This time last week I was heading to the train station with Esther to accompany her and her class for their annual kindergarten excursion.
Esther was excited the moment she was told about the trip and I had to admit, I was pretty excited too.
I remember loving excursions as a youngster and still remember my first excursion to the QLD Museum when I was 6. I remember being fascinated by the Dinosaurs and the outer shell of the plane that crashed into O’Reilly’s rainforest. Well at least I think it was that plane. I do remember feeling sad when I saw it.
One of the benefits of being a stay-at-home mum is being available as an extra set of hands at excursions. It was one of the parts of parenting that excited me when Jacob and I talked about having a family. To be able to watch my own kids in wonder, discovering new things, as I did many years ago.
The excursion included a train trip to Ipswich and we spent most of our time in the Ipswich Art Gallery which has a children’s gallery section that encourages children (and their parents) to use their imagination.
We were told to use our imaginations to make something that fit around the themes that were up on each of the four walls. One wall was about boats (or under the sea), another about birds, another about flowers and the last wall was about the city.
Esther and I got to work on creating a rainbow. Esther’s craft was a deconstructed rainbow of sorts on a card with pipe cleaner springs. I got to work making my own rainbow. Sometimes Esther got into me for not paying enough attention to her craft. I probably got a bit engrossed in making my own rainbow. But I loved it because all the stuff was set out for us to use and the kids cleaned up their mess. It’s easy to zone into your creativity when you don’t have to prepare or think about the mess. This was my creation….
After the kids got to share about their ‘art’, it was time for a story. The kids have been learning about rhyming words. The teacher asked the kids what rhymed with cat and the kids would reply with a word. When the teacher asked, “what rhymes with log?” Esther was quick to shout out ‘BLOG’, which had all the parents and teachers laughing, myself included.
After some playtime and lunch in a nearby park, Esther and I had a peek around the displays in the gallery.
Of course I was drawn to this artwork by Christopher Pine. Who knew plumbing could be artwork? Plumbers can add ‘artist’ to their list of skills. While I don’t want to criticize the artist’s creativity, I was bemused to see rusted gal pipes put together to create something… new.
The excursion was fun, although we did have some tears caused by high expectations around the park, which I think was elevated from being hot and tired.
It was a great excursion. Esther enjoyed it so much she has asked to go on holiday to Ipswich. I told her we’d go out for another day trip instead.
Sometimes, I do forget to be grateful for being able to work from home so I can be available during the day with my girls.
I can’t wait to attend more excursions and the sports carnivals so I can cheer my girls on at the sidelines.
But best not to get ahead of myself.
Have you ever gone on an excursion with your child? Ever seen some ‘surprising’ art?
I’m linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT.
