Boston's Freedom Trail

The Freedom Trail is high on the list of ‘must see’ sights of Boston. But how to do the Freedom Trail with kids? Boston by Foot offered us a solution with their special tour Boston By Little Feet.

http://www.bostonbyfoot.org/tours/Boston_By_Little_Feet

Boston by Little Feet is at aimed at 6-12 year olds and is 60 minutes long. We learned lots and visited 10 of the main Freedom Trail sites that were reasonably close together. (We walked less than 1 mile in total.) We saw other walking tours with a lot more people and a lot more walking involved. So a shorter, smaller tour was a winner for us. We were very grateful that our guide went at the pace of the children in our group and involved them in spotting things and answering questions.

However, I do wish we had all done our homework a little more! It turns out that I knew very little about the American Revolution- it doesn’t really feature on the British primary curriculum. There was a lot of information to take in on the tour. I recommend looking through a book or watching a video clip together that includes the basic facts.

The highlights of the tour for us were taking a seat on the Democrat donkey and trying out the ‘walk in’ pews at a church. Boston by Little Feet is a great way to get an overview of The Freedom trail in a way that is accessible to families.

Comments

Starting School

Starting school is a huge event in a child’s (and parent’s) life. There are new routines, new clothes and other new children. Having seen this transition as a Deputy Head Teacher, and more recently as a parent, I believe that there are some things that parents can do to make this move as smooth as possible. Here are my top four thoughts. Firstly, there are some brilliant books about starting school. My all-time favourite is Starting School by the Alhbergs. It’s obviously dated in parts. For instance, most schools won’t have a mum who comes into school to play the piano! However, it is beautifully illustrated and shows the different parts of the school day and events during the first term at school which provide lots to talk about. Other great titles are ‘Bella Starts School’ and ‘Harry and the Dinosaurs go to School’, both by Ian Whybrow. It’s well worth investing in a book or two, as they can be revisited lots of times during the school year. Secondly, ...

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

Birmingham’s Symphony Hall is an impressive venue. What better place, therefore, to see and hear the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) perform a special family concert: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. When Catherine Arlidge walked onto the stage to present the show, I just knew that we were going to enjoy it. I have been to family concerts hosted by her before and she has a relaxed, fun style that puts everyone at ease. The concert was split into bite sized chunks with children waiting for the pause button visual at the end of musical pieces to shout out “PAUSE" before finding out more about the orchestra and enjoying games with Catherine. The show lasted about an hour and passed quickly- even for my eight month old who was being bounced on my lap. Catherine explained that the orchestra was colour coded for the performance. For instance, all the strings were wearing red. This visual image made it very straightforward for the children in the audi...

MiniBrum

What is it? MiniBrum is a play space for under eights based on the theme of a mini Birmingham. There are different areas for children to explore including a canal barge, a construction zone and a shop. The whole of MiniBrum is designed to support children’s role play and exploration of real life spaces. The unique interactive gallery has been created with the input of over 800 children and families from across Birmingham. Where is it? Mini Brum is part of ThinkTank which is Birmingham’s science museum. MiniBrum is on the third floor next to the recently revamped planetarium. Entry to ThinkTank is £14 per adult and £10.25 per child. Under 3’s are free and during Birmingham term time there is a special adult and toddler (aged 3-5) ticket for £15. Another great offer is the £3 per person entry fee after 3pm on term time weekdays. When does it open? It opens to the public on 25 th May in time for half term. I would expect it to be very busy. My advice woul...

Capable Child

Search This Blog