by Loreena Walsh | Education, Family Travel
Family road trips are lots of fun, and what makes them even better for parents, is that it’s easy to incorporate an educational perspective into holiday travel, that allows children to learn and experience the world first hand without realising they are learning a thing!
Introducing Education Into Family Road Trips
1. Road Trip Travel Journals
Travel journals offer lots of fun and artistic opportunity for kids, and secretly they offer lots of learning possibilities too! Don’t feel that travel journals are limited to older children, road tripping kids of any age generally love to draw, write or share their own insights into their holiday moments. It’ helps to relieve boredom and allow them to create great holiday memories and express themselves. While there are commercial options available, it’s easy to put together your own travel journal pack. To keep things simple, our tips for creating a travel journal for your kids are:
- Hardcover note books from the newsagency or supermarket work well for DIY Travel Journals. An A5 size is portable and a great size to have in the car.
- Supply stickers or other decorations so that the kids can decorate their journal before leaving home, this will ensure they look forward to using the journal once on holidays.
- Allow creative expression. Encourage certain information to be recorded in the journal but don’t make any rules.
Ideas for travel journal content for your kids:
- Draw pictures of places, buildings, attractions, wildlife, anything they see
- Draw maps of places you visit, places you stay, even your holiday accomodation.
- Leave blank pages when they write about attractions etc so they can glue photos in when they get home.
- Collect travel brochures and glue them in.
- For older kids: Keep a daily journal of what they experience each day
- Track Kilometres travelled each day along with times, fuel costs etc.
- Anything else that may be of interest to your child depending on their age.
- Pack a “journal kit” for the kids to use including scissors, pencils, glue etc
2. Track your travels on a map.
This is a really fun thing to do with children of all ages. Get a suitable map that shows both your home and your road trip destinations. Before you leave home, place a marker on your home town/city then, depending on the age of your children, help them to plot your travels on the map, or allow them to do it. You can either do this as a family, or give the kids a map of their own. You don’t need to buy expensive maps for this, you can simply print a map out from the internet before you leave.
After or during your trip, for older children, this gives them to opportunity to research distances between towns etc. It’s also great for them to plot departure/arrival times, stop times and locations and fuel expenses. By turning this into a fun adventurous exercise this helps your child learn a whole range of life skills and mathematical skills without it being boring and mundane.
3. Give your children a camera or video camera to use.
When children get the chance to capture their own childrens holiday photos, amazing things can happen. Unlike adults, children aren’t always focused on the photos they are supposed to take, and generally, happily snap away to capture the world as they see it. Children see things differently not only because of their height, but also because of their different view on people and the world. Digital photography makes it inexpensive for children to snap photos happily without incurring the expense of photo printing.
To create the best educational opportunity, allow your kids to print their photos and add them to their travel journal. Talk with them about why they took certain photos, what they experienced and their favourite parts of the holiday. This helps with their communication skills.
These ideas are just a few simple ones of how you can create educational, yet fun opportunities on your next Aussie family road trip. Of course researching places, people, animals etc that they have seen is a great way to broaden their knowledge and even if they don’t write it down, talking about it as a family is lots of fun and sometimes we underestimate the power of a simple conversation with our children and what they can learn from it.
Don’t be afraid to try things like journals and modify ideas to suit your family and travel style. Regardless, you’re sure to create a lovely keepsake that will be looked back on in years to come. Do you have any travel tips you’d like to share, please do!
by Loreena Walsh | Travel With Pets
Travelling Australia is fun for all the family, and by that, we me ALL the family, pets included.
Wondering if you can drag your dog, cat, bird or even other pets along on the journey? Why, yes! We believe you can, and here’s our quick guide to how.
Is it Safe to Take Pets Travelling?
We have experience with many kinds of pets. From snakes and lizards, to dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, birds and even a pig! Would we take any of these travelling Australia with kids? Not all pets, but yes, for sure, some of them. After all, pets are part of the family aren’t they? Our dog goes almost everywhere with us, from short drives to the shops, to long, long road trips.
How hard/easy or safe it is to take your pet travelling will depend greatly on the type of transport and accommodation you’ll be depending on. Travelling in a car and staying in hotels is going to be highly restrictive. Those travelling in buses, motor homes or caravans, and those self sufficient campers will have an easier time accommodating their pets.
Travelling with Dogs: Easy to travel with compared to some other animals. Be sure to know your pets limits, carry water, food and allow toilet stops. Travelling safely inside the car with pet designed safety harnesses is also recommended
Travelling with Birds: Can be caged. Very tame birds could travel well, but for most birds, the journey may be too stressful. Travelling with birds will mostly require independent travel using a motorhome or van as most accommodation venues will not allow them.
Travelling with Cats: Yes, we do know people who travel with cats. Mostly in buses, as it could be difficult any other way. If your cat is well travelled and you’re self sufficient and camping etc then you could definitely manage a feline friend on the road. Please keep in mind the safety of wildlife and don’t let cats roam free, or without bells on their collars!
Travelling with Reptiles: Reptiles require special heating and this makes it difficult to have them as mobile pets. Not only this, licenses are required in most states, and their are strict rules on taking reptiles across state borders. These types of pets are best left at home.
Travelling with other pets: It is possible to travel with other pets such as rabbits, guinea pigs etc. Keep in mind their individual requirements and if it may be stressful for the animals when being trasported.
Where Can You Take Your Pets on Holiday In Australia?
