The Best Travel Gifts For Kids & Teens

The Best Travel Gifts For Kids & Teens

There is so much excitement for kids who are heading off to travel, and often friends and family want to buy farewell gifts for kids or their parents to send them off. What many people don’t realise though, is that space is really limited for travelling families, and weight is also a constant juggle – there’s only so much that is legally able to be carried, so buying thoughtful gifts is really lovely, but we’ve got some great tips and ideas for the best travel gifts for kids or families who are about to head off on their trip around Australia.

I’ve decided to update this post for 2019, as now our children are older, things have changed. A lot. Both of my teenagers are now well into skincare & makeup for example, so something for my daughter like a gorgeous Beauty Advent Calendar would be practical and fun. So would I recommend the same gifts for travelling kids as I did when the kids were smaller? Some of them, but there are some other ideas I think are great options, so I’ve added a few more.

1. Fidget Toys For Kids

We all know there are long car rides, and hours of down time when we’re out on the road travelling, so figet toys are the perfect solution to keep kids occupied.

Fidget toys are generally small, compact and easy to take on the road without taking up too much of your valuable packing space. Brands such as Tangle fidget toys and Speks fidget and manipulative toys for children and adults are such a great solution.

If you haven’t looked at these types of toys for kids, they’re a great option for packing small and light and still having fun activities on the road.

2. Buy A Great Travel Journal for Kids or Adults.

This is still one of the best travelling gifts for kids. It’s actually the perfect travel gift idea for the entire family!.

It doesn’t matter if it’s Mum and Dad, or for the kids; travel journals are the perfect way for travellers to capture all the treasured moments on their journey. From destinations that are loved, to special experiences, drawing pictures, writing stories, sticking postcards, dried leaves, dried flowers, adding photographs. Journals help to create a timeless keepsake that will be a treasured family item for many, many years to come.

One thing I realise about travel, is that while you’re there, in the action, soaking up the landscapes, the conversations, the ever-changing destinations, that you never think you’ll forget. There are parts of our trip that I can barely remember, but having a journal to look back on has ensured that I can re-live the moment, and it’s such a fabulous glimmer of joy reading and remembering the little things that happened along the way that were special to us!

3. Travel-Friendly Art & Craft Supplies.

Whether it’s to write in their journal, help with their schoolwork or send letters and pictures back home to friends and family, travelling kids will love art and craft supplies to take along with them. Watercolour paints are a great option as they aren’t as messy as other paint options and don’t take much to clean up.

Pencils and pens are perfect for writing, drawing and colouring, as are notebooks and writing paper, both of which will come in handy for keeping kids occupied on long journeys and if they want to jot down notes or create artwork to represent their travels.

For our children’s travel journals we began with an A5 folder, with loose inserts from Office Works. That way they could move pages around, add photos once we’d had them printed, brochures, keepsakes, and remove a page if they felt like they didn’t want to include it any more. They also used their art and craft supplies to send special pictures and letters home to family and friends. The gift of stamps is also a great idea if you’d like to receive a postcard from your little adventurers!

4. Binoculars Make Great Travel Gifts for Kids.

Binoculars are a great gift idea for kids who are travelling. The ability to spot things at a long distance will help kids feel immersed in their surroundings and see things they won’t otherwise be able to spot. Wildlife, interesting scenery, they’ll love the faraway goodies they’ll spot through their new binoculars.

travel without leaving home.

5. Compact & Multi-use Toy Ideas for Travelling Kids

One of the basic toys we considered a must-have when we hit the road was Lego. Not only is it a great toy for building things like we all know, it’s also a wonderful tool for learning maths too! Lego is great for solo play or group play and suitable for kids (and adults) of all ages. Other great ideas include block games like Jenga, the blocks for this game can not only be used to play but also double as building blocks or math blocks too. Marbles, decks of cards, Uno, travel versions of games like scrabble and battleship are all available too. Look for games and toys that are compact or can be taken out of their bulky boxes and easily stored.

