Travel Scavenger Hunt Booklets

While living in Europe, we had the privilege of traveling to many countries. Although our kids were young, my husband and I were not about to let opportunities to see the world pass us by. We understood that young kiddos probably wouldn't be as excited to visit art museums or historical monuments as mom and dad. (However, in many cases, I was surprised by how much they did like these sites. I learned to include children - even young children - in as many life experiences as possible. They are ready and willing to learn!) So, my husband came up with the idea of having scavenger hunts as we traveled.


Here's one of my sons filling out his booklet in Rome. 

Before our trips, he would make a booklet with pictures of the landmarks, historical sites, churches, museums, etc. we would visit. He would also include pictures of the works of art we would see as well. (We made it a point to visit art museums in every city we visited.) The booklets were just a Word document with pictures that he had cut and pasted off the Internet.


My daughter working on her booklet also in Rome. It was so cute seeing these little kiddos hard at work among the great ruins of the Roman Forum. 

On the first day of the trip, our kids would get their booklets. As we traveled around, they marked off the sites we visited. Just a check mark by the picture. It became an I Spy game as they would search for the different sites to see who would spot them first. The booklet also helped them learn the names of the sites and a bit of history behind what they were seeing. My husband included a little information at times next to the pictures. Once their booklet was completed, we would reward our kids with a souvenir from that city.

With summer vacation fast approaching, scavenger hunt booklets would be a great way to help include your children more on your vacations. And, you don't have to be traveling through Europe to use them. We've done something similar with hikes in our hometown. The booklets will keep your children busy and they will be learning without really knowing it. They're just playing a game, right?!

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