BJU Press Blog

family fun

Field Trip Fun at the Farm

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farm field trips
Need an idea for a fun, educational field trip not far from home? Visit a local farm! It’s a great way to connect with people in your community and learn about livestock and crops with other homeschooling families. With a little effort, you should be able to find some nearby farms that will afford your children a valuable learning experience.

Starting a Farm Field Trip

First, decide what type of farm you want to visit. Are you more interested in learning about crops or animals? A good option is a mixed farm, which has both. There are subsistence farms, which are just for the farmer and his family. Then there are commercial farms, which grow crops and breed animals to sell to the public. You could also choose to tour a dairy, pig, or poultry farm.

Planning Your Farm Field Trip

The next step is finding a farm, which is now a lot easier to do thanks to the internet! Try to use as many specific search words as you can; for example, “local dairy farms near me.” In just a few minutes you will be able to find farms along with their hours, locations, and prices. Many websites also include directions and reviews.

Another great way to find a farm is to ask people who know the area well and can recommend a good one to visit. They can tell you the best way to get in touch with a farm, whether it’s via phone, Facebook, or a website.

Once you have found the ideal farm destination, contact the owners and arrange a tour. This is usually done by calling them on the phone or sending them a message through Facebook or email. Some farms require a minimum number of guests in order to book a tour, so you may want to invite some other homeschooling families to join you. Besides, it’s more fun to share an experience with friends!

Determining Details

To ensure a smoother field trip, you may want to discuss a few things with your group. First, consider traveling arrangements. Are you all going to drive together or just meet there? Second, think about time frames. How long would families like to stay? Depending on the type of farm, expect your visit to last between one and two hours. Third, don’t forget about post-trip plans. Does everyone want to go home or do something else, such as go to a park? On our last visit, one of the homeschooling moms invited the group to her house for lunch and playtime afterward.

Following Up

The ride home is a wonderful opportunity to ask your children what they learned at the farm. Here are just a few questions my daughters and I discussed after our last farm trip:

  • What was your favorite thing about the farm?
  • What is something new you discovered on the tour?
  • What did you learn about God on our trip?

Your Turn

Find a nearby farm, round up your family and friends, and enjoy a unique learning adventure!

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Jennifer is a pastor’s wife and mom of two young girls and loves homeschooling them. During her own twelve years of being homeschooled, Jennifer developed a passion for reading and writing. She earned a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and relishes writing during her free time.

Tips for Family Fun Night

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ideas for family fun night
Does your family need a change from the everyday routine? Does it seem like everyone is off by themselves absorbed in their own interests? Do you see your children draped across the furniture, their expressions glazed with boredom?  Time to plan a family night! These are great opportunities to bond as a family, have fun, and build stronger relationships with each other. It can be challenging to spend quality time together, especially when one or both parents works outside the home and have only the evenings and weekends with the rest of the family. But with some forethought and planning, you can schedule an evening full of memory-making activities your entire family can enjoy. Here are a few ideas to get you started as you plan your next family fun night.

Game Time

One of the best activities you can share as a family is playing games together. Even the very young can play simple ones such as Old Maid or Go Fish. With so wide a variety of card and board games available, your family can enjoy hours of fun interaction. Plan a start time, pop some popcorn, and clear the table for games—and put the phones away. You don’t have to be limited to the card and board versions, either; try some tried-and-true classics like charades, doggy doggy where’s your bone, blindman’s bluff, or hide and seek. Or, get creative and make your own board game!

Movie Night

Another easy amusement is watching a movie together. This is something we do with our daughters every so often, and they always get excited about it. After the movie is chosen, the girls change into their pajamas and grab their “snuggle essentials,” like their blankets and stuffed animals. I let them pick a special snack to munch on during the movie, and then we all cuddle up together and start the film.

