“Journey to the Cross” is an outdoor Easter play that our family has attended for the last few years. You walk down a path representing the life of Jesus, especially the last week of His life. The Last Supper, the betrayal by Judas, the Garden of Gethsemane, the crucifixion, and the resurrection are all depicted as if it were really happening. The costumes and scenery are also well-done. We recorded it so that others could feel the experience:
Posts Tagged ‘field trip’
Journey to the Cross Outdoor Easter Play
Saturday, March 31st, 2012Here Kitty, Kitty…
Thursday, April 28th, 2011
Do you wonder what it would be like to have an exotic animal as a pet? I always toyed with the idea of having a pet jaguar, my favorite animal. (I could keep it in the basement with any unruly children, you know.) Well, Cat Tales Zoo is full of large cats that used to be the pets of actual (eccentric) people. The tour guide tells you stories about each feline, how many people they’ve killed, and how they came to be in a zoo.
They start by showing you the smallest wild cats, and you think, “Oh, they couldn’t hurt a fly.” Come to find out they’ve killed people. But as I stood there with my children, listening to the tour guide, I thought to myself, “These don’t look like ferocious felines at all. They’re lazing about like they’re on sedatives. They can hardly bother to yawn at you.”
So the sign saying, “Don’t Run: You Look Like Food” seemed like overkill to me.
A lion with a big fluffy mane was sleeping in his outhouse. Yes, it smelled like an outhouse but was more like a broken-down shed. He couldn’t bother to say hello. Later on, however, when we were on our way to the gift shop, we saw the lion step out and make his debut. He lazily walked about and let the tour guide rub him under the chin. “A little to the left…” he seemed to be saying.
The food for the large cats is kept in food lockers. One of the lockers said, “Other Meat: Unattended Children.” The tour guide tried to convince us that no actual children were in the meat locker. You could almost hear her laughing diabolically behind the scenes as she went to feed the animals.
On the way out, I saw two bird feeders inside one of the enclosed areas with a large cat. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor birdies. Fresh meat, you know. “Here, birdie, birdie… The big kitty won’t eat you…”
Fish Hatchery
Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
While studying underwater sea creatures, we decided to go on a tour of a local fish hatchery. When we arrived, a truck was being loaded with fish to dump into the local lakes. We saw a crane with a net filled with fish, dripping with excess water. The contents of the net were dumped into the main section of the truck, which was presumably filled with water.
We saw lots of cement containers filled with fish at different stages of growth. A tour guide even gave us a short lecture, pointing out the stages of a fish by showing us actual fish eggs at different stages of development.
As we were leaving, we saw a sign outside that showed a map of the fish hatchery. When we were driving away, I realized why people who go fishing need to pay for a fishing license. I thought fish were free, that they lived in lakes and rivers, and that if you were hungry, you could go catch a fish. I had no idea that expensive facilities provided the fish so that people could go fishing.
Visiting a Farm
Monday, October 18th, 2010
Visiting a farm can help your children understand where food comes from. This was our experience at a farm.
But for some reason, many of the farms around here have transformed themselves into quasi-amusement parks. Jumpy castles, trains, and pedal cars take the place of the traditional farm tour. Why? Who knows? I guess they’re trying to make money.
Yes, there was a big red barn at the farm we visited, and crops were growing. Farmers drove tractors, and supposedly there were some animals. It seems like every farm should have chickens and cows. The farm we went to last week had no animals that I could see, but there was a sign saying, “Don’t touch the animals.” I just shrugged to my kids.
My kids ran through
a hedge maze to a castle at the center. They played on a pirate ship at the end of the maze. After that, we got on a small train, and we rode around a large pumpkin patch, with some sort of orchard on the other side. When we hopped off the train, the kids went running to a huge slide (jumpy-castle style). Do jumpy castles belong at farms? Do trains? It seems like a hay ride would have been more appropriate.
After the slide, the kids enjoyed pedaling a car that seated a driver and a passenger. The kids drove around a dirt track. When the ride was over, the kids couldn’t wait to pick a pumpkin. Unfortunately the word “pick” has several meanings, and we were required to choose among several small pumpkins that were already “picked.” All in all, it was an academically disappointing day, but the kids had fun. It seems like if you went to a normal farm, you might be able to learn how to milk a cow and other fabulous things like that. Maybe next time I’ll look at the description a little bit better!
