Going home for the holidays family travel tips - Teach kids travel

November 7, 10:17 AMEarly Childhood Parenting ExaminerAngele Sionna

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By traveling you teach your children about the world. They learn of the differences and similarities of people and cultures. Not to mention that it is fun and a great way to add memories and a strong family bond.

I asked Examiner.com's Family Travel columnist Stacie Haight Connerty about teaching children about travel. She says, "I think that the main things that you can teach children about travel is to stay calm during travel and to really learn about where you are going. It is amazing how much more involved my children become when we do our homework about where we plan to travel. This also goes a long way about keeping them calm during travel because we can discuss what we are going to do once we get there. This calms them down and keeps them busy."

Even if you can't afford to take a big trip, kids can learn a lot from little adventures, like these:

• Take them to nearby cities and towns.
• Walk around the downtown areas.
• Visit locally owned shops and small mom and pop restaurants.
• Go for a hike in a nearby national or state park or forest.
• Visit a museum.

These are all pretty easy and relatively inexpensive ideas that will go a long way.

Can't leave your house for even a day trip right now? No problem. Connerty says, "I think that it is important for parents to know that even if they are unable to travel or choose to stay close to home, they can still have adventures around the world in their own home. Choose a cuisine from another country or learn a few words from another language. Children can still learn about the world and appreciate the differences in others."

"Even if you never travel or go anywhere far from home, it is important to teach children that there is a big world out there," Connerty adds. "There is so much more to experience than the areas near our homes. Even if it doesn't happen now or perhaps never happens, it can always be fun to look at a globe and plan the trip of a lifetime or pick far away places to learn about."

There are several toys out there specifically made to help children learn about the world, without going anywhere. A particularly good brand are the Karito Kids dolls. They feature several cultures around the world and every purchase helps another child. Some of the dolls have books that they "star" in too. These books teach about the areas the dolls "come from." Plus, they're cool looking and kids love them. They'd make a good travel buddy too! You can read more about them at karitokids.com. By the way, the Karito Kids website also can be used as a tool for older children for learning about different cultures in a kid-friendly way.

Some cute travel books specially written for tiny travelers ages two to six to check out are the Adventures of Paw Paw series. The books feature a little puppy dog named Paw Paw who likes to travel. Each book takes place in a different part of the world. You can check out sample pages of the books HERE.

Added bonus: part of the sales of each Paw Paw book is donated to Born2Fly, an international organization helping children around the world.