Where Will You Take Your Children

Being a child is one of the best parts of life many of us will ever remember. The only other time in my life that I enjoy as much is watching my children enjoy life. My job as a mother and grandmother is to help provide opportunities like my parents and grandparents did for me. In my opinion there are several things in life that I believe children must experience for their selves. Some will provide and education and others are simply for fun. My top five (5) places or events that children must experience are:

(1) The Zoo!!! What child does not love visiting the animals that they read about in books. As a child I visited the zoo many times. The big field trip at the end of school each year was the zoo. While educational it was also very fun to me. The shows that the monkeys and seals would put on were super fun to watch. One of my favorite zoos is located in St. Louis Illinois. Growing up we lived close enough to the zoo that my parents took us there every year. Oh what a great time we would have visiting the animals, learning what they ate and about their habitat. My granddaughter recently visited the zoo and her favorite animal was the elephant.

2) One of the places that we would visit each year when I was a kid was the State Fair. Once again very educational but very fun. There are so many things to see: the animals, the contest, the booths oh so many great things. We always would end up bringing home bags of items from the fair. Paraphernalia from the fair would often end up in our back to school collection because pencils and pens were often scored in great amounts. My mother the master gardener and I also traveled to the fair a few different times on the pursuit of the 4H blue ribbon Oh how fun.

3. Coming from a family with a farming background I was lucky enough to get out in the country see the farm animals, crops growing in the field and enjoy the fresh air. Many children are not as lucky. Every child in my opinion should be able to see a farm up close and personal. To know where our food comes from is very educational. To get out  in the fresh air and visit a farm is also very fun. There are many farms that have animals that allow children to get up close and personal. One of the coolest things that I remember as a kid is visiting the U of I extension fair where we could find out more about farm animals, how to milk a cow, and other great exciting things. 

4. Sporting events were often a family favorite of ours. When I asked my children where they loved to visit the baseball games was located near the top of the list. We could go and root on our favorite team as well as spend great time with family. The fun of watching professional sports was something that my children could relate to as they all played both school and summer sports.

5. Orchards and berry patches are both places that my children enjoyed as much as I did when I was a kid. We would take a picnic basket lunch with us as the trip would be an all day event. The family time without any distraction is always worthwhile. The chatter that you could hear as we all had fun working picking the fruit that we would share in the month to come was always something that was lots of fun.

Now while your list of great places to take your children may be different than mine these are the ones that came to my mind and my children's mind as being lots of great fun. All of these are simple trips that provide lots of fun memories at a very frugal price. I hope that you enjoy the summer with your children. What is the one place that you think all children should visit?

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Alamo blogging program, for a gift card worth $25. For more information on how you can participate, click here