Physical Activity—Virtual Vacations

The weather outside is far from frightful in California at least.  We have sun and cool breezes and it feels like spring.  So for those of you who live somewhere else, consider taking a virtual vacation here in California, and for those of you in California, consider taking a virtual vacation to some other point of interest.  There are many wonderful things for youth to explore and learn from in the world of virtual vacations, and if we think about it, we can include physical activity to make these vacations ‘happen’. 

So here’s how it can work. 

1. Determine the place that you want the youth to visit. 
2. Chart the number of miles between your location and the place you want them to visit.
3. Determine how many miles a day you would have to travel to arrive in approximately 10 days.
4. Use a pedometer with one youth per day to measure steps (translate into miles) and then multiply by the number of youth in your program to chart the miles.  If it looks like you won’t make your goal, invite others (including parents to help you).
5. Plan ten travel points of interest, one for each of the days it would take you to walk to the destination, and have youth share those experiences (remember you can always use a video to help them experience the location or event).
6. Plan a culminating event to celebrate your arrival at your destination that will incorporate the highlights of the location as well as the places you’ve visited along the way.

To encourage writing, have youth record in a journal each day’s activities. 

Pay attention to the details, but you can have a wonderful time and if youth can access the internet, the sky is the limit. 

Take pictures of your “travels” and share them with us at support@consultfourkids.com  We’d love to highlight them on Student Chatter.