I think it is essential to teach our children life skills. Our children should know what to do if they become lost or if they have lost those who are with them. We love the outdoors and spend many of our weekends hiking. My husband was in Search and Rescue a few years ago and learned valuable life skills… one of these is… Tracking footprints.
Tracking footprints:
How to get started… You will need a long stick and some rubber bands. Have someone in the house with your children while you walk around the yard.
Place a start here sign before your first footprint.
Find the first two steps. The first rubber band closest to your hand will be the heel of the shoe. The second rubber band will be the front of the shoe. The third rubber band needs to go to the next heel of the second step. This will help you to determine how far the next step should be and where the next footprint is.
Above is a list of common shoe patterns.
This is a card that you can use to record and draw the shoe print.
Tracking can be more fun than playing tag. Next time your children tell you that they are bored, show them how to track footprints. This might become one of their favorite activities to do.
Iron on footprints: What you need: sandpaper, crayons, piece of cloth or shirt, and iron.
Trace your child’s footprint. Let them color in their foot.
Place cloth down on ironing board. Place sandpaper backwards and iron on top of the sandpaper.
Sponge animal prints: What you need: sponges, scissors, paint, cardboard, and hot glue.
Draw an animals footprint onto a sponge. Cut the animal footprint out.
Glue sponge footprint unto some sort of cardboard.
Foot prints turned into arts: Warning…. this may make your children laugh! What you need: your Childs foot, cotton balls, paper, paint, and markers or crayons.
Use cotton balls and apply paint onto your child’s foot. This usually tickles. We had a fun time. Press their foot gently onto paper. Let the paint dry. Use markers or crayons and have your child draw whatever he or she wants to.
These are supposed to be two pilgrim owls. 🙂
Bible Lesson: This is a great time to teach your child about the Prodigal son. Let your child know that if they loose their way that God is only a prayer away. Check out my post about the Prodigalson.
