Category Archives: Travel with Kids

Real Families: An Interview with 13 year old Miro, Traveling the World

Posted on August 18, 2012 | 7 Comments

My kids and I dream of traveling the world, and love to read about kids who are doing so. Miro is a 13 year old nomad who has spent 3 full years on the road, experiencing life in the fullest. He enjoys Manga, video games and Cryptozoology. He says he’s not very good at photography, but he does try. His greatest fear is “the norm.” My two 7 year old interviewed Miro about his travels, from a kid’s perspective. If you’d like to learn more, his mom Lainie has an excellent travel blog called Raising Miro on the Road of Life, where she chronicles their nomadic adventures, with photos, videos, and podcasts. Enjoy!

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Posted in Around the World, Field Trips and Travel, Peru, The Americas, Travel with Kids

Tagged real families, unschool

Readers’ Stories of Survival on the Road with Kids

Posted on July 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

Lots of readers wrote in via email, or on our facebook page, to share stories of family road trips! Parents and kids around the world enjoy driving vacations as a way to explore as a family, spend quality time together bonding, and to see more of the country they’re in. Here are some of the stories we heard: Continue reading →

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Posted in Field Trips and Travel, The Americas, Travel with Kids, United States

Tagged car travel, road trips

Real Families: Experiencing Schools in France

Posted on July 23, 2012 | 3 Comments

This is part of a series of articles on real families who are embracing and incorporating cultures and languages into their lives. If you you would like to be featured, send us a note. Today’s guest post is written by Gabrielle Blair (US), a designer and mom of 6 adorable kids whose family is currently living in the French countryside. Gabrielle originally wrote this post for her site “Design Mom,” and has graciously given us permission to repost it here.

Our school year is winding down here in France, so I thought it would be fun to write up another little update on our kids’ experience in the local schools. I hope you enjoy it!

The first thing I wanted to mention was handwriting. I snapped the photo of the chart below in the 6-year-old’s classroom at my kids’ school. Having good handwriting is a big deal here! And seems to be a universal skill. Even at the village market, all the signs for fruit and veggies are hand written in beautiful script.

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Posted in Europe, France, Travel with Kids

Tagged living abroad, real families

Kids Visiting US National Parks

Posted on July 16, 2012 | 10 Comments

Tetons NP-National Parks with Kids- Kid World CItizen

Grand Teton National Park (Wyoming): breathtaking blue glaciers, a 13,770-foot mountain, blue glaciers, moose, and 300+ bird species.

When friends from other countries ask me for recommendations on what to visit while in the US, I always recommend a trip to a National Park. For families who live in the US, National Parks are an obvious choice for extraordinary scenery, unique landscapes, and natural adventures. In 2010, 281,303,769 recreational visitors from around the world spent time in National Parks! Here are some tips for those visiting a National Park with children: how you can enjoy everything the National Park Service has to offer, and make the trip memorable, educational, and fun for everyone. Continue reading →

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Posted in Field Trips and Travel, The Americas, Travel with Kids, United States

Tagged car travel, National Parks, road trips

Games and Activities to Keep Kids Busy in the Car

Posted on July 7, 2012 | 7 Comments

We want our kids to be curious about new destinations, to get excited about family road trips, and to look forward to traveling- and as parents, we want to enjoy traveling as a family as well! Keep kids happy in the car with these fun games and activities. If I’ve missed any, leave us a comment and let us know your favorite way to pass the time in the car with kids.

