Go on an autumn road trip with the goal of learning something new
School field trips were an excellent excuse to get out of the classroom for a couple hours. If only every day of school could have been like this – learning about something while actually seeing it or even doing it firsthand, complete with a bumpy bus ride.
With a bit of research and planning, your next fall road trip can double as an educational and fun field trip, no permission forms required.
Book a factory tour
When your kid asks you how chocolate, bagels or sneakers are made, you can hit up Google, or you can take it one step further and go straight to the source: the factory where the item was made. Many factories across North America offer tours (just take it from Factory Tours USA or this article about tours in Canada). These tours are cheap or even free, and sometimes they’re self-guided, letting you look at all the cool machinery from a safe distance. Also, if the factory makes food, can you say free samples? Read more...
Now that the dust has settled after the back-to-school rush, you’ve probably heard some stories about your small’s school experience. And maybe their teacher is a meanie, they hate homework and the school bully keeps stealing their lunch. Here are five films you can watch together to be reminded that school can be a place of wonder and magic. Or that things could be much, much worse.
1. Matilda (1996)
We’re pretty much fans of any Roald Dahl book movie adaption, and we love the close friendship that develops between this story’s protagonist and the appropriately named Miss Honey. But even the most nightmarish real-life faculty member has nothing on the evil Miss Trunchbull, who is rumoured to put misbehaving kids into a torture device known as the “chokey.”
We at Bunchland are total saps for beautiful fall foliage. Trees bursting with fiery autumnal colours are a feast for the eyes. We’re also suckers for a nice big leaf pile just begging to be jumped in and pressing pretty leaves between book covers. Sadly, urban centres have become less-than-ideal places to indulge in the gorgeous sight of fall leaves, thanks to pollution from cars and power plants.
What’s a city-dwelling family to do? We recommend making up a thermos of hot apple cider, hopping in the car and hitting the road en route to one of North America’s best spots for watching the leaves change colour.
We searched “Beacon Hill Park Victoria” in Flickr and found plenty of photos like this one: tree-lined paths that look like something out of a dream. We can almost hear the crunch of fallen leaves under our feet.
We all had that one special teacher who was our favourite. Maybe because they taught us the one thing that’s stuck in our head our whole lives, or maybe because we were clearly their favourite too. Here are five teachers who inspire us (well, technically eight).
Recess Monkey are three elementary school teachers from Seattle who started one of the best kindie bands out there. They played at Kidzapalooza in August, and their CD The Final Funktier is a staple of our iTunes player. We want to live on a marshmallow farm with them. Read more...
School is officially back in session, and we’ve got the best way to get your brains back in shape: make slime! Using science!
Connor, the 16-year-old entrepreneur behind Connor’s Kits for Kids, mailed us his Polymer Power kit, and we’re pretty stoked to try it. It’s just one of four kits you can buy from Connor’s website. You can see Polymer Power in action in the video up there, shot when Connor did one of his many visits to schools to get kids interested in science (and starting their own business they way he did).
Back-to-school is more than just a time of year when we run around like maniacs buying school supplies and clothes. It’s a feeling. It’s a mood we get in that makes us want to pack up our bikinis and flip-flops and shoo away the summer humidity in favour of the fresh, clean air of fall, big cozy sweaters, freshly-sharpened pencils, steaming cups of apple cider and colourful leaves crunching beneath our feet.
And here’s the other thing: even though it’s not cool to admit it, we love school. Learning new stuff is the best, and enjoying it totally doesn’t make you a dork.
If you’re ready to say goodbye to summer and join us for the best fall ever, a fall full of learning, excitement and new beginnings, then congratulations. You are enrolled in Bunchland P.S., our fictional institute of higher learning. As a student here, your family will regularly receive “homework” of the insanely awesome kind, the kind you actually can’t wait to do.