6. Tech Gifts for Travelling Families

Depending on the ages of the children, cameras and other tech gadgets can work really well. For cameras, polaroids work well for adding scenic photos or selfies into travel journals, but digital cameras work well for capturing lots of photos and deciding what to print later. Expensive cameras aren’t necessary, just look for something of reasonable quality and the kids will love it. Cameras that are shock proof and waterproof would definitely be an ideal, although more expensive option. Ipods and Ipads are also a much loved travel gadget, as are iTunes gift cards a loved gift for kids who own these devices.

7. Everyday Necessities Especially For Older Children and Teens.

As I mentioned above, now are children are older, I reflect on the things that would make sense for tweens and teens to be gifted for travel. Personal care items are a wonderful gift idea for older kids. I mentioned Beauty Advent Calendars, and my daughter would absolutely adore a gift like this both when we were travelling or now we’re settled down. The bonus is that the items inside are compact in size and great for travelling.

For my son, who now shaves, shave gear, spare razors, cologne, all of this can be expensive to buy on the road in more remote places, so a little gift basket of goodies would be a fabulous idea.

Of course no matter what, gifts that come from the heart are always welcome by any family. When it comes to travel gifts for kids, If you think about items that kids can use, are small, compact and won’t just take up space, you’ll have happy kids and happy parents, and most importantly, happy, smiling travellers!

What about other special events like Mother’s Day gifting, Father’s Day gifting or even Christmas gift ideas for living on the road? We’ll cover those in another post soon.

Educating Kids on Personal Safety When Travelling

Educating Kids on Personal Safety When Travelling

It’s important for every parent to talk to their children about how to keep themselves safe. Should the worst case happens and you’re child becomes separated from you, then it’s vital that they know what to do, and how to keep as safe as possible until they can reunite with you. We get asked a lot for travel safety tips for kids, so here’s our thoughts.

It’s a sad fact of life that kids go missing across Australia, and while it’s easy to teach kids about safety and danger within their own, regular neighbourhoods, as a family travelling in Australia, it’s important for our children to be street smart and really aware of their own safety and have coping strategies to use should they find themselves scared, lost or threatened.

Safety Travelling with Kids

If there is any family that has suffered so publicly and touched the hearts of so many people, not only from Australia, but around the world, then the Morcombe’s are that family. Their son Daniel was abducted and after many years of searching, a man was finally found guilty of his murder. The scary thing is, that the Morcombe family are just like all of us, and I’m sure like so many they never for a single moment believed their world would be turned upside down.

But if there is anyone in the world I admire for their strength, endurance and dedication to changing the world, then Bruce and Denise Morcombe would be those people. The Morcombe’s now spend their time helping to develop programs to teach children about safety, and regularly hosting presentations.

Here’s some tips the Morcombe’s Give to Kids:

“Our son Daniel did not get a second chance. His legacy is that you can learn from this tragic event and make sure it does not happen again. Daniel has given you that second chance.

  1. When you can, stay with a friend. Even if you have a fight with your mate, don’t go off alone.
  2. Be observant. Notice who’s around you and what they’re doing.
  3. Have a family password. Something like your favourite food – lasagne, for example. If a person says they are meant to pick you up, test them on the password.
  4. With your parents, make a list of 5 adults you trust. If you ever feel uneasy about anybody or anything, tell one of these people and know you won’t get into trouble. If you feel you’re not being listened to, try someone else.
  5. Don’t share information about yourself, like your hobbies or the name of your school with people you don’t know, online or in real life.
  6. If something feels wrong, it probably is. Trust the butterflies in your stomach – they could be a sign something’s not right.
  7. It’s okay to run and scream if you feel threatened. Safety is more important than good manners.”

It’s not a nice subject to think about or talk about, but I know I am super conscious of where my kids are at every second we’re in a new environment, and that’s quite often when you’re out on the road. I’ll be discussing the above strategies with my kids although as we’re not at home some of them won’t be as relevant.

The trick is to be cautious without being fearful, a life lived in fear isn’t a life lived fully is it?

