Whether you home school or just want to keep kids learning on the road, travel journals are great tools for recording memories and adding educational value to trips.
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Did you know that I have a journal I’ve written in every day since September 27, 2013? I’m a huge fan of journaling. I’ve written before about creating travel journals, and the benefits of journaling for kids of all ages. I’ve even written a book full of journaling prompts for kids!
I was pretty disorganized, packing up for our last road trip. We were getting our house ready to sell, and we were cramming in Lily’s fairy birthday party and Anna’s mermaid birthday party. Lily broke her arm, and we nearly had to cancel the entire trip. We threw everything in the car as soon as I got the go-ahead from the doctor and left town so Mike could sell our house in peace.
We forgot to pack travel journals, and the kids noticed. So we dropped by Target and picked up four spiral bound notebooks on one of their back to school deals.
I’m so glad we did. Besides being amazing tools if you want to keep kids learning on the road, travel journals capture incredible memories. Check out a few pages from our trip.
Use Travel Journals to Learn on the Road
My nine-year-old son Johnny taped a few pictures he created using our travel art kit into his journal. Our travel art kit was a huge hit with cousins at the reunion, and I loved watching the cousins bond over their artwork.
And yes, a storm took out the water pump and we had no running water the last day. Dishes were rinsed in the stream, but don’t worry, no non-potable water was used for washing or drinking. I do think some diaper blowout clothes were washed in hot tub water. It’s better to drive home with hot tub clothes than blowout clothes!
We didn’t make it to totality, but we stopped to watch the partial solar eclipse. Johnny took the time that night in our hotel room to record his scientific observations of the event.
Eight-year-old Lily made up a story to write in her travel journal inspired by our buffalo sighting on Antelope Island.
Eleven-year-old Emma wrote a poem about our journey along 41 miles of dirt road to arrive at the family reunion. When we got home she published A Dirt Road on her own blog.
I love the way travel journals make my children more aware of the journey. I know they will love seeing what they drew and wrote as they grow older.
Do your kids keep travel journals? Do you journal? How do you keep kids learning on the road? Please share in the comments below. You can also share on my Facebook page, and you can always tag me on Instagram.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Love the idea of travel journals. I got my kids sketchbooks for our road trip but they didn’t use them much sadly.
I am terrible at having them keep travel journals, and really need to improve that part, but they talk about all the trips, so I know they’re remembering it all.