The magic show at Wisconsin Dells also offers a number of educational opportunities. Discussing the “magic” of slight of eye is particularly fun as you discuss the concept of persistence of vision.
In short, persistence of vision is about the fact that our eyes maintain images for a brief moment even after they are no longer there. Remember those flip books you used to enjoy as a child? You know, the ones that contained nothing but pictures and appeared to be in action when you flipped through the pages quickly These books utilize the concept of persistence of vision.
Before you go to the magic show at Wisconsion Dells on your family vacation, discuss this concept with your child. Then, help your child make his or her own flip book. It can be a great deal of fun for the entire family!
By admin
|
Posted in Educational Family Travel, a, concept, dells, discuss, discussing, educational, eye, fun, magic, number, offers, opportunities , slight, the, wisconsin
|
The Tommy Bartlett Expository offers a number of fun attractions that will test your mind. Making your family vacation an eductional experience is not difficult at all at this attraction, as you will explore a variety of different scientific concepts with the hands on activities the Exploratory provides.
When you visit the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory on your family vacation, you will find that there is a kiosk outside. I highly recommend stopping off at this kiosk before you visit any of the attractions in Wisconsin Dells. Here, you can buy packages that will save you quite a bit on your Wisconsin Dells trip. Even better, you can select the tickets you want and how many different attractions you want to add to your package. Therefore, you are not tied down to attractions you may not really be interested in.
Many of the attractions at the Tommy Bartlette Exploratory actually seem like magic tricks as they trick your eye and your mind. Others challenge you to perform certain tasks, such as remaining balanced on a tricky rolly-polly device or trying to put puzzles together and solve mysteries.
When you visit the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory, be sure to spend time with your kids at each exhibit so they will get the most fun and educational value the exhibit has to offer.
By admin
|
Posted in Educational Family Travel, Great Cities for Family Vacations, Museums for Family Vacations, a, activities, an, attractions, bartlett, concepts, dells, eductional, experience, exploratory, expository, family, highly, number, offers, on , provides when, recommend, scientific, stopping, the, tied, tommy, trip , vacation, visit, wisconsin
|
When you visit the Great Smoky Mountains, a visit to Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum may not be on the top of your list. But, I guarantee, if you have children between the ages of 8 and 13, they will really want to make a stop at this museum of sorts.
While at Ripley Believe It or Not Museum, you will see a number of strange and unusual sites. To extend this visit further and to make it a bit more educational, encourage your child to pretend he or she is a newspaper reporter. Then, tell your child to gather as much information as possible about a person or event that is on display at the museum. Remind your child that a good reporter covers 6 questions:
- Who?
- What?
- When?
- Where?
- Why?
- How?
Your child’s job as a junior reporter will be to try to answer these questions based on the information at the display. When you get back to the hotel room, have your child make a newspaper and write one or more stories to be included in the paper.
If you have a laptop with you and your child is computer-savvy, let him or her create the newspaper template on the computer. Otherwise, a hand drawn newspaper will be just fine. Tell your child to include a header like in a real newspaper. If your hotel gives you a free paper in the morning, let your child take a look at the front page in order to see how a real newspaper should look.
When your child is done with the paper, ask him or her to read it back to as if he or she is a news anchor reporting the story on the news.
By admin
|
Posted in Educational Family Travel, Museums for Family Vacations, National Parks to Visit with Kids, a, and, child, children, guarantee, list , make a, museum, number, pretend, ripley, sites , sorts while, strange, the, unusual
|
If you take a drive to Townsend, Tennessee, you will be able to visit Tuckaleechee caverns. Children really find caverns to be quite intriguing as it opens up a whole new world to them. Exploring these underground tunnels is not only exciting, it also offers a number of opportunities for learning.
Before visiting the Great Smoky Mountains, let your children know that you will be visiting caverns during your visit. Explain the differences between stalactites and stalagmites. An easy way to remember is that stalactites hang on “tight” to the ceiling and stalagmites “might” reach the ceiling. In other words, stalactites are the formations that hang down from the ceiling and stalagmites are those that grow toward the ceiling. When these two formations meet together, they form a column.
To have fun with this concept, you might want to consider making some rock candy with your child. The process of making rock candy is similar to the process of forming stalactites in that water and the minerals the water has gathered along the way drop from the ceiling. Very tiny amounts of the minerals are left behind when the water drips and, over time, this forms the stalactite that hangs from the ceiling.
You can also explore mold with your child before visiting Tuckaleechee Caverns. Mold does not naturally occur in caverns, but the light that is placed in the caverns in order to light the paths of visitors creates a great environment for mold to grow. Discuss the properties and the life cycle of mold before you go to the caverns. Then, when you encounter some during your visit, see if your child can explain to you all of the mold you see seems to be growing near to the lights.
By admin
|
Posted in Educational Family Travel, National Parks to Visit with Kids, a, caverns, caverns , children, exciting, exploring, great, intriguing, learning before, mountains, number, offers, opens, opportunities, smoky, the, them , tuckaleechee, tunnels, underground, visit, visiting, world
|
Although there are a number of educational activities that are quite obvious when you visit the Great Smoky Mountains, there are others that you might not have thought of. These educational ideas are those that you can do while at the park itself.
- Play with mental math – There are many variations of topography within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Ask your youngster to determine how high you are traveling by subtracting the elevation of your starting point from the elevation of your endpoint.
- Pretend to be a ranger – One of the duties of the rangers is to take a regular census of the animals living within the park. Have your child keep track of the type and number of animals you spot while on your family vacation to the Smokies. Stop off at the Sugarlands Visitor Center first so you can learn more about the animals that make their home in the Great Smoky Mountains.
- Explore fauna – Before you set out to hiking within the park, get a field guide to plants that are found in the Great Smoky Mountains region. Then, encourage your child to identify as many plants as possible. You can extend this further by having your child make his or her own field guide by taking pictures of the plants you see or by drawing the pictures.
- Roleplay - Since the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is just as rich in history as it is in natural beauty, you have a great opportunity for role-playing. When you visit the churches, farms, and homesteads within the park, have your child pretend to be living years ago. Join in the role playing to deepen the learning and to have some fun yourself!
With these activities, your family vacation to the Smokies will be even more memorable for the entire family. If you have any other ideas or if you want clarification on any of these activities, feel free to drop me a comment!