If you’re planning on heading to hotels, motels and caravan parks, then your options may just be a little limited when it comes to travelling with animals on board. If you’re looking to stay in these types of accommodation, the best option is to thoroughly pre-plan your trip and ring ahead in advance to ask individual managers/owners their pet policies. Don’t be surprised if it’s difficult.
The great news is, the more self sufficient you are, the more pet friendly accommodation options you have. Hotels and motels generally don’t allow pets to stay, although there may be some exceptions to this rule. Much of it comes down to being a health and safety issue. If you’re travelling in a camper trailer, tent or caravan and planning on a camping holiday, then you may just be in luck.
One of the most vital pieces of information is actually where you can’t take your pets when travelling. National parks and many reserves, sanctuaries or similar, do not allow domesticated animals. This is to protect native animals from disease, and from becoming too familiar with dogs etc which may put them at risk. Beaches, shops and restaurants will also have restrictions in place, and while this shouldn’t stop you taking pets, it’s definitely worth some careful planning to make sure that your pet friendly holiday is enjoyable for all the family.
Finding Pet Sitters While Travelling.
There may be times when travelling with your pet, you will need a short term carer. This is not as difficult as it seems. Most larger towns have pet boarding kennels, see our guide to choosing a good pet boarding kennel while on holidays. If that option isn’t available, then local vet clinics will often pet-sit for a small fee. If that’s sill not an option, then check with the tourist information centre for pet sitters, or ask around with other travellers, it’s not uncommon to find another travellers who is happy to pet sit for a few hours.
No matter where you travel with your pet, as with any holiday, enjoy!
by Loreena Walsh | Education, Family Travel, Slider Features
If you take a little peek into our lives, it’s not a hidden fact that we love the bush.
Our home base is in regional Australia, you’ll spot dead giveaways such as Akubra Hats, Bullzye & R M Williams Clothing, RM Williams boots, plenty of Rodeos, with a few paddocks and horse rides thrown into the mix. It’s no secret that we love regional and rural Australia and everything it has to offer.
So it’s with absolute, great pleasure that we get to share with you a wonderful initiative that families across Australia can take part in.
What is Farm Day?
Farm day is simple, it’s a day that brings city families together with farming families to promote fun, friendship and a greater understanding of how important farming is to all Australians. Started in 2006, Farm day is held annually. Each year, city families and farming families register their interest and are then matched together and get to spend a day together to learn, forge friendships and have lots of fun on the way. Definitely a wonderful opportunity to promote the importance of the Australian farming industries, and also to provide a wonderfully educational day for children (and adults too) with lots of fun involved.
Who Can Take Part in Farm Day?
Farm Day was specifically designed for families with school age children. This however is not a strict requirement and other family groups can be accommodated if their is a suitable match available. There are options for farming families who wish to host a city family for a day, and also for city families who would like to experience farm life for a day and learn about rural industries and Australia’s agricultural lifestyle. It’s definitely a great way for children who don’t otherwise have much contact with farms to get hands on and learn about how their food is getting from the paddock to the plate!
How to Sign Up?
Registration needs to be renewed each year to take part in Farm Day. For 2012 the meet ups take place on the 26th & 27th May, there is still some time to register. Registrants are then contacted by the lovely team and hopefully a suitable family match is found. It’s not always possible to find matches for every family, but every effort is made to do so.
Why We are Taking Part?
So you may be wondering why we’re participating in Farm Day? We’ve had a fair bit of insight into farming having lived near, on and around farms in the past, and our children, have raised their own piglet, chickens and veggie patches. Don’t sound like much of a city family do we? I can definitely say that we aren’t, we’re much more country, but we’re not farmers, and while we understand it, we don’t live the extraordinary lifestyle that farmers do.
It’s for this reason when we were approached to participate this year, we jumped on board without hesitation. While we aren’t the typical “city family” the goal for us in participating in Farm Day is so we get to help rally awareness for this wonderful initiative. To share with our readers and visitors just what you can expect by joining up and taking part in this amazing opportunity. We’ll be sharing the details of the process of signing up, right through to the planning, participation and follow up. There will be lots of photos and videos too.
If you’ve found this post in time for the 2012 Farm Day then be sure to register. If not, then stay in touch over at the Farm Day Oz Facebook Page so you don’t miss out on the next opportunity!
by Loreena Walsh | Thoughts & Ideas
On this special day of remembrance, we send thoughts and love to all those soldiers who passed away so bravely defending our freedoms, to the families who lost their dearly beloved, and to the men and women serving our country today. Thank you all! Lest We Forget.
by Loreena Walsh | Photography, VIC Destinations & Activities
If you’re looking for Melbourne family activities then we’ve got the place! We were so very, very lucky to be welcomed by Melbourne Aquarium to explore for the day. Sometimes I LOVE being a photographer, because not only do I get to experience the amazingness of places like this first hand, I also get to capture them so memories never fade! Here’s a photographic look at just a few things you’ll see around the Aquarium. If you are in Melbourne with your children and are wondering whether to visit, then DO IT!
by Loreena Walsh | Australian Wildlife, Photography, SA Destinations & Activities
Forget the cool morning breeze, when there’s a beach to explore nothing can stop us! During our family holiday to Kangaroo Island we hit the shores of Vivonne Bay to see what we could find, and mother nature let us in on some great finds!
Today for Wordless Wednesday I’m sharing a great one with you: a big cuttlefish bone with teeth marks in it!
Can you see the teeth marks?
DO YOU KNOW WHAT ANIMAL OWNS THESE TEETH MARKS?
