Saturday, June 27, 2015

Travel the World with Your Kids for Free This Summer

Blame it all on an issue of Parents magazine. Or maybe it was Family Fun. Whatever it was, ruined our summers forever.

Four years ago I was at the library watching my youngest play at the train table, and I happened to reach over and start leafing through a parenting magazine.

My eyes stopped on an article about some lady who decided to do an educational pretend trip around the globe with her kids over summer vacation. Their family ate at ethnic restaurants, learned different languages, and listened to cultural music. It was a way to broaden her kids' horizons and keep them learning during the summer.

I was kind of an overachiever back then, and I thought, "What a great idea!"

I bought a 5-foot wide world map on Amazon and hung it in the dining room. I posted a "summer itinerary" on the wall, listing in a cutesy font the countries we were "visiting" and when, as chosen by the kids. I made them faux passports with a little United States seal on the cover and everything.

Travel the World with Your Kids for Free This Summer -- Little did I know when I decided to give my kids an educational summer vacation learning about geography and other cultures that it was going to change my life. Follow along, you're welcome to totally steal my ideas.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
If this doesn't scream Type A mom, I don't know what does.
The first page even has their picture and identifying information just like a real passport.

I don't blame you if reading this makes you want to kick me in the head. That's a completely rational reaction. Thank goodness Pinterest wasn't on my radar back then. I would've been unstoppable. (This is why I had more children, I think, so I wouldn't have time to do stuff like this.)

It was a whirlwind summer.

The poor librarians at our public library didn't know what hit them. Their circulation numbers must have gone through the roof that July and August, because we hauled out stacks of books, movies, and CDs about different countries week after week. I mean on top of the stack we usually haul out. just because my kids are total bookworms.

Travel the World with Your Kids for Free This Summer -- Little did I know when I decided to give my kids an educational summer vacation learning about geography and other cultures that it was going to change my life. Follow along, you're welcome to totally steal my ideas.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Why yes, my kids always watch videos like this. Why do you ask?
(This was before the demise of our TV, by the way.)

We rolled Swedish meatballs in Sweden; in France, I made my first soufflé and daughter said it "tasted like throw-up." (Not sure if I did something wrong or if she just doesn't like soufflé.)

In Egypt, we went to the beach and the kids recreated the Nile river and built pyramids and stuff along the banks.

Travel the World with Your Kids for Free This Summer -- Little did I know when I decided to give my kids an educational summer vacation learning about geography and other cultures that it was going to change my life. Follow along, you're welcome to totally steal my ideas.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
My son was a little disappointed at the lack of crocodiles.

We ate with chopsticks in China and I learned that I love making Chinese food. The recipes I used that week are some of my favorites today, 4 years later.

Travel the World with Your Kids for Free This Summer -- Little did I know when I decided to give my kids an educational summer vacation learning about geography and other cultures that it was going to change my life. Follow along, you're welcome to totally steal my ideas.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Haven't had a haircut since, most likely.

In Australia, we put together puzzles (just black-and-white maps I printed out and cut up) of the 6 states of Australia and made a didgeridoo out of a wrapping paper tube.

In Ukraine, we made fake pysanky eggs (the unbelievably intricate ones with really deep colors.) In case you want to know how that's done, you color paper all over with crayons, paint black over the top, scratch a design in it with a safety pin, and cut out an egg shape. It's a good activity to take up an entire morning.

Travel the World with Your Kids for Free This Summer -- Little did I know when I decided to give my kids an educational summer vacation learning about geography and other cultures that it was going to change my life. Follow along, you're welcome to totally steal my ideas.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}


When I started, I thought "visiting countries" would just be a fun thing to do for that one summer, but the kids (particularly my oldest) loved it so much they begged me to do it again. Begged.

So it's become a regular thing now.

As the years go on I've dialed it back. That first year I was really out of control  I sewed ponchos for each of the kids when we talked about gauchos (the cowboy, not the pants) in Argentina. I realize I had way too much time on my hands.

By the end of that summer I was completely exhausted. And of course after that I had a baby, then another one, so I've got no choice but to keep it simpler now.

Our loose structure for visiting a country is:

First, we locate the country on the map and fill out a page of our passports. Their passports have blanks to fill in with the name of the country, what it borders, what continent it's on, and other major landmarks they can see on the map. They also make up a visa stamp for that country and color it in.

Travel the World with Your Kids for Free This Summer -- Little did I know when I decided to give my kids an educational summer vacation learning about geography and other cultures that it was going to change my life. Follow along, you're welcome to totally steal my ideas.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Not sure why my daughter is wearing a babushka. I don't even think we visited Russia that year.

Then they Google the country's flag and fight over the crayons copy it on a sheet of typing paper.

Travel the World with Your Kids for Free This Summer -- Little did I know when I decided to give my kids an educational summer vacation learning about geography and other cultures that it was going to change my life. Follow along, you're welcome to totally steal my ideas.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Leave a comment below if you know what flag this is without Googling it!

We hang the finished flags on the wall and it's actually really cool to see the accumulation of 4 year's worth of them.

Travel the World with Your Kids for Free This Summer -- Little did I know when I decided to give my kids an educational summer vacation learning about geography and other cultures that it was going to change my life. Follow along, you're welcome to totally steal my ideas.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
The dining room, end of summer 2014.

Then we spend the rest of the week reading, watching, listening to, and doing things related to the culture and geography of the country. I used to make up a lot of my own activities but I find I have less time to do that every year, and why re-invent the wheel? I promise to give a link and proper credit to any websites I crib my ideas from.

World travel starts again on Monday in our house, and you can follow along via my blog to see a recap of each week. Every Saturday night I'll post about what we did that week and how it went.

I don't know how this summer will go, but I can guarantee you funny stories and a few Pinterest fails, with possibly some helpful information in between.

Countries visited in 2015:
Countries visited in 2016: none, I'd just had a baby and couldn't bear to think about anything other than keeping us alive all summer

Countries visited in 2017:
Countries visited in 2018:
Countries visited in 2019:
Countries visited in 2020:
Countries visited in 2021:
Countries visited in 2022:
Countries visited in 2023:

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5 comments:

Unknown said...

I LOVE THIS. Seriously. There are no words to describe how much in love with this idea that I am. What a great way to teach geography and culture. My kiddos are only three and one, so I've pinned it for future use, but my brain is already rolling. We live in Phoenix where there are culture centers for dozens of countries. Oh my brain is a ticking... thank you for the fabulous idea!

Jenny Evans said...

Yes! Use them - programs at the library, cultural fairs and festivals... most of them are free and if you can put them in the context of the place they come from the kids are so much more interested.

And if you're interested, follow along each Saturday night when I post all about our week. First up, Venezuela.

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Adam said...

thanks for your comment! It’s the little things that make me smile too. I’m always hesitant to leave silly personal things, but I think I might start doing it more! roserrow cornwall