If you’re a family travelling then one thing you will learn is that there are wonderfully kind people everywhere. We seem to be surrounded by amazing, free spirited people who share their stories and experiences with us and others and it truly does open your eyes to the kindness of human nature. But, of course things can happen, whether you’re at home, or on the road and it pays to ensure your children are cautious but not overly fearful.

We set boundaries and use techniques that help our kids stay safe, keep in mind our kids are 11, 9 & 7 and they are mature enough for us to have begun giving them greater responsibility and slowly increase their freedom, if your children are younger, then some of what we do might not apply.

Here’s our tips for child safety when travelling.

  1. Use small handheld walkie talkies – We purchased these before we hit the road, and they are a great option to give the kids some independence without losing contact of them all together.
  2. Dogs are great for safety – We have our dog on the road with us, he’s a Kelpie and really friendly, but his best feature is loyalty and I have no doubt whatsoever if anyone tried to harm the kids he’d come straight to their defence.
  3. Safety in Numbers – Our kids don’t go anywhere alone, if one goes they all go. This helps because of their age and the fact there’s three of them. It would be more difficult with only children of course, but we find this rule works for ours.
  4. Discretion with Online Info – I rarely post photos or activities that we’re doing on the day or time we’re doing them. Yes, we have a popular travel website and yes we post on social media, but my foremost thought is safety for our kids, so you’ll rarely see us post real time activities unless it’s appropriate.
  5. Give Guidelines – If our kids are offered something by other travellers, and they often are, then they know they must come and ask our permission first. They know not to enter anyone else’s caravan unless we have approved that and know they are there, and they know to ask before they leave our field of vision.
  6. It’s important for us to let go as parents. I’m mindful that I’ve always been unapologetically careful of where my kids are and what they’re doing but they are getting older and part of growing up is learning how to operate safeul in the world

 

Family Friendly Live Music – Taking Kids to Festivals.

Family Friendly Live Music – Taking Kids to Festivals.

I’m not quite sure when I realised my parenting choices were starkly different to most of the other parents I knew.

A memorable one, that perhaps shows deeply our philosophies on family travel is where we had three weeks and $10,000 to spend on a holiday, and we were given the advice by most people we knew to go on a cruise, because “there’s always easily accessible childcare there so you can enjoy yourselves”.  We both where aghast that people so readily wish to dump there kids for a holiday and could think of nothing worse, so we set off in a tent to explore from Darwin to Adelaide. The kids were 5, 3 and 18 months, we were covered in red dirt for almost the entire 3 weeks, and they probably don’t remember much of it, but we don’t regret that choice at all. I am still sure my spirit wouldn’t have been fulfilled on a cruise nearly as much as it was making those memories with our young family in some of the most breathtaking regions of Australia.

So, it probably came as no surprise to our friends, when we first dragged all three children along to a weekend music festival. In the rain.

 

Music Festivals with Kids

Rugged Up at Deni Ute Muster

Our introduction of live music to our children started quite early. Our eldest spent the night, right through until after midnight tucked snugly in his pram when we went to dinner as new parents, only to discover a wonderful singer, and not wanting to go home, figured as long as he was sleeping and happy, then there was no harm in staying to enjoy the tunes. In fact, all three children danced wildly in my belly at concerts, the first at riverdance when I was around 8 months, the second at dirty dancing the musical, and the third at a Robbie Williams concert. Their love of music was nurtured in the womb.

fotsun with kids xavier rudd

Hanging with Xavier Rudd at FOTSUN

I respect that for many people, taking their children to live music events isn’t something they’d feel comfortable doing, and that’s OK. Like with everything in parenting, the choice is an individual one. For those people who have considered it and just aren’t sure it would work, then we hope to inspire you to give it a go and hopefully you’ll have as much fun as we have over the years, and plan to have for many years to come, enjoying live talent with our kids. At Deni Ute Muster we got to take part in the Guinness Book of World Records Blue Singlet Record in 2009…. The crowd of 2010 currently hold the record and we’d love to get back there to give it another shot!

meeting sunny cowgirls with kids

Meeting the Sunny Cowgirls

Key Points for Taking Children to Music Festivals.

