Kids come in all shapes sizes and moods. And not necessarily the parent’s love for travel gets transferred & installed onto these beautiful little souls through the genetic imprints. So, if you’re looking for answers to how to get your kids interested in travel, read along.
While for a travel-loving couple, it was hard for us to even imagine a kid who would not enjoy travelling out of the home to a new lovely location and exploring the culture and demography of the place, we got blessed with 2 kids who love their home more than any other place in the world.
So here I am writing about 15 things we intentionally did to instil the love for travel in our kids.
How to Get Your Kids Interested in Travel | My Top Tips
As a mommy blogger, I often get this question, “How do I make my kids like travelling?” and I have any tips to share with them. While I can safely say now that my kids are travel enthusiasts, it was not always like this. Initially, it was a resistance that I used to face whenever we went to travel outside.
I still remember my 5-year-old who spent time sleeping through the day at Disneyland in Paris. He just was not interested in anything. Thankfully we had his stroller in which he could sleep comfortably. And I finally ended up taking pics of all his favourite cartoons and rides which we show him now.
But with time, we started engaging them in our planning process right from day 0, and on the day of our journey, we are a bunch of super excited & fun-loving people ready to explore.
Below I discuss my answers to how to get your kids interested in travel. These are my top 15 tried and tested strategies that I used intentionally to develop a love of travel in my kids. These are simple, inexpensive and fun to try out today.
1. Comfort While Travel – The Best Bet for your Kids’ Good Mood
My first tip that has worked for my kids is to take utmost care of their comfort while travelling. Because if the kids are not comfortable or feel tired & exhausted, they are more likely to make a mess out of the entire family’s experience. So I always give more importance to comfort than to my desire to click Instagram-worthy pics.
On more occasions than one, this also has landed us with extra expenses but we always keep that buffer in our budgets to take care of the last-minute needs of our kids.
Another tip is to arrange for a stroller or a scooter for your kids and in almost every country you would find these rental services quite easily available.
A very important way of getting your kids to love travel is to teach them to make memories they will cherish for a long time to 000come.
2. Teach them to Make Memories
Carry one personal bag for each kid in which they can keep personal and close to their heart stuff. My Kids, usually have their separate backpacks which they are completely responsible for.
They use it to collect various tickets like metro, train, museums, amusement parks, etc. They can also keep small things like sanitisers, wipes, currency coins, etc.
And all these things would then become an integral part of their memories after they come back from the trip. But trust me these ideas do need to be planted in your kid’s minds once and then just see them build upon these to become travel rituals in your family.
3. Involve Kids in the Travel Planning
When you are planning the trip try to involve your kids. This will make them excited and will also help you to plan ahead.
So while we are just in the initial stage of zeroing on the location, we have our now teen girl participating equally and giving her opinions. We do involve both our kids in different planning stages. Every stay option that we shortlist needs to get approved by both the kids before we lock in the option.
This way my kids feel equally a part of and equally responsible for behaving nicely on the trip too.
Another benefit of involving the little ones in the planning process is that you are proactively managing the anxiety of the unknown in your kids. So share the plans with them, show them some images of the place and involve them in your planning.
4. With Kids, Go Local while Travelling
Discovering new things that are native to the travel location is something my kids really enjoyed. So we usually take a trip to local fruits & flower market, fleas and fairs if we get a chance to; while we are travelling.
Trying out local cuisine is also something we keep on our agendas. So my kids really enjoy picking up local and new fruits and ice cream flavours while travelling.
Visiting Local Cafes and restaurants really opens up a whole new perspective on dining etiquette and food preferences of locals in that travel destination. Alongside, it adds to our favourite dishes list too.
5. Encourage them to Write Postcards
The classic postcard is a timeless way of keeping yourself entertained on the trip. So we have usually done this as an activity on almost all of our trips so far. From picking up a postcard each for their special friends to writing to them about their holiday, kids are engaged in this activity through and through.
Keeping these postcards safe and bringing them back for them to hand over to their friends is something we ensure.
