Experiences?

[finleysmaid]

So already I am looking forward!! I seem to have children who lack life experiences they don't appear to go anywhere or do much except in the house .

If I can get some grant funding I would like to try and redress this balance a bit next year ...so if I asked you what do you think are the experiences you have offered that the children get the most out of? I'm not talking about the everyday things...we give them lots of variety ! but outings/visits in/places to go/ things to do etc etc

Ideally I fit these in with their interests but they don't seem to have any!!!!!

[louby loo]

Well today (at our Town Show)..

I've arranged for a Therapy Dog to visit next term - I watched him in action and he was fantastic interacting with the children.

And I am in negotiations with a local Alpacca owner, they were so docile I wanted to bring one home.  

Also managed to book a last minute entertainer for our leavers celebration Thursday.  We usually spend the day in the forest- but at the moment we have rain and thunderstorms forecast  so need a back up plan. We very very  rarely have an entertainer in so it will be a different experience for us, not sure about the children though with all the parties they seem to have!

[smudge65]

We used to do lots of visits/outings and one of the favourites for the children was going to the library. I know it sounds low key but they loved the whole experience of choosing their own book, and being able to take it away.  Most of the children didn't go regularly, or at all, so it was exciting for them.

[Panders]

Similar to Loubyloo, ours enjoyed a visit from a puppy walker for seeing eye dogs.   She is a neighbour and has been puppy walking for a very long time.   She visits a few schools etc. in the area and it is mutually beneficial.

I also think that they should meet local service people.   We had some great visits from Community Police etc.    The Librarian used to visit as did the museum curator who had an outreach project on the go.  She would arrive with artefacts and wrapped up in tissue individually and would engage with the children in telling a story and each child would get to unwrap a treasure.

As a group we would have been hard pushed to get the children out on visits I'm afraid, so in the main people came to us.    Years back however, it was farm visits, zoos and a great one to the seaside.

[AliceinWonderland]

We are lucky where we are based, close to the beach, library and a park, also within striking distance of the RNLI who we have visited a few times. We have people visit us too, such as police, ambulance etc we also have someone local who does a mobile zoo very reasonably priced and he brings a selection of exotic animals for the children to see. We have done a visit to the Zoo and a farm before but this is very dependant on numbers of children as I prefer a higher ratio of staff for those sort of trips, so usually ends up being in the holidays. We also take them to the local shops to buy biscuits etc for icing. 

[Stargrower]

Using public transport?  Have your children travelled by bus or train?

[sunnyday]

22 hours ago, finleysmaid said:

So already I am looking forward!! I seem to have children who lack life experiences they don't appear to go anywhere or do much except in the house .

If I can get some grant funding I would like to try and redress this balance a bit next year ...so if I asked you what do you think are the experiences you have offered that the children get the most out of? I'm not talking about the everyday things...we give them lots of variety ! but outings/visits in/places to go/ things to do etc etc

Ideally I fit these in with their interests but they don't seem to have any!!!!!

'Cultural Capital'?

Nothing to add to the fantastic suggestions upthread

[sunnyday]

Oooh just a thought we have had the local Plant Nursery owner visit and help children to plant seeds and pot on violas - we do this sort of thing ourselves but good to have someone 'come in'

[finleysmaid]

1 hour ago, sunnyday said:

'Cultural Capital'?

 definitely in my radar!

 

[finleysmaid]

Some fab ideas ...does everyone still ask their parents what they do for a living? ...we used to do this but took it off (GDPR) but thinking we might now ask as a voluntary question

[AliceinWonderland]

21 hours ago, Stargrower said:

Using public transport?  Have your children travelled by bus or train?

We have taken the children on a tram and by taxi, we have risk assessments in place. Not tried the bus but may do in the future, just depends on where we go.