The Beauty of Armchair Traveling
A Great Winter Family Activity!
Our communities are full of great things to do, but sometimes we pine to get away and can't. Or sometimes the heat, or cold, or wet, just keeps us indoors.
Time for some armchair travel!
Dreaming of faraway places is a natural inclination, and good for the soul. Besides, it’s a great way to satisfy that geography and social studies requirement, and it's easy to add in reading, writing, and math too.
Plan a future dream vacation now!
Clip articles and ads from the newspaper's travel section and make a scrapbook, with personal comments, of favorite destinations or imagined travels.
Encourage your kids to write letters of inquiry to the Chamber of Commerce in their destination state of choice, or to tourist bureaus of a specific state or country, and to AAA if you are members, asking for travel info for families going to that place. Watch the kids lots of mail full of free maps and guidebooks. Use these for a scrapbook or collage that illustrates the vacation.
An entire curriculum can be based on an imaginary trip, complete with itinerary, budget, monetary exchange rate, maps, guide books and more. Create a fictional character who travels to a real or imaginary place. Write a fictional travel diary in that character’s voice.
My son did this at age 12, creating a made-up place and a traveling companion who was his horse! He devised a complex currency exchange with an imaginary currency, and a travel itinerary that included a proposed budget and a fictional map. He then wrote a travel diary that listed everything he spent, and everything he bought or ate. I especially liked those dinners of oats he shared with his horse! The itinerary and diary mentioned several amazing tourist attractions (all from my son's imagination), including a waterfall that went upwards! Writing it, and reading it, was as much fun as travel could ever be.
Take a virtual tour of any part of the world. Visit museums, zoos and animal sanctuaries, parks and historic sites. Make foods traditional to this place, listen to traditional music while you eat, perhaps play a game from that part of the world. Watch a movie filmed in that location, or read a book by an author from that place. Before you know it, you’ll be exploring the world from your own living room, and learning across the curriculum!
Here are Twenty Art Museums you can visit from home.
Take a Virtual Visit to a National Park.
Also see Visiting Museums with Children.
Books
(Age recommendations refer to reading level, and content may appeal to a larger age range. This list includes affiliate links.)
This is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids Around the World by Matt Lemothe, for ages 8-12
All About U.S.: A Look at the Lives of 50 Real Kids From Across the United States by Matt Lemothe and Jenny Volvovski, for ages 8-12
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman, for elementary grades
How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA by Marjorie Priceman, for elementary grades
How Kids Celebrate Holidays Around the World by Pavla Hanackova and Helena Harastova, for ages 4-10
World of Celebrations by Kate DePalma, 3-book series of holidays around the world, for ages 4-10