5th Mindful Monday Word-Adventure
Some journeys take us far from home, some adventures lead us to our destiny. C.S. Lewis
Graphic by Joni Downey
When was the last time you went on an adventure? Once you’ve been on one, you crave more! My first adventure was with a dear friend, Tina. She said to me, would you like to go on an adventure with me? And, the timing was perfect in my life because my husband was traveling, our kids are grown and I didn’t have any commitments to hold me back! I said, Yes! We loaded her Smart Car and drove down to Louisiana to an art retreat which turned my life around. The instructor gathered us all around the tables and asked us one by one, “what brings you here” and I replied, “I need to find Joni again!” I hadn’t really thought about it, it’s just what came out of my mouth! Adventures mean different things to different people, and this, was one of my great adventures in that chapter of my life. Adventures are different for all of us, from a simple task to extreme risks if you will, adventures mean different things to different people. Me, I like to look at life through a child’s eyes, that’s an adventure in itself!
When our kids were little, I’d take them on adventures, never really thinking about all that they were learning while exploring and engaging in activities. For example, we’d go on adventures in our own back yard! We were explores of the unknown, finding squishy, wiggly worms from the rain the night before. We found buds on the trees and flowers popping through the soil after a good rain. Sometimes, we’d take a plastic bottle and place it out front in the street along the curb where a heavy rainfall filled our street. Those were simpler times and we did simple things! Today, when you think of an adventure, I think one might think of hiking the mountains, skydiving from a plane, trying extravagant foods and traveling to obscure places. When in reality, an adventure can take place in your own home and in your own community or backyard. Adventures should be age appropriate at all times and of course well thought out if truly being adventures for safety reasons. However, for me, working with young children, our adventures fill my heart with so much joy seeing the children learn new things and share new ideas. As I’m writing this, I’m wondering which one of our Characters of Character would be adventurous? Perhaps Behavior Bear exploring new terrain and learn from others behaviors, or Do’er Duck who keeps on trying new things and doesn’t give up, or even Responsible Rabbit staying safe during adventures.
I’ve put together some tips and ideas for adventures to go on and explore with your young children:
Hiking or walking. A simple adventure but so much to explore, see and learn about. Make it fun! Create and print out a page with different bugs on it, or different types of trees or flowers. While you’re on your walk or hike, how many can you find? Depending on your location, add pine cones, different animals you might come across. Depending on the season, look for different types of leaves, different colors of leaves and what type of trees the leaves come from, this is fun! Collect your findings if you’re able to and place in a jar, use as a visual and have your children write about their hike and walk in a journal, draw pictures and write about the experience. A rainy day will find different adventures with slippery slopes and a hot sunny day might find you swatting at flies! Try taking adventures in different seasons and locations.
Gardens are quite adventurous because one never knows what kind of creepy crawlers you might find! Plant a vegetable garden and let your children help with planting the seeds, labeling the garden plant, watering and watching it grow. Then again, let them write about the adventures of gardening in a journal! Do the same with a flower garden, the pretty pictures they’ll create using their imaginations will be priceless and who knows, once they actually taste the vegetables from the garden, you might be raising the next great chef!
Make a bird feeder to put in your yard! Again, checking out the different birds that you’ll attract will be fun and even more fun when you can hear their songs, listen to the sounds that the different birds make. Research some birds in your area where you live, watch your children on their adventure spot cardinals, bluejays, crows and more. Again, encourage your child to write about them in their journal and draw pictures of the birds they find. Not to mention the different critters that will be attracted by your bird feeder, like squirrels, raccoons, foxes and more, animals are always on great adventures, too you know!
Nature is amazing, go on adventures to show your children the different clouds that float in the sky, the different flowers that bloom, the beautiful trees that shed their leaves, the birds that chirp the most amazing songs and the beautiful animals that walk and go on hikes, too.
Depending on where you live, adventures are readily available to us, we need to be aware that our children really learn from a simple adventure, be it a walk outdoors and creating a treasure hunt, or creating an adventure in your home, make your own sheet with things you want your children to find in your home. Perhaps start in your kitchen, where would you find a measuring cup, a dinner plate, a spoon, the kitchen sink, etc. You’re teaching your child to be persistent in finding what is put before them, and when they are asked to set the table, help bake something, or clear the table, they’ll know what you’re asking of them because on their adventure they found and are familiar with all these things! As they grow of course, you’ll introduce them to more things in the kitchen as needed. Make it fun! Move onto the playroom or bedroom! There are lots of treasures in there, haha, or a Heep of ‘stuff’ as I remember our kids rooms. Using pictures, words or clues, ask your child to find the books they were reading, where do they go? Yes, on the bookshelf! Ask your child to find dirty clothes, where do they go, Yes, the hamper! Ask your child to find the dirty cup, where does it go? Yes, the kitchen sink! You get the gist of it, make adventures fun, from simple scavenger hunts in your home, your yard and your community. Be adventurous!
If you’re reading this on Mindful Monday, your adventure may be to get yourself out the door and the day started! Embrace it, tackle it, jump in with both feet and make the most of it…Joni
Click on the template above to print out and go on an adventure with your kids! If you’d like to follow through with some additional activities to help teach perseverance with Do’er Duck, visit our YouTube Chanel this is the template for Do’er Duck headband. and our books on Amazon to help reinforce this value, perseverance. You can make a difference in the life of a child by supporting our organization here. Visit us on YouTube here.
Tell me and I forget, Teach me and I remember, Involve me and I learn. Benjamin Franklin
This is an acrylic I painted over the weekend, I’ll print it and use it as a journal cover when I go on my next adventure! Joni