Field Trip: Animal Encounters, Rio Salado Audubon Center

We are always on the lookout for free, family-friendly activities to enjoy, so when I spotted something about this one we jumped right on it.

The Rio Salado Audubon Center in Phoenix, AZ is a really neat place. Inside you have a small visitor center with displays on the water cycle and water management. It's not huge, but what is there was interesting. Outside there is a beaver pond surrounded by pretty gardens, and even a unique little play area for the kids. There are walking paths around the gardens, as well as down to the nearby river.

 Every second Saturday, October-April, the center has their Animal Encounters event, where they bring birds from a rescue center and teach the public about the animals and about their program. It's all free and really fun for the whole family. We got there a bit early so we took a while to go outside to explore, birdwatch, and play.

The kids loved the butterfly garden. There weren't really any butterflies around that day, but we loved the play structures.

When it was time, we headed back inside to learn about some birds. It was really fascinating, and so fun to see these beautiful animals in person.

A falcon. 

Red-Tailed Hawk

Red-Tailed Hawk

Gray Hawk? I don't remember for sure. 

After seeing all the birds we went back outside for a picnic and some more playing and exploring.

We found a path that led down to the river and enjoyed wandering that direction. The kids are always excited to get to find some water.

This was such a fun place to visit with our family, and such a great way to learn more about the animals that live all around us.

Field Trip: Fire Station Tour

 Earlier this week we got to go on an awesome field trip with our friends from our Summer Reading Playgroup. We had all missed a public tour of the fire station earlier in the summer, and we were disappointed not to get to go. I decided to look into it, and found out that all that stood between us all and getting our kids into the fire station was a simple online form. We picked a day, got our form turned in, and we were ready to go!

My kids and I were the first ones to get there, so we goofed around while we waited for the rest of the group to get there.

 We got to tour the living quarters of the station (which that adults thought was interesting), but the real excitement was when we finally got to go out into the engine bay and see the trucks. Oh boy were the kids excited! One of the fire fighters "turned out" in his full gear so the kids could see it all. They got to check out each piece before it got put on, which was really fun.

 It was sure hot out in the engine bay, we were grateful to get to be the ones watching the whole "turn out" process, but not have to do it ourselves. That poor firefighter was sweating up a storm!

Doing a dance, or putting on suspenders...you decide. :)

 The kids were fascinated to watch as the firefighter put his gear on, but once he had the face mask on and the air regulator going they were not so sure about going anywhere near him. It's so good for them to have a chance to see that this is not someone to be scared of in case they are ever in a situation where they need to be rescued. Seeing how scared the kids were made me think this is something we ought to do every year so they get to see it often enough to remember.

 The kids all got fire hats and other trinkets to take home with them, which of course is always a plus!

 What an awesome way to spend a day! I highly recommend reaching out to your local fire station to see if you can do a tour like this!

Field Trip: Phoenix Children's Museum

 We got to spend a few days after Thanksgiving with our family in Gilbert, AZ. While we were there they took us to visit the Phoenix Children's Museum. It was SO much fun!  ***Warning, lots of pictures coming your way! :) 

 One of the first things you see when you get past the admissions desk is this amazing climber. It is huge (at least 2 stories tall) and full of fun and wacky things to climb over, under, around, and through.

 It was so big that it was not too difficult to get somewhat turned around in there. I was glad we had enough adults to stick with our two older kids so they didn't get lost and panic.

 Once you're all climbed out, you can head farther into the museum to see all the other amazing places to play. Things like this kid size grocery store.

 One of our favorite rooms (and it's pretty hard to pick) was the Texture Cafe. An awesome kid-size "restaurant" where you kids can dress up and create yummy fabric culinary masterpieces. There is a seating area where moms and dads can wait for their meals to be brought to them.

 There was also a little baby area so little sibling could be corralled and entertained while the big kids played.

 In the art studio there are several different art projects the kids can choose to take part in. They had a lot of fun in here!

 The tricycle car wash was super fun. The kids kept going around and around through the whole thing.

