Creative Writing Exercise on the Mushroom Rock Trail

Mushroom Rock continues to be one of our favorite spots to hike to. It has been a great trail to keep in our rotation of weekly nature hikes for our homeschool.

One of the things I love about homeschool is the flexibility of adapting your lessons to what you are doing and also to your child.

On this particular nature day we were supposed to be looking for birds and their nests, but the weather wasn't cooperating. 

But were still enjoying our hike. Jack running ahead of me and I breathing in the fresh air. It was cold, but a beautiful day nonetheless.

As we neared Mushroom Rock, we passed a large puddle of water. Jack stopped to observe what was in the water while I walked on by.

"Hey Mommy, it looks like there are brains in the puddle!"

That brought my walk to a halt. I returned to see what he was talking about, and it really did appear to be brains in the water.

He wanted to poke it with a stick, but I wasn't sure what that would lead to. Instead I joked that we could call this a "Puddle of Brains."

We walked on the Mushroom Rock and I had a moment of inspiration... on the walk back we would pick out the best landmarks and give them names. Later we could make a map with all of the names we had created.

Jack loved this idea and we stopped at our favorite spots to think of good names.

At first Jack struggled a bit. He is so literal that his idea of naming was more like a long, specific description like "The Mountain Where Mommy Fell." But I coaxed him to try to be a little more creative, so this turned into "The Falling Mountain of Doom."

So as we walked we talked about what made a good name and how he could move for descriptions to something a bit more creative (that still was descriptive).

By the end of the hike, he had come up with some great names.

The goal was to take the names and draw a map of the hike. It turned out to be a really fun exercise and I love seeing his creative wheels start to turn!

Notes from the hike:

Location: Mushroom Rock in Prentice Cooper Signal Mountain, TN
Date: March 6, 2018
Time: 9:30-11:30

Weather: Sunny but cold, 40F

Observations: Made up creative names for landmarks on the trail including:

Falling Mountain of Doom, The Continuous Creek and the River Island in the Emerald Forest, The Bridge to Endless Creek, The Creek of No Crossing, The Land of Puddles, The Bridge to the Land of Puddles, Troll Hair Stump, and Brain Stew Puddle

We didn't have pen and paper while we hiked, so as we came up with names for various landmarks, I took video of Jack telling me the names so we would remember them later when he created his map.

This was such a fun exercise and it was a great way to get Jack thinking creatively, and it paired really well with a book we have been reading called, "The Once Upon a Time Map Book."

Check back on Tuesdays to see where our nature studies have taken us...
Previous Nature Hikes with Jack: 

September: Green Gorge, Althaus Park, and Mabbit Springs

October: Reflection Riding Center (Monday Nature Day with friends) ⎮ Joyce Kilmer Wilderness Among Trees (hike we did as a family) ⎮ Greenway Farms Nature Day (family archery lesson and hike)
November: Glen Falls ⎮ Mushroom Rock (with Mommy and Daddy) ⎮ Raccoon Mountain

December: The Boulders ⎮ Toccoa River (family hike)⎮ Amnicalola Falls (family hike)

January: Green Gorge ⎮ Rainbow Lake
February: Stringers Ridge ⎮ Green Gorge ⎮ Mushroom Rock ⎮ Family Hike to Mushroom Rock ⎮ Family Hike to Possum Creek ⎮ Greenway Farms