Get kids excited for a try-something-new adventure when you pack an Adventure Kit together!
What you’ll need:
- small backpack or string bag
- water bottle
- notepad
- colored pencils
- small empty containers and/or plastic zipper storage bags (for collecting)
- sunscreen and insect repellant
- books
- adventure-specific items (see Directions)
- fabric markers
- scissors
- light-colored fabric or light-colored iron-on fabric patches
- needle and thread or iron
Directions:
Kids need adventures! Going on an adventure builds kids’ confidence and their ability to spot risks and deal with problems. Helping to plan the adventure and packing an Adventure Kit can add to kids’ comfort and feelings of security as you get ready to explore new places and see and do new things.
Your Adventure Kit can always be ready with the basics—and is great to have handy for spur-of-the-moment outings. As you plan specific adventures, talk with kids about what to pack and what to leave behind. These adventures can get you started or give you ideas for creating your own:
- Head to the woods with a wildflower field guide in your Adventure Kit to find the first wildflower of spring.
- Add binoculars and a bird field guide to your Adventure Kit and participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count (or other citizen science effort).
- Pack your Adventure Kit with sunglasses and a blanket for a trip to an open space for cloud watching and finding animal (or other) cloud shapes.
- Use a bus schedule to take public transportation to explore outdoor art (murals, sculpture, etc.) in your community. Pack a book about art in your Adventure Kit to read on the bus!
- Bring a flashlight, blanket, and book in your Adventure Kit for an out-at-night adventure of storytime under the stars.
When you get home from your adventures, talk with kids about what they saw and experienced. To commemorate and celebrate your adventure, have kids make an Adventure Patch for their kit. Kids can draw a scene or something special from the adventure using fabric markers on circles or squares of cloth or iron-on patch material. Sew or iron their patch to their Adventure Kit and get ready for the next adventure!