Fifteen-Minute Field Trips

‘Tell me and I will forget: show me and I may remember: involve me and I will understand.’ Confucius

Some of the most robust learning opportunities for children begin with hands-on experiences. Take field trips for example — adults remember them from the blur of their school years because they actively involved multiple senses, and this alone leaves a strong impression on the mind.

Field trips are not only the province of schools; you can have a field trip of your own in the kitchen or backyard! Lifting rocks to observe the thriving underground insect life, making handmade cheese, exploring the world blindfolded, are simple ways to develop learning from a passive to an active experience.

If you have more time, consider expanding from the ideas listed here to your community by visiting museums (take sketch pads to draw your own version of the art), factories (learn how local widgets are made), local artists at work, farms, and zoos. In the meantime, the following fifteen-minute field trips will use both the hands and the mind to build a multi-layered world of learning with lasting impact.

Make your own cheese

Renditions of this cheese recipe have been around for hundreds of years. It is made with an enzyme called rennet, which is available in tablet form at many grocery stores.

What you will need:

• 1 quart of milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 rennet tablet (called Junket at your grocer)
• cheesecloth or muslin
• wooden spoon and bowl

Warm the milk to body temperature either in a microwave oven or in a saucepan on the stove. Crush the Junket tablet and add a little cold water. Mix this into the warm milk and stir. The rennet will begin to immediately bond with the protein in the milk and create thick curds and whey. (Remember Little Miss Muffet?)

Allow the mixture to set in a warm place for around fifteen minutes, then slice the thickened mixture with a butter knife into 2-inch squares. Stir in the salt.

Now you are ready to drain the cheese. Hold the cheesecloth or muslin across a bowl and have your child pour the cheese into the cloth. Gather the corners together and tie the bag to a wooden spoon. Lay the spoon across the bowl for the cheese to drain into, squeezing the bag occasionally. You can also lay the cheese and cheesecloth in a colander and place in a big bowl to catch drips. Left in a cool place, your cheese will be ready to eat within 12 hours. It will keep two to three days in the refrigerator.

Rubbings in the city

City streets are good places to capture the art in manhole covers, building plaques, and tree grates. Keep your eyes open on your walk; any raised design or interesting texture works well. You can also make rubbings of leaves and textures from the backyard.

What you will need:

• butcher paper (the meat department in your local store or a butcher will have some to sell or give away) or freezer paper
• ‘cray pas’ oil pastels with the paper cover removed (charcoal and crayons work too)
• small whisk type broom

Take a walk downtown in your city or town and keep a sharp eye out for interesting textures, plaques, or manhole covers. When you find one, use the whisk-broom to brush small rocks and debris from it. Next, lay the paper waxed side down over the texture or manhole cover, and with the cray pas or crayon held long side down, rub it over the paper until the design appears.

Make a portfolio of different designs from other cities. You can also make rubbings in cemeteries of relatives or ancestors.

Blind in the backyard

It is amazing how visually dependent we are and yet this activity demonstrates how our other senses can jump to the rescue and inform us about our environment when we ask them to. It is also a good activity for building trust.

What you will need:

• rope approximately 15 to 20 feet (a long jump rope works well)
• blindfolds for the number of participants (putting duct tape over the lenses of old ski goggles works great too)

Space people evenly along the rope and blindfold them (younger kids may want to close their eyes instead of being blindfolded). The leader is not blindfolded. Each person holds the rope with one or both hands, then the leader slowly pulls the rope and leads everyone around, over, and through various obstacles, calling out instructions such as ‘step up’ or ‘duck under’, when necessary. Take turns being the leader.