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What I Did For Summer Vacation: Creating Educational Experiences for Children

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When I was a young girl, summer vacation translated into long road trips to visit cousins, aging aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Sometimes, as my family and I were invited into small dark row houses, I didn't quite catch the name or the family connection of the person we were visiting.

I'd sit in a nearby chair or on the edge of someone's bed and get to listening. I was an introverted child, so listening (and reading paperbacks) were two of the things that I did best.

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The adults would get to talking, telling stories from a million years ago (in my opinion) of dusty streets, and fine beautiful places where my elders were not allowed to go. As a teen, I was able to put two and two together, and get what they were saying, or so I thought. As I reflect on those days, I see now that there are some techniques to transform vacation family visits into learning opportunities for our children.

1. Pre-Teach

Give children a heads up of who they are likely to see during the visit. If you are visiting distant relatives, make sure that you review how the children a related. Creating a family tree is a great project for these trips to visit out-of-town relatives.

2. Engage

During the visit, be sure to help the child interact with their relatives. Focus the child on older relatives before sending them off to play with children their own age. Guide the child in asking questions about their relatives. Possible questions can center on their relatives occupation (or former occupation) hobbies, or anything that's important to that relative. It's amazing at how many children I've taught who didn't even know their parent's occupation beyond saying that he/she is a business person or works in an office or a store.

3. Capture the Memories

Get that camera phone out and click, click, click. Photograph relatives, friends, and places. Consider yourself the family historian. The photographs will help your children remember the details from the trip. Photographs will make your trips more real for children who are too young to remember them.

4. Review

When you make it back home, review the names and connections of the people your child met in addition to your banter about the fun that you had.

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