Because… we all need to stay home now!

Travel with Kids Without Leaving Home!

Most parents agree that travel with kids exposes your little explorers to different cultures and traditions. The experience can broaden children’s perspectives. If you are also a travel lover like us, it could be a challenging moment for you given the current situation. Many of us are experiencing total lockdown caused by the Novel Coronavirus outbreak, which means many hours at home with children. We can hardly take a step out of the apartment; travel aboard is almost unthinkable for now. 

However, you do not need to hop on a plane, train, or boat and create a fancy trip to know the world. Given our coronavirus lockdown situations right now, let’s be creative. Thanks to modern technology and the wonders of the internet, there is a lot we can do to travel with kids without leaving our comfy home. 

Travel with Music  – World Dance Party

Traveling with kids via music is one of the great ways of experiencing a world culture! Music transcends language and is cherished in every culture throughout the world. Exposing children to music during early development helps them to learn the sounds and meanings of words; If you are raising multilingual kids, music is a great way to grow vocabulary, as it helps with memorization by singing along. 

Singing is not enough. Let’s boost the activity into a mini-gym!

Plan a dance party at home with a world playlist. Dancing to music helps children to build motor skills; the dance movements allow them to practice body and mind coordination. If you have some musical instruments and party decorations at home, put them up, and make it fun. Let the kids burn off energy.

Why not? WE will be home for weeks!

Travel with Books

Travel with kids usually begins with sharing the local information. Reading books set in different parts of the world or picture books about countries & cities around the world is a great way to travel with kids without leaving home.  You can choose a book that highlights something about other countries but can also stimulate your little explorer’s desire to learn more about cultures and traditions. 

There are so many books that feature different cities and countries around the world. These books use a fascinating perspective to tell the story. It can be pop-up books, children’s books, or travel pictures books. Through storybooks, you can exercise your little explorer’s imagination and travel to English Big Ben, Taipei 101, or the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. 

Travel with Maps

Pull out a map or globe in your home and start to travel with kids. If you are a multicultural family, point out where grandparents and friends live worldwide. Traveling with kids through the globe is always a fun way to introduce latitude, longitude, equator, continents, and some of the vital information on the map.  I highly recommend using those airplanes, cars, trains, or animal toys to facilitate the interactions. Be creative and make a storyboard out of it. 

Travel with Arts & Crafts

Drawing, painting, and crafting are my favorite way to spend time with kids. It is undeniable that art & craft has several benefits for young children:

• Develop fine motor skills
• Improve hand-eye coordination
• Boost creativity
• Promote think outside the box and innovation 
• Encourage self-expression
• Enhance decision-making skills
• Improve problem-solving skills

Numerous arts and craft projects can engage kids and keep them busy for a little while.  Use the globe, maps, landmarks, or famous world leaders to take your little explorers around the world.

• Coloring globe and landmarks.
• Paper Airplane Origami:  create and color a few super-fast airplanes, then race among the family, or fly around the globe/map during the storyboarding activity.
• Teaching kids where in the world they live: circles to show where kids live on the planet, continent, country, state, city, street, and home.
• Animal continent Activity: create a learning material to identify where animals belong in each continent.
• Playdough Playtime: create layering earth, the shape of the continent, or famous landmarks or transportations.
• Matching Games: matching international flags, travel flashcards

Travel with Virtual Tours

On virtual Tours, your little explorers can visit museums, historical heritage sites, national monuments, and some other famous places around the world without leaving home.

Google also offers 3D animals that bring lions, tigers,s or pandas to your home. This kept us busy for at least an hour. 

Check out 30+ VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS FOR KIDS. 

Travel with Food and Drink

After a few weeks of lockdown, cooking seems to be one of the most popular activities on social media. 

You can teach your little explorers world culture through global cuisine. If kids are old enough to participate, involve them with simple activities like preparing ingredients for Chinese Fried rice or soaking beans for a traditional Brazilian Feijoada black bean stew.  

Cooking or baking is a fun activity to do as a family. If you are a multicultural family, include your native cuisine on the list, kids can create a connection with the food that they are preparing. Download recipes online, check out cookbooks, or follow youtube cooking tutorials that focus on world culture. By doing this, your little explorer travels around the world without leaving home.

Travel with Movies

Watch a foreign or any movie your child is familiar with in another language. Online streaming such as Netflix and HBO provide various movies with multilingual options. Japanese animation by Hayao Miyazaki is currently my household favorite! Dime the light, prepare movie night snacks, and pick a movie on Netflix!  Let’s relax and cuddle up!

Travel to Your Backyard

Camp Out

Pretend you are visiting the wilderness. Pitch a tent with your little explorers in the backyard if you don’t have enough outdoor space or a tent. Move furniture around, and use blankets or large clothes like bedsheets to build a fort in your living room! Put on camping decorations, and a campfire, and hang the Christmas lights. Prepared your favorite camping food like hot dogs, cotton candies, and chocolate. Let your kids use their imagination and create their cool space. 

Picnic

If the weather is beautiful, prepare picnic baskets with the family’s favorite sandwiches, potato chips, snacks, and drinks. Put a picnic or beach towel on the floor, and enjoy a layback, non-traditional meal time. 

Exploring the Garden

Let’s get some work done in the garden! Gardening allows your little explorers to see, hear, smell, and feel in the garden. As digging, planting, and watering require a decent level of concentration. Not only do kids get to enjoy a beautiful day, but being exposed to these natural elements allows them to observe their surroundings about nature in detail. 

Mini Sports Tournament

We are a multicultural family, and we love sports. Even during the lockdown period, it is vital to keep our bodies moving. Plan a family sports tournament and create a short game. With a Brazilian father, the soccer goals game is our family tournament.

Scavenger Hunt

A color hunt, famous landmark photo hunt, or international flags scavenger hunt are fun and easy to implement around the house. If you have a young little explorer, a scavenger hunt can be as simple as giving them a list of things to find around the house or in your backyard. If you have an older kid, you can level up the challenge by hiding the items and providing clues to kids to find them.

Stayhomecation can be eventful; take advantage of all the toys that haven’t been used for a long time, reuse & recycle the materials, and be creative with the print & digital media, games, and food. All these, we are traveling with kids without leaving home.