play with them.
We were visiting one village in the middle of the island and we were waiting for our friends. So he found something to do.
Playing with pebbles, touching the sand, writing in the sand with a stick and eventually, put his hands on goat poop. (As I said, it was a cliffy area, with domestic and wild goats around).
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On the boat...
We were actually on a boat for almost one day. We rented one boat. He got to experience how it is to be in a boat. I told him about the life safe jackets and what their role are. He saw these on his books too.
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In the meadow
Here we were visiting one waterfall in a forest area with a little lake, in a meadow.
We got to see a lot of green lizards. He was so excited! These were so beautifully colored, different from the ones we have at home.
We found a lot of pine cones and wild chamomile.
He liked the waterfall too.
I told him about the waterfall and why are they "falling" , as he used to say.
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In the car
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On the beach
Other than exploring, feel the sand and making castles, look up for pebbles and seashells, we stay on the sunbed pretty much, a time when my little one gets bored. So I have some toys in hand in case sand isnt interesting at the moment. 🙈
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Going to the Botanical Garden
When we were in Bulgaria last year in September, we visited a cool Botanical Garden.
We got to see a lot of flowers, plants, trees and cactuses.
It felt like a real Biology class, the best I guess.
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Exploring, observing the world
This is my favorite part 💙
Like I said, children learn by being in contact with the environment, feeling and live new experiences. Here I share some photos taken when in vacation, a few moments that Caleb got to hapilly live and gather information.
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Here we talked about the sunset. It was sunset, on the beach.
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In this right photo, we were on the mountain, hiking. He got to learn what hiking is and that mountains are very often rocky and dangerous.
We saw a turtle when in Thassos, in one of their olive groves. Caleb was really fascinated about it, seeing a turle in her own environment, though he asked "dont turles live by the sea?? well, I had to come with explanations.
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| Observing the mountain landscape | River exploring |
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| New city discovery | At the muzeum |
Here we were visiting a little magic place called "The clay castle of the fairies",a fairytale-style castle made from clay & sand.
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| Feeling the wind, the sea breeze | Seeing a golf field | Mini golf field for kids |
Activity Books to keep kids busy when needed
More activity books and coloring books pictures.
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Outdoors play time
Here we were at the hotel, outdoors. We picked up twigs and made geometrical shapes with them
Then we sorted the pebbles by their size.
And then Caleb asked what does those symbols mean. There was a pink bear sign near the kids playground. So I told him what they mean, he loves to know all signs. The cool thing is that he remembers them all, not just the traffic ones.
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Discovering Animals to the Zoo
I think anyone can tell that Zoo is a place that most kids enjoy to visit.
They love to see those animals they only saw in the books. The bigger they are, the more excited they get.
Caleb was super in love with some mirkets. He was so so sweet. I have some videos, he didnt want to go anymore.
I think they get to learn a lot by visiting Zoo places when it comes to animal learning.
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Dinosaur World
This was another fascinating place to go with kids, Caleb was "wow".
He especially loved the vulcano. It was a special one that it trembles to imitate the eruption of a real volcano. Also it would realese "the red magma" and the grey smoke.
It was a nice experience overall, even for adults.
This Dino Park is located in Rasnov. a few minutes apart from Brasov city.
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Well, that would be all I think.😁
I think you understood the idea I was trying to present in this post and how my little one got to learn many things just from being in vacation, experiecing new things and places.
They learn by seeing and asking questions. Every road, even the ones to the store and back, are good opportunities to learn. They have a wide repertory of questions on Why is that, How and Where. 😅 We just need to pay attention and give answers.
Have a wonderful day,
Missdeli 🧡
P.S. I simply adore making photos, and especially take photos of my child when he discovers the world. So these photos are a treasure to me. They are something to keep very close to my heart. ❤