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Posted in Around the World, Field Trips and Travel, Games and Toys, Travel with Kids

Tagged car travel, road trips

Best Practices: Road-Tripping with Happy Kids

Posted on July 4, 2012 | 7 Comments

If you ever want to see sympathetic parents shudder- while whispering “crazy!” as you leave- tell them you are planning a 20 hour long road little kids. Although kids are notoriously challenging travelers, with preparation and good practices, the whole family can enjoy long car rides. Parents, teachers, and caregivers know that kids are at their worst when they are 1) tired, 2) hungry, or 3) bored. Here are 4 ways you can prevent these car-induced tantrums, driver despair, and whiny backseat riders. Continue reading →

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Posted in Around the World, Field Trips and Travel, Travel with Kids

Tagged car travel, road trips

Real Families: Road-Trips with Kids

Posted on July 2, 2012 | 4 Comments

Today’s post is written by my friend Jayme. Jayme is the adoptive mother to twins, Isabel Tsege and Elijah Geremu, who were born in Ethiopia. She loves to explore the world with her children, and actively seeks out every opportunity to broaden and deepen their knowledge of both culture and geography. Her primary goal as a parent is to raise happy, thoughtful, compassionate, confident and creative little citizens of the world. Check out her blog “adventures of the wondertwins” to learn more about her cuties!

: Jon with the twins on a recent road trip through southern Ethiopia

Our family loves road trips, and we’ve been on quite a few since the twins were babies. Some people may think we’re crazy for spending so much time in the car with our kids, but it’s just become a way of life for us. We treat time in the car as family time, and do not rely on things like DVD players or video games to pass the time. Instead we sing songs, talk, look at maps, play the alphabet game, storytelling games, geography games, or “bury the cows” Continue reading →

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Posted in Africa, Around the World, Ethiopia, Field Trips and Travel, Travel with Kids, United States

Tagged car travel, road trips

Eating on the Road: Meals and Snacks

Posted on June 30, 2012 | 6 Comments

Parent know that hungry kids are crabby kids. Let’s be honest- hungry adults get in bad moods too. Tantrums in an enclosed car (by kids or adults:) are like fingernails on a chalkboard, and are to be avoided at all costs! But, eating on the road does not have to mean breakfast, lunch, and dinner at fast food places and gas stations. Here are some easy meals and snacks that you can prepare before the trip and enjoy along the way. Eating in the car saves time and money, is usually healthier, occupies the kids- and is an exciting “break” in long drives. When someone asked Ricky what he liked about the trip to Chicago was, he smiled and said “Eating snacks in the car!” Here are our favorites.
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Posted in Around the World, Field Trips and Travel, Food, Travel with Kids

Tagged car travel, road trips

Why Choose a Driving Vacation with Kids? The Benefits of Road Trips

Posted on June 28, 2012 | 6 Comments

Why on Earth would sane parents pack up their car and strap in their children for a cross-country road trip, that may take 10 times longer than a plane ride to the same destination? Here are some of our reasons for choosing to take our kids on driving vacations. Continue reading →

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Posted in Around the World, Field Trips and Travel, Travel with Kids

Tagged car travel, road trips

Books about Road Trips (Read before you Go!)

Posted on June 27, 2012 | 8 Comments

We read books about dentists before we went to the dentist the first time, books about having a baby sister before our little one was born, and books about going into kindergarten before the big day. So it was only natural to get out stories out about long road trips! Here’s our first article in the series “Road Trips with Kids,” with some great books to read about car travel before your big trip. Continue reading →

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Posted in Around the World, Field Trips and Travel, Literature, Travel with Kids

Tagged car travel, fiction children's books, road trips

A Week of “Road-Tripping” with Kids!

Posted on June 25, 2012 | 6 Comments

Living across the country from our families means frequent 20 hour carrides north to Chicago and south to Mexico City. We’ve also taken vacations within the US and abroad that have included driving around for hours and days (even surviving a few without a DVD player:). Without intending to, we’ve become quite the experts in looooong road trips. I’m going to share what’s worked for us: the best strategies, travel games, books, snacks, and activities to keep the kids happy (and therefore, the parents happy) when in the car.

Day 1. Books about Road Trips (to read before you go!)

Day 2. Why Choose a Driving Vacation with Kids!?

