Educational Travel

Summer Vacation Maps

Posted by Stef Layton on Jun 13, 2016 in Educational Travel, Travel | 0 comments

Are you planning your summer vacation? Or packed and ready to hit the highway? Let your students enjoy some map making skills and create a fun keepsake this summer.

Summer Vacation Maps

Print a black and white map of the USA (or country you will be visiting). Encourage your students to label the map of the places you will be traveling through. Then draw a line of your route through the states / country. As you drive along suggest your students add special landmarks, cities, rivers, mountains, etc. along your way.  Color in bodies of water, railways, forests, and interesting terrain.

Older students can add historical landmarks and special events.

You do not have to make a cross country trip. Even if you stay in state and head to Grandma’s house, do something different and map a Summer Vacation Map.

Keep your map in a safe place. When you get home laminate their Summer Vacation maps! You’ll have a special reminder of the trip y’all took the Summer of 2016.

We flew to Washington DC, so I did not have my children create a fun map. However, when we got home we laminated all of our museum “tickets”, Metro passes, and some special things we picked up into a fun little poster. They even drew pictures of the Washington Monument and Capitol Building.

All of our family fun pictures are on Facebook and Instagram, which are not easy for little ones to look back and remember the exciting trip. Having these laminated “posters” or Summer Vacation Maps help spark conversations, geography lessons, and remind our children of the great times we have had together.

Tips to Make Family Vacations Educational

Posted by Stef Layton on Jun 22, 2015 in Educational Travel, Homeschool, RoadSchool, Travel | 0 comments

Do you want to add a little learning to your next family vacation? You do not have to pull out the school books, planners, or buy any new curriculum! All you need is a little time to plan before you leave the house.

If you are going cross country camping or just visiting grandma, incorporate one of these fun educational opportunities.

Tips to Make Family Vacations Educational:
1. Google your destination’s history. Find any “historical landmarks” within the area or along the route you are taking. Stop by and visit them. You might stumble upon the town’s first school house, an old rail car, or a pioneer cabin.
2. Google “animals native to …” the region you are visiting. Print an animal scavenger hunt. Or bring along Field Guides.
3. Learn the geographical region of the area. Plan to spend some time discovering the mountains, valleys, peninsulas, caves, etc. Bring a ziplock back to take home treasures: rocks, shells, leaves, and such.
4. Print a blank map of the state(s) for your older learners to color in as they travel along. Label rivers, lakes, mountains, cities, and capitals. Laminate the map for younger learners and let them use a dry erase marker.
5. Find a local tour guide or park ranger. Guides are a wealth of information and they love to answer questions.
6. Participate in the National Park’s Junior Ranger Program {full list of participating parks}.
7. Find a great classic that is set in the place you are visiting and read it together as a family. Check out our list of over 50 Classics!

It never fails. After some vacations while I am unpacking I kick myself for missing out on a learning opportunity. But the truth is ~ I was busy enjoying my vacation! Do not add stress or regret as a vacation memory. Wrap up your great family vacations with some easy hands-on learning opportunities once you get back home.

When You Get Home:
1. Learn about an animal. Print Notebooking Fairy’s {free} animal classification page.
2. Create a Salt Dough Map of the place.
3. Construct a shoe-box diorama.
4. Write a short story adventure of the vacation.
5. Paint, sketch, or draw a the favorite thing about the vacation.
6. Build the location on Minecraft or with Legos!

Staying close to home this summer? Give your family a Home State Challenge. It may take you longer than the summer to complete, but what fun to get to know your own home state?!
1. Visit every state park in your state.
2. Visit every historical landmark in your state.
3. Visit every botanical garden in your state.
4. Visit your state border(s) and the Welcome Centers.
5. Learn facts about your home state, State Facts for Students

Looking for hands-on geography fun? Follow our Geography Pinterest Board for ideas.