  • Dress Appropriately – Our weekend in the rain at FOTSUN meant ensuring the kids had great rain jackets, gumboots and plenty of changes of clothing for the guaranteed mud play. For sunny festivals, hats and sunscreen, and layered clothing works well if you’re not sure quite what the weather will do. DENI UTE MUSTER was freezing when we were there, and there were night concerts we wanted to see, so again, warm clothes, waterproof gear and plenty of layers were essential.
  • Know the Food Rules – It’s a great idea to check before hand if you’re allowed to take food into a festival. Lots of places expect you to buy food while you’re there. Packing a couple of snacks probably isn’t going to get you in trouble, or if there’s certain things your children are fussy about, or have allergies etc, but don’t plan on packing eskies of food for venues that don’t allow it. Similarly, you’ll likely be able to take a drink bottle in for the kids, but some places don’t allow this either, so always check ticket conditions and FAQ on websites and pack accordingly.
  • Don’t Expect to Re-live Your Youth – Yes, music festivals with your children are a great way to expose them to music culture, but don’t expect to be right up front of stage in all the action. Kids will get fussy, sooky, and all the other things kids do, so always do your best to find a comfortable vantage point that allows you to make easy escapes to toilets or to top up drinks and other requirements. Similarly if the kids become rowdy or boisterous, have some respect for fellow concert goers and move to another area where people won’t be inconvenienced.
  • Stay in the Family Area – Festivals like FOTSUN and DENI UTE MUSTER offer family areas that restrict alcohol consumption and are made to provide a safer environment for people with children. It’s always a great idea to stay in these areas for overnight festivals where such a section is provided.
  • Buy the Correct Tickets – Some festivals and concerts allow kids to enter free with paying adults, others have cheaper pricing for children, and others have age restrictions. If in doubt, always contact the promoter to be sure you won’t be disappointed and not allowed entry on the day.
Mostly, just get out there and enjoy the live music as a family.

During our travels across Australia, there are hundreds of music festivals we’ll be taking the kids to, everything from Jazz, Aboriginal Culture Festivals, to Gympie Muster and Blues Fest which I’ve somehow never quite made it to despite planning to go many years over. Our plans are to attend any festivals that are accessible to us, and to bring to you, how to head out there with your own kids and enjoy each one. We’ll be aiming for hints and tips specific to music festivals, and sharing our love of music within Australia.

As you all know, we’re very inspired by our love of Australia, so hopefully on the way we’ll get to ask some wonderful performers if anything in particular about Australia inspires them!

Have you taken your kids to music festivals? Got any advice to parents considering it? Anything you’d like to know or any festivals you’d like us to cover? Let us know in the comments below:

Family Fun in Sydney – Taronga Zoo with Kids

Family Fun in Sydney – Taronga Zoo with Kids

If you’re looking for the best family attractions in Sydney so you can have a great day out with the kids, then we absolutely must recommend Taronga Zoo. We recently visited Taronga as part of our 2 day holiday exploring the best family activities in Sydney and wow did we have fun!

Our Family Day Out at Taronga Zoo.

The day started with excitement and suspense with an early morning start and drive down the highway to Sydney. As we approached the grand entrance, the kids couldn’t control their excitement, trying their hardest to guess what animals they might see inside. The kids spotted the sky-lift first up just outside the main gate, so we jumped aboard and did the round trip “WOW” the view was breathtaking and gave us a good idea of where we wanted to go first, with views over the harbour and over the zoo. The sky-lift is used for ferry access too and from the zoo.

family fun in sydney

After taking in the view, we headed straight for the seal show which was amazing!

Here’s an insider tip, if you’re going to sit down in the front row, you might want to bring a towel with you 🙂

The keepers are really great with these amazing animals. The seals showed off their amazing speed and acrobatic abilities whilst simulating their hunting techniques and teaching us about the man-made threats they encounter in the wild, with one of the biggest threats being ocean pollution.

