The weather was gorgeous, Care Bear was home, I was feeling motivated, and bonus – I have a voucher I got from Living Social. Score! All of this made for a beautiful day at the arboretum. I’m so thankful I got the photography classes for Care Bear not long ago so she has something to do. I guess teens aren’t big into just walking around looking at plants. Who knew.

I love all the benefits of taking a day to visit the arboretum! Like what? Well, for starters…

Appreciation of nature

The arboretum is designed beautifully, and it’s hard to not have an appreciation for each area of the garden. I think we are stuck inside too often, and I’m definitely guilty of this also, and then when we are outside, it’s just to get from point A to point B. We need to take more time to really take a minute and look at what’s in front of our face.

Learning colors

Little Miss had a great time, and really enjoyed pointing out the wide variety of flowers and plants. Who needs flash cards and books when you have Allah’s creation right in front of you? Lessons are so much more real when there’s exciting things to look at and experience. Sure, flash cards and books can look great, but it doesn’t compare to roses and a lilly and hydrangeas.

Eco system

There were many bees buzzing around, so we got to talk about what the bees eat, and what the plants eat. Plus, they have a fragrant herb garden, so we could talk about how some of the plants are food for us as well! Also, we got to see tadpoles in one of the fountains, and teeny tiny frogs! Little Miss thought it was pretty cool, and I have to say I thought it was pretty neat to finally see a tadpole in real life also.

Photography

Care Bear got some practice in with her camera. She really enjoys using the manual focus, and I asked her to use the auto focus for some pictures so she can compare. Both will give her a bit of experience and see if this is a hobby she wants to continue with. And hey, at least she is a willing participant on trips such as this!

Classification

Everything is labeled at the arboretum, so we can easily classify things, but one surprise we had was a pair of bugs that were hanging out on a park bench. I won’t include the picture because it looks a little creepy, but it was the oddest thing. They didn’t even look to be the same type of bug, but one was hanging off the other. I had Care Bear take a picture so we could look it up later and find out why they were hanging out like that. I’m interested to find out!

I’m sure I could have found a book about flowers for Little Miss to read with her if I had planned this outing a little further ahead of time. Still, I think we benefited quite a bit, even just to get out and enjoy the weather.