Encouraging your child to keep a travel journal of all the fun times they have had on the trip, is a great way of encouraging them to travel more.
6. Encourage Your Kids to Write Travel Journals
Encourage your little ones to write the accounts of each day in a diary which is special to them. This way they are creating memories for a lifetime and can relive them whenever they want by reading the journal and looking at the pictures of the holiday.
While all these initiatives to create journals, and photo albums seem quite small and insignificant at this time, trust me when they grow up and wanna relive their childhood, all these really come in handy. I know for myself that I really cherish all our old photo albums of our travels when we were young and often want to share stories of my travels with my kids now.
7. Book a Travel Guide
Travel around and discover stories about the old historic monuments, statues or even haunted houses. These weird and cool fun fact stories will not only add to your child’s general awareness but will also keep them interested and occupied for a while.
Booking or hiring a guide who knows the place well would help you accomplish this.
8. Witness Cultural Performances when Travelling
Visiting cultural dance, theatre and singing shows would keep your child interested and will learn a lot about the place.
While in London we took our kids to The Lion King live-action theatre play it was a lovely night full of songs and dances. This definitely was the star attraction for the kids and indisputably the best part of the trip.
This will entertain your kids and will be a lifelong experience for you.
9. Let Your Kids Buy Keepsakes
One of the most effective tips on how to get your kids interested in travel is to give your children a budget to bring back souvenirs & keepsakes. And while they will see their collection building this would really help them remember all the fun, good times and their travel stories.
We have always ensured we get our kids something special from every place of our travel.
10. Make them Attend a Local Art or Dance Class
Take some time out to book a local art, baking or dance workshop for your kids. They will appreciate the culture & art forms of the place better.
I strongly believe that we as parents need to develop the love and respect for different cultures in our kids. This is one way we can teach our kids inclusion & respect for diversity.
Apart from all the fun involved, they might also end up creating a masterpiece and discovering their love for the art.
11. Learn the Language of the Destination, You are Travelling to as a Family
This is a great family activity. Learning a new language is fun and cool and will keep your child interested even before the trip.
This will also help in understanding the language of the place you are visiting and will help you figure your way in the new country. And with so many apps available these days, it is a great idea to have one installed and learn online.
12. Make the Trip Relatable for Your Kids
Talk about the trip and share & read stories about the place you will visit. This would develop a lot of curiosity & excitement in your kids.
While we took the trip to London last summer, we planned & played a game called The Scotland Yard. This board game is based on the city of London and has various popular landmarks on the map of London.
13. Watch some Documentaries about the Locale.
Make them aware of the history and culture of the place before you travel. You can ask them to research the history, the kings and queens, the castles and palaces so they are all charged up to experience the location when they land there.
History is one of the best ways to generate curiosity & interest in children. While we hear the stories in words, kids can usually imagine and see the entire story in front of their eyes.
14. Involve Your Children in Travel Packing
One of the most effective tips to arouse your kids’ interest in travelling is to involve them in their packing. On one hand, they are learning an essential life skill on the other hand they are planning for their needs all along the trip and their stay.
They would come up with a lot of ideas and would want to pack their entire room of toys with them. This is when you have to step in and tell them the importance of travelling light and making room for new toys they can buy on their trip.
An important part of our family trip is that 2 days of the trip are dedicated to places my kids want to see. My daughter loves Harry Potter, so here we are.
15. Include Place of Interest to Kids in your Travel Plan
This one is the most important of all the tips on how to get your kids interested in travel. While my kids are growing up, we always keep a day or 2 in the travel to plan it according to our kids’ choices. This way they are motivated to tag along happily during the entire trip because they feel valued and significant enough.
We took out an entire day to visit the Harry Potter Studios while in London because my daughter is a big Potterhead. And trust me, I saw their eyes lighten up and big smiles on my kid’s faces. And this is special and something every mom cherishes.
After seeing the magical place, my son who is just 7 years old right now is also drawn to the magical world of Harry Potter.
I hope you found my answers on how to get your kids interested in travel useful. Try these and let me know in the comment section