Every Thursday, a rotating group offers ways to play with your kids. Today we hear from Liz Baird, director of school programs for the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.

Before "scrapbooking" became a national hobby (with colorful supplies lining the shelves of craft stores) and before digital cameras allowed you to email "photo albums" of your latest trip to your entire mailing list, my mom used to "capture" our outdoor adventures in a journal designed by, and for, "us kids." I recently rediscovered one of these journals tucked into a box in the attic. This one was created in 1966, when I was five and my brother was 4. We visited lots of campgrounds and parks during that summer, and mom helped us create a journal of our own to document our adventures.

Mom would have us dictate the story of our excursion and write it for us in big print letters. One of my favorite descriptions is of trying to eat my first clam. It reads "Elizabeth tasted a clam but she couldn't swallow." We'd paste in postcards we bought during the trip, or photos cut from the materials we picked up. Sometimes we would add our own illustrations, or simply insert an entire brochure. It is the brochure from the 26th season of "The Lost Colony" that helped me figure out the year this journal was created (This summer, 2008, marks the 66th season for that production!).

This journal was different in several ways than most scrapbook and digital albums of today. First, it captured our experiences in our own words. Secondly it allowed us to participate in the creation of the pages. And finally these were really one of our books. My brother and I would "read" them to each other and keep them on our bookshelves. Not only did these journals help nurture a love of the outdoors and travel, they also helped foster interest in reading and writing.

This would be a great summer to try and create a journal with your children. Let them tell you the story that should be written, whether it is about when they found a worm on the sidewalk or about a vacation you took. Allow them to help in creating the illustrations for the pages, and then let them keep it on their own bookshelf.

The N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences offers daily free programs for kids, including a great storytime where they can meet live animals. This month, the museum will open an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Check out our other daily themes at TriangleMom2Mom:

MONDAY: Meet!
TUESDAY: Ask!
WEDNESDAY: Eat!
THURSDAY: Play!
FRIDAY: Out!

WEEKEND: Relax!