The More the Merrier

You could also consider inviting another family to join yours for the evening. This is a wonderful way to reach out to families who may be struggling spiritually or who simply need some encouraging fellowship. Plan simple snack foods and several different games everyone can play; set out a puzzle for people to work on; prepare a few easy crafts for little ones to make. Or you could go somewhere nearby for an activity such as bowling or skating. This past Christmas we went over to some friends’ home for dinner, and then we all piled into their van to tour a local Christmas lights display. It was something simple, but we all had a very enjoyable time together and made some special memories with our friends.

Pick a Theme—Any Theme

One more suggestion is to plan a theme night and implement it in food, games, and other activities. For example, some friends of ours recently had “Grinch Night” with their family and wore Grinch-themed clothes, ate Grinch food, and watched the Grinch movie.

Whatever you choose for your next family night, make the most of your extra time together!

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Jennifer is a pastor’s wife and mom of two young girls and loves homeschooling them. During her own twelve years of being homeschooled, Jennifer developed a passion for reading and writing. She earned a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and relishes writing during her free time.

Make Your Own Family Board Game

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creating a family board game
What can you learn from a board game? A lot! When kids play board games, they practice various skills, including counting, color matching, strategy, addition, and reading. Depending on the game, more complex skills such as deduction, money management, or spelling may be involved.

Maybe your family is a little tired of the games you currently own; if so, why not create your own family board game? It’s an interactive activity that everyone can enjoy. Try these tips for getting started.

Start with a Theme or Idea for Your Board Game

First, you need an idea or a theme. Maybe your kids love racecars or dinosaurs or fairy-tale characters—any of those could be the beginning of an exciting game. For additional inspiration, check out blogs and websites that offer ideas for DIY board games.

Decide on the Structure 

You can let your kids run free, so to speak, designing their game with any rules or layout they prefer. However, if you really want it to work as a family board game, you may need to have a hand in planning the structure, especially if your kids are younger. It helps to have a goal or objective in mind—maybe collecting a certain number of items, reaching the end of the path first, solving a specific number of riddles, or completing a variety of challenges.

Are you struggling to come up with a workable game design? Consider modeling your creation after a familiar game such as Chutes & Ladders, Candyland, Monopoly, or another favorite, and then come up with a different layout, game pieces, and extra objectives or rules.

Create the Game Board

This part is probably the most enjoyable, especially if you have kids who love drawing, coloring, and crafting. The board could be simple—just some colored squares glued on paper in the shape of a path. It could be a complex map of a wilderness (complete with cliffs and waterfalls), a floor plan of the rooms of a castle, or a grid of hidden clues or challenges written on sticky notes.

If you have active children, consider making the board life-size! Draw it with markers on a cheap plastic tablecloth or an inexpensive white shower curtain, and let your kids use themselves or their stuffed animals and dolls as the game pieces.

Choose the Game Pieces

If you’re sticking with a traditional size for your family board game, you’ll need some game markers and other pieces. You can make your own spinner or borrow one from another game; a tiny hourglass or some dice are other items you can temporarily grab from a different game box.

If your kids are feeling really inventive, let them try fashioning their own dice, as well as cutting out and coloring the other game pieces. For a quicker solution, use anything you have on hand—Lego minifigures, small toys, craft sticks, cotton balls, pennies, seashells, or bottle caps.

Write Down the Rules—But Be Flexible

Before you begin, write down a few basic rules for your family board game. As you and your kids attempt to play it, you’ll probably discover some rules that don’t work well and others that need to be added. Remind your children that they are game developers and that game developers have to go through a testing phase before the game is perfect.

When it’s finished, you may have a wonderful game that your family can enjoy for years—or you may have a mess of paper and random objects that don’t really work well together. It’s OK either way! At least you’ll have enjoyed a session of creativity together as a family—and you can always try again!

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Rebecca is a work-at-home freelance writer, novelist, wife, and the mom of two bright-eyed little ones. She credits her success in writing and her love of books to her own mom, who homeschooled three kids from pre-K through high school.