What a FUN day it has been! The children have been SOOOO excited about this field trip ever since they heard about it a few weeks ago. It has been the talk of the classroom! It was a great way to finish up our community helper section in Social Studies and introduce our next section - learning about our country!
We actually all fit inside one vehicle for this field trip, which was a lot of fun! They were definitely a hyper bunch of kiddos on the way to Roadside America. When we were about 5 minutes away, I told them we would play the "Quiet Game", and when we parked at Roadside America, then they could give a big cheer! The few minutes of "silence" were definitely enjoyed by Alison (Leah's Mommy) and me!
Roadside America may not look like much from the front, but when you enter the room, it's quite amazing!
The children had so much fun pushing buttons - watching trains, trolleys, windmills, cable cars, oil wells, circus parades, and steam rollers move around!
There were 3 different levels, so you got a different view from each level. Of course, they thoroughly enjoyed being at the top level!
If you look real close at the following picture, you'll see the kiddos across the room enjoying being at the top level!
The highlight of Roadside America was definitely watching the "night time scene". All the main lights slowly dim - like the sun is setting - until it is all dark, except for the lights in the buildings and trains. They then light up the American flag and Statue of Liberty, and play the song "God Bless America." They all seemed to thoroughly enjoy it!
~Miss Follett with her Foursome~
It's tradition...unless it is raining, you simply have to get a picture in front of the Amish farmers when visiting Roadside America! It was rather blustery out today, but I still was determined to get that picture before we left! ;-)
We then headed off to McDonald's for lunch! The children were excited to be there, but at this point they just wanted to quickly eat their meal so they could play, and weren't too interested in smiling for "camera-happy" me! Oh well! :P
Surprisingly, although it was lunchtime, we pretty much had the place to ourselves! The few children that were there quickly became friends with my kiddos and made play time even more fun! The blue twisty slide was definitely the hit!
Way up high, having fun :-)
Before we headed back to school, they got to enjoy an ice cream cone!
I think my kiddos would be thrilled if we could just move Roadside America and McDonald's play area into our classroom. ;-) They definitely seemed to have a great time!!
