Visiting Darwin City in the Northern Territory of Australia is a must for any world traveler but if you are homeschooling it gets even better. You see... Darwin City has an amazing botanical garden complete with some of our favorite dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs are generally a loved topic for many children and what's better than getting up close with these prehistoric animals. Entry is free to these beautifully kept botanical gardens with extensive grounds to enjoy. I wished I lived in that area when I taught my children about dinosaurs.
Imagine walking your children through a lush and peaceful garden and suddenly lurking behind these tall palms and tropical plants you encounter a T-rex, Tyrannosaurus rex, TYRANNOSAURIDAE
The best part is you can keep it quiet until they see it. Well... that's what I would do... children's reactions are always my favorite memories. An outing to the Darwin's botanical gardens turning into a dinosaur discovery experience! How cool would that be? So for all those homeschooling families on the road... make sure to visit our very own dinosaurs in Darwin. Australia actually has many real dinosaur fossils but that's another trip and another story which I'm hoping to cover soon when I leave the Northern Territory and head into outback Queensland in the hope of seeing more than a fiberglass prehistoric monster.
Allosaurus fragilis
Allosaurus
ALLOSAURIDAE
Kentrosaurus aethiopicus
Kentrosaurus
STEGOSAURIDAE
T-rex posing with my partner
Besides the dinosaur section the actual gardens are worthwhile wandering through. I have attached a few photos at the bottom of this post. The thing with these type of outings is that you have instant material on hand for your children to learn. Homeschooling is about getting out and about, where children experience the environment around them.
Utilise what you already have. Parks, gardens, playgrounds, beaches, forests, mountains, and even shops. I used to take the children shopping and their task was to find the cheapest of certain items or the best value whichever was the best obviously. They loved it! Instead of being cooped up inside they got to go out, talk to people and compete with each other... who found the bargains today?
Afterwards they would write about the trip, usually the next day. These sorts of things are educational and hands-on-learning. I'm a great believer of hands-on-learning because it suits most children down to the ground and gives them confidence and skill sets outside the normal classroom. Many of you might already be doing this, I hope so. Why would you not utilise your environment as a resource? More is learnt outside the classroom walls than inside those drab walls... no matter how many posters decorate them... they are still drab in my opinion.
Art is a must in any homeschool curriculum and shouldn't be a problem or be overly expensive. Even if you are not creative you can instill the love of Art into your children. Any drawing is better than no drawing. Any type of painting is better than none. One of my daughters is gifted in that area and she has always been into arts and creativity. Below is a line-art sketch she did of her favorite dinosaur.
You can get creative with drawing or photocopying a dinosaur on paper then transfer it to felt. Cut it out and make a felt board of dinosaurs. There are many websites that will show you how to make felt boards which might be helpful for some of you to learn about felt boards if you've never done one before.
You can get creative with a dinosaur theme for the rest of the week as long as your children are keen and interested. As soon as they loose interest it will become boring and it's time to venture out into something new.
Some more photos of Darwin's botanical gardens Northern Territory Australia.
Happy dinosauring my friends š¦
Ā©ļø ingridontheroad