Boy and girl sitting in back of SUV helping to unload luggage with parents standing next to them ()
Traveling with kids is so much fun—but let’s be real, it can also be exhausting. Especially when said kids don’t have the travel bug and start complaining even before the packing begins. Here are seven tried and true ideas (from a mom of three) to help spark some excitement for traveling with less whining and more fun.
Give them some control. If you have older kids, let them help plan parts of the trip. Have them choose a tour, a museum to visit or even a specific area for wherever you’re going. With younger kids, give some options for activities during the trip and have them pick what they’d prefer (a boat ride or a bus ride, a zoo or aquarium, picnic at a park or try something new, etc.). Once they have a vested interest in the trip, it can help them enjoy it more.
Schedule in fun (or at least some downtime). Traveling with kids, especially if they’re young, is completely different from the go-go-go mentality grown-ups sometimes have in a new city. Adults may want to cram in as much sightseeing as possible, but too much isn’t always a good thing for little ones; they’ll get burnt out, bored and overstimulated, which can result in frustration and meltdowns.
Keep them in mind when you’re planning out your daily activities. That might mean narrowing down your long, “must-see” list to your absolute favorites. Hit up a museum in the morning, a park afterward for them to run around, followed by lunch and a family-friendly walking tour or a Hop-On, Hop-Off bus to rest their little legs. Of course, promises of ice cream can go a long way for kids.
If kids know they have something scheduled just for them after the adults see what they want to see, it can help them feel seen and important, and they’ll have something to look forward to.
PRO TIP: Keep flexibility and patience in mind when you’re traveling with kids. Things often won’t go according to plan and plans rarely stay on time. Schedule your absolute must-see spots for the morning just in case things go awry later in the day.
Have them document it. Once we started having our kids document our trips, it was like a whole new world opened up for them. Little ones might enjoy small, kid-friendly digital cameras (great gift idea from grandparents, by the way), while slightly older kids can use old smartphones (keep the Wi-Fi off and the camera will still work). Since it’s all digital, they can literally go to town snapping pictures.
Our oldest also enjoys journaling about our adventures. Another way to get those creative juices flowing is to pick up a postcard from your destination or each day’s adventures and have them jot down their favorite memory on the back.
Go on a scavenger hunt around a new city. Several cities in Europe offer family-friendly scavenger hunts as a way to get to know a new city. Not only are they informative, but they’re often interactive and fun. (Check out the Hopla Guide in Colmar and Strasbourg, France.)
If a city you’re visiting doesn’t have a specific scavenger hunt, geocaching is another great, fun and free way to see a new place. Geocaching is like a treasure hunt that uses GPS. With thousands of caches hidden around the world, there’s never a shortage to find. Create an account on geocaching.com to see how many are near you.
Turn ON the TV and open a book. The goal is to get kids having fun outside the house, but this tip starts before you even leave. Utilize the library and check out some travel books specifically for kids. “Lonely Planet” and “National Geographic” have some great options. Let young readers dive into a book to see where you’re going before you even get there. Speaking of scavenger hunts, there are some scavenger hunt books for kids in specific cities like Paris, Barcelona and more.
Reading books and watching movies featuring the city or country you’re visiting is a great way to open their mind to what they’re about to see. For example: “Madeline” is based in Paris; “Paddington Bear” and “Harry Potter” are based in London; “Ferdinand” if you’re going to Spain or “Luca” if you’re visiting Italy. For older kids, read or watch Harry Potter and then go.
Find unique kid-friendly experiences. There are so many fantastic gems out there for traveling families; you may just need to dig around a little bit to find them. Airbnb Experiences, GetYourGuide and Viatar are great ways to find unique things to do. For example, you can: paint your own tiles in Lisbon, Portugal; take a pasta-making class in Italy; go on a specific kid-friendly tour of the Louvre in Paris, France or go on a bike ride through tulip fields in Holland.
There’s truly something for everyone wherever you go.
Play games. Worst case, if you’re out and about and the whining (inevitably) starts creeping in, break out some old-school games. Play “I, Spy” and see what’s around you; get into a game of telephone to see who can make the silliest sentence; or go around the table for a game of “Would you Rather?” Sometimes kids just need a silly distraction.
As a mom to three kids under nine years old, I know how much easier it can be to just stay home and let kids play on their iPads or run around the park. But we live in Europe, and we’re here to take advantage of the location and the cultures surrounding us.
Do they still whine and complain? Of course, kids will be kids. But after two years of living overseas, traveling is becoming second nature to them. When a weekend or a break is coming up they’ve started asking, “Where are we going next?” Those words are music to this wanderlust’s ears.
