Mini Field Trip: Make Your Lunch to Go

The benches in front of the Public Museum make a great spontaneous location for lunch along the river.
The benches in front of the Neville Public Museum make a great spontaneous location for lunch along the river.

I can’t emphasize enough, field trips don’t require lots of preparation and forethought. A last-minute lunch on the river or lake is a great field trip. I love river watching. There’s nothing like watching the Mississippi flow by in Iowa or Louisiana (or any state along the river), but if you don’t have the Mighty Mississippi close to home, any old river will do. In Green Bay, it will most likely be the Fox River. On any given summer day you can take a picnic, a snack or just a pad of paper and a pencil, pick a bench or a grassy spot and chat while you point out interesting stuff. Last weekend we decided to ditch the crowds at the Tall Ship Festival and eat our lunch on the river bank in front of the Neville Public Museum.

 

Night on the Fox River
This week, we took an evening rest on a bench by the river and watched the water skiers.

Pick something to keep your senses working

We chose to focus on boats, but you could focus on people, birds, plants or well, anything. Once we started looking we saw all kinds of watercraft: paddle boards, kayaks, a pontoon boat, fishing boats, speed boats, a Coast Guard boat, and the Foxy Lady dinner cruiser. We started to notice the sounds they made, their speed, and how they moved differently.

Other Possibilities

  • Listen for sounds you may not normally notice.
  • Draw your meal, the river, the plants, whatever moves you.
  • Play “I Spy”.
  • Sit in silence without sharing. Just observe and enjoy.
  • Imagine out loud what life was like on the river or lake when the area was just being settled.
  • Simply visit with each other.

I hope with low key field trips like these, we’re teaching P to enjoy the simple things in life. At the very least we’re squeezing in a little extra quality time.

 

View of the Fox River
Nope, it’s not the Mississippi, but there’s plenty to talk about when you sit on the banks of the Fox River for a while. We talked about the haunted Bellin Building on the far left.

Picnics aren’t just for lunch! Ever try a breakfast picnic?  Click here to see what we did for breakfast last month.

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