A great way to keep children involved and interested is to have them keep a kid’s travel journal.  This can be a great source of both fun and education as the trip progresses.  It can also provide much pleasure years later, and even bring back smells and sounds as they are reviewed at later times.

Choosing the Journal

Keeping a kid’s journal doesn’t cost much and can provide hours of entertainment while on a long car trip or waiting in airports.  The supplies are simple.  First of course is the journal itself.  This will be chosen depending on the type of vacation and method of travel.  If the traveling is to be done by car, the journal can be larger than one you would chose if traveling by airplane, just because of the room available to work in it.  Also if traveling by plane, it should be smaller in order to fit it into a child’s backpack.  If the vacation is an outdoor one, you will need to choose a sturdy journal with a leather cover that will stand up to hard use. Don’t buy a journal with lined pages.  This type of book is good for a daily diary, but for a vacation journal you want lots of blank pages to follow the process outlined here.

Put Together a Journal Kit

With scrapbooking being such a popular craft these days, putting together a journal kit is fun and easy.  Every kid loves crayons and markers.  Put together a selection of markers or crayons.  Also put in several pencils for drawing and pens for writing.  If your child is an artist, include a small watercolor kit.  Look for some stars, stickers or other types of labels that will fit your trip theme.  Be sure to include a glue stick so they can enter items as they collect them so they won’t be misplaced or lost.

Once you have assembled everything, find or make a drawstring bag that will hold all the supplies. Put a latch hook on the bag so they can attach it to their belt loops if it is small enough.   One of the things that will keep your child working on this journal is the easy accessibility of the supplies. If you have several children, divide the supplies over several bags.  This way you can assemble a greater selection.  Of course, if you feel this will cause friction and arguments over who wants to use what, make a personal bag for each child.

Creating the Journal

Now that everything is assembled, check out the post:Creating a Kid’s Travel Journal for some creative ideas on how to keep a travel journal.