learning navigation

Our life, so it seems, has lots of car travel in it. To and from school, to and from preschool, music, swimming, piano... it seems not long after I hang up my keys that I am reaching for them again. BRING ON THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS I SAY!


Whilst in the car, my kids have always made up games. Eye spy, number plate games,  pick the colour car have all been favourites. Recently we have come up with more games, some that are sneakily teaching them some awesome things.

Yesterday, as Jared, Amahli and I travelled home from the library, I asked him if he could get us to our house. We talked about what was left and right and he assured me he could do it and giggled at the thought of being "king of the car".

And so we took off. He began really well,  starting with leading us in a particular route home ( Port is a pretty small place, we have a few different ways to get home but pretty much all roads lead there... eventually) and I was fairly confident that he knew exactly where he was going.

It was raining so vision was a bit blurred. I continued to get him to use the words left and right in his directions for me. Suddenly, about 10 minutes into our trip home he tells me to turn right around the roundabout and turn around. A couple of times I asked him if this was what he wanted, and he was adamant that he was going the right way. "Trust me Mum!" And so I turned around headed in the direction he told me to go. Considering I didnt really have anywhere to be, I figured we had time :)

Very quickly he picked up the left and right directions and soon had me on a different path to home, one that is actually my favourite as it leads us past all the beaches ( we pass 5 on our way home on this route). Its not one we go on very often, its a longer route and a slower one, but quite obviously he knew it as his favourite too.

When we hit our driveway, he exclaimed " Mum! I DID IT! I got us home!"
This whole adventure, something so easy and not a great deal, let this little guy learn so much in such a  simple way.

This experience showed:

Left and right ( HUGE considering his mother still holds up her hand to see which one makes an "L" shape)

Practising memory recall

Increases awareness of his environment

Adds to self confidence, self esteem and sense of pride.

All of that in a simple trip  home :)