HOW TO START A TRAVEL JOURNAL FOR YOUR CHILD

Traveling leaves you with endless memories to turn into stories. It opens our minds, hearts, and fills our lives with stories to tell. So I thought it would be a perfect activity to start a travel journal for my 5 year old. For her to draw and write down her thoughts, what she saw and felt, learned during those trips and experiences. It is a collection of all her memories and items that she found special to her to cherish for years to come.

I hope that by documenting her travels she can learn and reflect  what she discovered and apply it to other parts of her life.

I love this idea because you can tailor it to your child - what they are interested in, like to do, and how they enjoy saving these memories on paper.

First, you need a journal - it doesn’t have to be a fancy one, but you will need some paper and things to write and draw with. My daughter loves blank pages at the moment for her to freely draw and stick photos, tickets and maps she has collected.

Gather your journal supplies - bring colored pencils, markers, tape, glue stick and stickers to make your child’s travel memories as easy as possible.

I usually fill up a pencil box with crayons, washable markers, pencils, eraser, glue stick, post it notes, paper clips, washi tape, stickers.I gathered some supplies that was tailored to my daughters interests - she loves to draw, cut, paint, and take photos. So for her travel journal I added envelopes to store photos, tickets, little souvenirs like maps etc, blank pages where she could draw freely, washi tape & stickers to decorate.

drawings of some of her favorite activities like the vintage boats and all her favorite pastries!

Travel journal ideas - sometimes it can be hard to get started, so ideas and prompts to get going helps. Some can use premade journals which comes with sections where your child can fill in their itinerary, feelings of the day, what they saw.

If you are making your own, use post-it notes or washi tape to create sections for them to draw and write in.

PROMPT IDEAS:

• prompt headlines for each page

• wax paper to press flowers 

• 5 senses grid: what did you hear, touch, smell, see, and taste or what made you happy, excited, scared, sad?

• water color paper to paint the colors your kids see

• post it notes

SUPPLY LIST

• small travel water color set

• paintbrushes

• pens, color pencils, markers, crayons

• washi tape

• stickers

• glue

• envelopes

• stamps

• colored card stock paper

envelopes for keeping little souvenirs

My daughter loved looking at the Paris metro map so we kept this for her to add to her little collection of souvenirs.

Travel journal pocket suggestions:

• souvenir cash

• maps

• public transport tickets

• play tickets

• receipts from places they went

• polaroids

• pictures
  

This little project turned out to be such an engaging and fun thing for her to do and keep her aware of the things she was learning, seeing and feeling during this trip. She still loves going back to the journal and looking back at all her creations and takes a lot of pride in it. I love how this keeps her memories from our family journeys alive in her mind and she has so much fun telling her friends and family about it.

Going on a trip soon? How about making a travel journal with your child?

Whether  it’s a day trip to a local beach or a plane ride to a different country or city, this journal can be used for all ways to help your child reflect on what they experience on the trip.

All you will need is a little creativity, paper and pens!

Enjoy & happy travels!

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