Seal show at Taronga Zoo Sydney

Next on the list was the mountain Gorillas, who were active, especially the babies, as feed time was approaching. The overwhelming size of the male demanded respect  and the way they interacted with each other was humorous and cheeky.

The keeper gave an informative talk about their natural habits and environmental dangers affecting them which shocked us when we heard that the biggest threat to these amazing animals is coltan mining, a substance that is used in all mobile phones!

This information left us with a great message to recycle our old mobiles, something we all need to remember.

Animals at Taronga Zoo family activities

A short stroll up the hill was the Giraffes exhibit where they enjoy one of the greatest views of the harbour ,the kids spotted the reptile section which was amazing then we headed down to grab some lunch at the food court which had a great variety of food and over looked the majestic elephants . After lunch we headed down to see the penguins and leopard seals , another amazing exhibit with under water viewing .

family travel australia taronga zoo

There’s just way too many animals to list but it was an a day we won’t forget .

How to Get to Taronga Zoo Sydney

Taronga Zoo is located in Mosman on the North Shore of Sydney. To add some fun to your day out, you can consider taking a ferry from the city which is a super exciting family experience, and a great way to see the harbour. Buses are also available, but will take longer, and if you prefer, there’s plenty of parking and finding your way there via car is pretty easy, using either your own GPS or maps on your phone which is what we did. The car park is an easy walk to the entrance, there is a parking fee, so remember to take your ticket with you so you can pay on your way out back to the car park.

Tips for Visiting Taronga Zoo Sydney with Kids.

  1. Spending the day out at the zoo with kids is a HUGE day, and we mean HUGE!! There is so much to see, that you’ll be kept busy for an entire day. Here’s our tips for making sure you have a great day out.
  2. Good, comfortable walking shoes are essential
  3. Be sure to pack a hat and sunscreen
  4. Pack plenty of bottled water, there are cafe’s there if you forget, but you’ll need to keep hydrated.
  5. Pack your own lunch and snacks if you’re on a budget. Again, there is food available, and there’s a good variety of choices for what to eat, but as any parent will know, eating out with kids can be expensive and packing your own will save money.
  6. For young children a stroller would be a good idea (The zoo offers them for hire if you need to borrow one).
  7. Download the free iphone app for a bit of extra fun.
  8. Buy your tickets online before you arrive to save time.
  9. Plan your day, but be flexible, The map provided is a great resource and the show times will all be provided, plan accordingly so not to miss the informative keeper talks.
  10. Allow yourselves plenty of time so you have time to stop, relax and enjoy.

fun with kids in sydney

Do Something for the Benefit of the Planet.

Remember, that by visiting the zoo, you’re doing great things to contribute toward research and breeding programs that support endangered animals worldwide. If you’re feeling generous and want to do something unique, think about adopting an animal. We adopted the Bilbies, and it was great to see them up close knowing our donation had helped even if just a little toward helping the zoo do great things for Bilbies.

So if you’re looking for the best family fun in Sydney, consider heading to the zoo, you won’t be disappointed.

Have you been to Taronga Zoo Sydney? What was your favourite animal?

Free Travel Games for Kids | Car Bingo

Free Travel Games for Kids | Car Bingo

It can be difficult trying to occupy children for a long time on car rides, believe me in our journeys travelling Australia we’ve learned the hard way! So that’s why we’re bringing you:

Boredom Busters Bingo – By Little Aussie Travellers

We got together with the kids to create 9 different bingo cards that can be printed ready to take along on your next long drive, you’ll see an example picture below along with a download link to download a .pdf file of the full set of 9 bingo cards.

These bingo cards do have a little bit of an Aussie theme, but if you’re visiting our website from another country, you’ll just need to glue a picture of your own country’s flag over the top of the Australian Flag before starting out on your journey.

Our tips are:

Download the Free Kids Activities Printable by clicking on the picture below.

Print them out, and either use a pencil or crayon to mark off your squares as you find your items, or for more long lasting cards, laminate each one individually and use small stickers or white board markers to check off each square.

We hope you like our bingo cards, feel free to spread the word, and we’d love any feedback you have or pictures of you using them 🙂