Travel journals are great for families and children to preserve the memories of a great trip or vacation. It is also a fun bonding activity to do during and after the trip to keep the happy memories alive! Here is a guide to help your children make their own travel journal.
Step 1: Get Started!
Start with buying a notebook or a journal before you head out on your trip or download a free version here to print out and bring it along with you!
Materials you need are: Pens, coloured pencils, glue stick (for pictures, menus, etc.), and a pair of craft scissors. Secure all items in a pencil case for easy (and fashionable) portability. Just be sure not to put the craft scissors in your carry-on as most flights don’t allow for sharp objects to be carried onboard.
Step 2: Collect Mementos!
While travelling, get your child to be more aware of their surroundings. Encourage your child to take note of their surroundings through all the senses: see, taste, smell, touch and hear. Then, have them document everything in the small notebook, so they remember everything.
Collect little mementoes from the trip like admission tickets, plane tickets, cut-outs from brochures, door gifts from hotels and resorts as well as disposable coasters or napkins from restaurants.
When they pick up these little mementoes along the way, also get them to make a mental note of what was the most memorable thing about that particular location so they will be able to tell it in a story later on.
Step 3: Equip your child with a camera
Allow your child to be the photographer using his or her own camera during a vacation. Bring a polaroid or disposable camera along. It’s a really nice idea to gift a child a polaroid that they can be responsible for and have them take one picture a day!
Step 4: Talk to your kids each night about the day’s activities
Have a scheduled time for your child to do the journal each night so you can go through the day with them and find out how they felt about the day’s activities. This also helps the child conscientiously think about which is the best activity of the day and helps with building precious memories.
Step 5: Keep building the journal back home
When you’re back home from your trip, you can continue to sit down together and put more photos in the journal. Write down more fun stories from your vacation to create that travel journal you and your kids can pick up anytime to relive the memories. It would be so fun to get the journal out a year down the road, or even right before your next holiday, to go through your best memories of the trip. It is a great way to see if your child’s interests have changed too. Your child can also use this during ‘show and tell’ at school!
Imagine how many travel journals your child will create over the years, one after each fabulous trip! When they grow up and look back at the journals, they will have a treasure trove of memories to go back to and appreciate. These journals will also showcase how a child’s ability to observe and record facts and feelings about a time and place evolves over time.
That’s why the tradition of sharing one’s experiences and feelings during a trip through a travel journal remains a precious activity for children. So next time, you plan a trip with your kids, don’t forget to include a travel journal to jot down all those memories.
This article was brought to you by Holiday Inn®. Plan your next family adventure with travel tips at www.LittleBigTravellers.com. At 1,200 Holiday Inn® Hotels and Holiday Inn Resorts®, kids 12 and under stay and eat for free. Discover the Joy of Travel with Holiday Inn®today.