While visiting the Great Smoky Mountains on a family vacation, you should definitely take an hour or two out of your visit to play miniature golf at one of the many minoi-golf courses in the area. Many of them are quite creative and can be quite an experience. You can also make this fun experience educational in a number of easy ways.
One of the simplest ways to make your mini-golf adventure educational is to allow one of your children to keep track of the scores. Or, have each of your children keep track of their own scores while you keep track of the scores on your master scorecard. Then, when the game is over, have your children figure out the differences between the scores.
For younger children, you can still have fun with math. For instance, each hole will have a par. After your child finally sinks his or her ball, ask your child to figure out how much below or over par the score was. You can also introduce golf terms such as birdie (one under par), eagle (2 under par), bogey (one over par), double bogey (two over par), and so on.
Children get excited about learning new words, particularly when they hear their parents using them. So, after each hole, ask your child if he scored a bogey or a birdie. They will have a great time reprting back to you!