Family Quality Time With Books: The Listening Walk

I know as well as anyone how difficult it is to carve out quality time with your kids–especially when there are more of them than of you, and they all have different sleep and activity needs. My husband and I have four children, and with the littlest still a baby, we are for sure continuing to work out our “new normal.”

But because something is difficult is not a good reason to neglect it. In fact, it’s probably true that the most worthwhile things in life are the most difficult. So, quality time with my four kids? Though it feels supremely difficult at times, it is SO worth the effort.

In our family, we like to read stories. We like to do crafts, to find new activities, to go on adventures. I tend to pursue Complicated and In-depth, but realistically Simple and Simple is waaay more doable, right? Here is a book, craft, and activity to fit your Simple Quality Time bill.

The Listening Walk, by Paul Showers, was first published in 1961. But you wouldn’t know it; this sweet little story is timeless, transcending eras to focus on the wonder and beauty to be found on our own two feet and through our own two ears. A little girl goes for a walk with her dog and daddy, and they share company through the sounds around them.

I read this story with my 3-year-old son (who started our time together not at all interested in settling down to read or be quiet, by the way). The most delightful thing about this story is the writer’s use of onomatopoeia: words and syllables that imitate sound.

A few pages in, Lem was listening. By the end of the book, when we are asked to close the book and count how many sounds we can hear right now, he intently listened to what seemed to be a silent house until he could make out a few things: the hum of the refrigerator, distant truck motors, the rumbling of his tummy. (He was especially delighted by that one!)

I had told him that we would take a Listening Walk of our own afterward. To prepare, we got out

  • the markers
  • a couple of paper plates
  • a pair of scissors

I originally found this idea on Pinterest, and it is one of very few that I have used without changing a thing! Lem and I chatted about what sounds we were likely to hear as we walked down our street, and we each made our own Sounds plate: “slice” your plate like a pie using the markers, draw a picture that represents a sound in each segment, and use your scissors to cut between each segment, only an inch or so. This will allow you to fold over the edge on the sounds you have heard as you walk.

Lem created his Sound Plate entirely on his own, including dividing the plate into segments (I was very impressed by that!). He had a detailed description for everything, some realistic (a bus, a construction truck) and some totally nonsensical (like the monster looming up out of the construction site…). This plate has become one of his treasures, carried around the house with him for days.

I showed Lem what to do using my own plate, but he completed his entirely on his own! Let your kids do the work; it’s not only part of the fun, but part of the skill- and muscle-building work that’s so important for your little ones. And their pride in their work speaks for itself.

And we headed out!

All sorts of sounds to hear along Center Street and Basin Creek.
Lem is folding over one of the sound tabs on his plate. I have just folded over my waterfall tab (between my fingers; Lem colored in the water for me).
We extended our Listening Walk to include a slice of pie at our local diner, because why not?

Back home that evening, my older sons were jealous that they had missed the Listening Walk. It’s trickier to find time for adventures when school is in session, so it took several days and a few reminders from my Lincoln to get out on a Listening Walk with him. But get out there we did, at dusk on a Saturday night, while the brothers stayed home for bathtime. Walks with just my oldest son are extra special to me, because they consistently give us higher-quality quality time than we get in any other way. I don’t know what it is about taking a walk with one other person, but Lincoln and I find it easier to talk with each other–and enjoy each other–when we make time for it.

There you have it: simple, effective quality time that supports your family and your local library (Or me! Get your own copy at the link below and I get a little tiny kickback). Corral one or all of your kids, curl up with a good book, activate your creative juices, exercise your legs a bit. Together.

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