 Sharli loved the face painting station, where each kid can paint their own master piece on them self or anyone else they can con into sitting still for them.

 And, if you somehow manage to get tired of the rooms and rooms of fun things to do inside there are some fun and unique play structures outside.

We had so much fun here, and look forward to going back someday!

Field Trip: Albuquerque Museum of Natural History

A local radio station was doing a promotion of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science that made it so we could get our whole family into the museum for free, so we decided to go for it.

We were even able to get tickets to a show in the planetarium, which is something I’ve always wanted to experience. Most of the museum was over Erik’s head, so we didn’t stay as long as we would’ve liked, but he did enjoy their special hands-on exploration room. He made animal tracks in the sand,

 watched lizards, snakes, reptiles, and fish do their thing,

 and got up close and personal with some butterflies.

Someday, when Erik’s a little older, we’ll go back here and really enjoy it to its fullest. For this visit it was enough to just get a glimpse and relive some childhood memories. 

Field Trip: Rio Grande Zoo

A while back we took Erik on a trip to see the local zoo. It was really a lot of fun! We spent a couple of hours wandering around looking at and talking about some of his favorite animals, most of which he's only ever seen in pictures.

He LOVES elephants, we watched these guys for a long time!

 It was fun to expand his vocabulary as we talked about the names of the different animals, many he already knew, but some he'd never seen or heard of before. We were there in the early morning when many of the animals were just getting started on their breakfast, so we got to talk about what the different animals each eat. 

We worked on gross motor skills running and jumping and climbing our way around the zoo.

 We also bought a few handfuls of food to feed to the ducks and fish in the pond. Having to pinch up the little bits of food was good for his little fingers.

Outings like this are such a great way to work on so many valuable skills with your child, as well as build their self esteem by making them feel like they're a special part of your family. 

Field Trip: Belen Rail Yard/ Train Station

One of Erik's obsessions right now is trains. He LOVES them! Just about anywhere we drive around here we see railroad tracks. We can hear the train whistles from our house. One of our favorite weekend activities is riding the local commuter train up to Albuquerque and seeing the sights up there. And when he can't talk us into taking him on the train for a ride, he will happily settle for going and sitting at the train station or near the rail yard to just sit and watch the trains go by. 

 It's really fun to take  few moments to go and explore Erik's interests together. We talk about what kinds of cars the trains are pulling, and what the cargo is that they are carrying. We count how many engines are on each train. When traffic is slow we watch the pigeons flying around or watch the railroad employees going about their work and talk about what their doing.

This is such a simple thing, and is completely free, but I feel like Erik gets so much out of it. What a fun way to spend a few minutes together and build vocabulary and other skills at the same time!

Field Trip: Explora

 We've discovered  a new favorite place to go in Albuquerque. I'd been there as a kid and remembered it as being really fun, but I didn't think that Erik was old enough to appreciate it so we hadn't really planned on going any time soon. Then, one day we were going to be in ABQ for the afternoon and called Mom Mower and Aunt Abby to see if they wanted to meet up with us somewhere in town. They chose Explora, and we decided to give it a try.
To my surprise, Erik loved Explora more than he's loved any other place in his life. I've never seen him so engaged in anything for such a long time. He was fascinated by all the interesting things around him and actually played and explored clear through his whole nap time without every acting tired in the slightest. We've been back several times now, and it has yet to fail to hold the same fascination for all of us. I won't even try to show you all the neat exhibits and activities, here's just a few shots to give you an idea of what this place is like.

Exploring the effect of slope on the trajectory of a moving object.

Animating a movie with Aunt Abby.

One of the most beloved areas, TRAINS!

Drawing circles with Daddy.

Another favorite; giant bubbles!

Exploring electricity.

With even more exhibits on light, sound, water, music, air flow, color, etc we've killed many hours here already and plan to do so again soon! If you're in the area I highly recommend checking Explora out, and if you aren't I'd encourage you to look around and see if you can find something similar.

*Nobody paid me to write this, I just really love this place and thought I'd let others know it's out there.