Day 3. Eating on the Road: Meals and Snacks

BONUS: One Family’s Road Trip Experiences

Day 4. Best Practices: Road-Tripping with Happy Kids

Day 5. Games and Activities to Keep the Kids Busy

Day 6. Destination: US National Parks

Day 7. Reader’s Stories of Survival on the Road with Kids
Answer these questions and email us a picture to be included in Day 7′s article! Email your responses to kidworldcitizen (at) gmail (dot) com

How many hours was the trip? What was your origin and destination?
How many kids were along for the ride? What were their ages?
Tell us a favorite memory from a family road trip.
What’s your favorite travel tip for families deciding to do a driving vacation?

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Posted in Around the World, Field Trips and Travel, Travel with Kids

Tagged car travel, road trips

Spending the Summer Abroad: Mexico

Posted on May 27, 2012 | 4 Comments

Family in Bazar Sabado- Kid World Citizen

Bazaar Sabado, Mexico City with my brother-in-law Mario

Ever since I met my husband, when he was an exchange student from Mexico at my U.S. university, he has been bragging about an amazing summer camp he went to as a child in Mexico D.F.: “There were sports and games, we would swim and have gymnastics every day, they taught us about leadership and did team-building activities.” He always said that one day, he would send his kids there. Continue reading →

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Posted in Language, Mexico, The Americas, Travel with Kids

Tagged spanish, summer immersion

Real Families: One World, Two Kids, Three Languages- Our Lives in Belgium

Posted on May 8, 2012 | 2 Comments

This is the second in a series of articles on real families who are embracing and incorporating cultures and languages into their lives. If you you would like to be featured, send us a note. Today’s post is written by JR Hammerschmidt, US American mother of 2 adorable little girls, who is living in Belgium.

I live in Belgium with my family, which includes my husband and my two daughters, an 18 month old and a 6 year old. Belgium is a small country in western Europe, bordered by four different countries: Germany, France, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands. At the crossroads of so many different cultural and linguistic influences, Belgium is a very diverse place. Dutch, French, and German are the three official languages here. We live in the Dutch-speaking city of Ghent.

My daughter on a sunny day in Ghent

Both my husband and I are foreigners in Belgium: he is German, and I am US American. Before we came to Belgium, we already had a mix of our two different languages and cultures at home. Continue reading →

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Posted in Belgium, Europe, Field Trips and Travel, Language, The Netherlands, Travel with Kids

Tagged living abroad, real families

Real Families: Educating Kids in Morocco

Posted on April 24, 2012 | 4 Comments

Kid World Citizen is starting a series of articles on real families who are embracing and incorporating cultures and languages into their lives. If you you would like to be featured, send us a note. We love learning how you teach your children about your culture, and from families who are multilingual, multicultural, or living abroad. Today’s post is written by Heidi Raki, a mother to Khalil (8), Zaiyd (4) and Samir (1), a wife, teacher, blogger, and resource designer. Last year, she and her husband packed up their three sons and moved from Powder Springs, Georgia, USA to Casablanca, Morocco.

A few weeks ago, I discovered KidsWorldCitizen via Twitter and fell in love with the content and ideas I found! So, to be asked to guest blog here has made my day! I hope you all will enjoy my content as much as the amazing content normally featured on this blog. If you would like to – you can find me at my personal blog: Journey to Morocco and teaching blog: Raki’s Rad Resources or on Facebook or Twitter. Continue reading →

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Posted in Africa, Field Trips and Travel, Morocco, Travel with Kids

Tagged living abroad, real families

China Day 1: Surviving a 13 Hour Plane Ride with a 3 year old (27 Mar 2008)

Posted on April 7, 2012 | 18 Comments

In 2008 my husband, 3 year old daughter Vivi, and I spent 3 amazing weeks in China. This was no ordinary vacation- though we would be sightseeing and playing tourists for some of the time- this trip was to bring home our new 3.5 year old son from faraway Urumqi. I am re-writing our journal here, adding in travel tips for parents traveling with kids. My goal is to inspire families to travel together- even with kids! Continue reading →