Field Trip to the Pet Store

Today we went on a "field trip" to the pet and hobby store to get some gravel for our terrarium. We rode our bikes and it was a perfect summer day, with a trip to the downtown ice cream shoppe afterwards.

I call it a field trip because I try to make all adventures around town into field trips. It's what I call "Family-Centered Field Trips". Sometimes we go on organized field trips with homeschool groups or family but most of our learning adventures take place doing errands around town and around the area. Errands are one of our favorite events because we plan a little extra time for them and always make each one a learning experience about our neighborhood, community, and world.

The pet store was great because all the cages are labeled so I could identify exactly what animal was in there and point it out to Hunter. Of course in the short thirty minutes we were there I did not get to all the animals but we still thoroughly enjoyed observing the ones I did point out. "Nemo" (Clown fish) and "Dory" (Regal Blue Tang) were favorites of the fish section.

When we went into the mammal and bird section he was really timid about getting near the cages, until one of the parrots said "Hi" to him! He was thrilled, and lost all shyness around the animals. Giggling excitedly, he began carrying on a conversation with the bird asking him about his toys, the rats, and his beak. After that he was interested in the chinchilla, rats, hedgehog, and gerbils without restraint.

It was fun. I'm sure we'll visit again soon, learn more, enjoy more. I just really love these little family-friendly field trips.




"For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them."

Ecclesiastes 9:12

Hunter is 3 years, 2 months old