11 Simple Gifts for Kids that Inspire a Love for Travel

I’ve been fully focused on travel lately, which I love! Exploring new places, planning future trips, and welcoming out-of-town visitors.I also recently got to “talk travel” with two individuals who share my passion for travel.  In the Your Life Your Way Summit I shared tips for Simplifying Travel with Kids.  And I chatted with Amanda Kendle for The Thoughtful Travel Podcast about what sparks wanderlust, being surprised on your travels, and more about traveling with kids.My family loves to travel and our ability to do so is one of the many benefits of having simplified the “stuff” in our lives.  We are believers of less stuff = more experiences!I am often asked how we keep life simple with kids, especially gift giving, and I am also asked a lot about our travels-where we’ve gone and how we’ve done it with kids.I decided to combine these two topics and share a list of 11 simple gifts for kids that inspire a love for travel. 1. Scrunch Map - You’ll find Scrunch Maps for the US, Canada and the world.  Our kids love scrunching it up and stuffing it in its bag as we plan our trips and during our travels.   (In case you’re wondering, the organizer in me does have a hard time putting something away all scrunched up!) 2.  Currency from different countries - Check with your local bank or order currency online from Travelex and have it send directly to you.  Your kids will enjoy seeing how different the coins and bills are from other parts of the world and as an added bonus, they’ll get a chance to work on their math skills!3.  Food from other cities or foreign countries - Whet your kids’ appetites and teach them about other cultures and traditions through food.  Research online to learn the history of a country’s food and find recipes or visit a local specialty grocery store to pick up something new to try as a family.  You could also subscribe to Try The World and have new native foods sent to you each month!4.  Camera - Kids see things from different perspectives than adults so let them capture the moments from their points of view.  An old smartphone or an iPod can be all they need to take fun pictures.  Or, for older kids that have an interest in photography, you can find nice quality used DSLRs online. (I’ve found great ones at BH Photo.)  This not only gets them interested in exploring and finding great views, but it gives them the opportunity to be creative and develop their photography skills.5.  Travel backpack - Gift them their very own backpack that only gets used for travel (not for school or sleepovers!).  We like the LL Bean Stowaway Day Packs because they are a durable fabric, come in a variety of colors, are easy to store, and are comfortable for our kids to carry on their own.  Our kids used these on our 2015 cross-country road trip.6.  Binoculars - There are so many things to see in nature, and again, kids have different perspectives than adults.  Ours always seem to notice things we don’t initially see and when they see something far away that piques their curiosity, its fun to have binoculars handy to take a closer look.  We use and love these because they are compact and lightweight.  Here is another option geared toward kids.7.  Compass - Yes, a smartphone can do just about anything nowadays but in the interest of minimizing the use of electronics during our travels, it’s fun to have a good old fashioned compass handy like this one (especially when you’re out in nature and your cell phone doesn’t work!).  Teaching kids to find their sense of direction is important and showing them how to use compass can support this.  And before you read the compass, see if your kids can guess which direction is which based on the sun and shadows.8.  Travel apps - Yes, I did just mention that we try to limit the use of electronics during our travels.  But there are times and places for them when traveling.  Let kids learn before and during the trip.  A few of my favorites are:Stack the States- A fun way to learn about the geography of the US.  And yes, I admit, sometimes I even play this one…Hoopa City - This app is great for little ones to learn about all that goes into a city, so when you’re exploring one, they’ll be on the lookout for all sorts of city things.World Atlas - expand your kids’ knowledge of the world with a world atlas.Good old Google Maps - my kids love zeroing in on where we are and looking at where we’re headed.9.  Journal - For preschool and elementary age kids, I suggest a paper journal or a simple sketchbook.  Little ones can draw pictures about their adventures and older ones can write.  We like to buy plain notebooks and create our own scrapbook-like decoupage covers.  It’s almost a mini-vision board with all that we envision for our travels.For middle school and beyond, the DayOne Journal app might be of interest.  It’s a way to journal your activities with words and pictures and it can even do the work of recording the location, time and weather.  I love that it can be available offline so you don’t need to use data or Wi-Fi and I especially love that it’s personal-just for me. If you don’t want to document everything on social media, this is a great option.  It will help kids focus on recording their memories for themselves, instead of for others.10.  Travel-related games – Before, during, and after our travels, some of our favorites are:Ticket to rideTimelineStory cubesNational Parks YahtzeeNational Parks MonopolyTrekking the National Parks TriviaNational Parks Matching Game11.  Books - Although books can be a great gift, in the interest of keeping your possessions simple, I highly recommend gifting your kids library cards instead. There are so many great books out there that have inspired a love of travel for my kids and although we’ve purchased a few, we’ve checked out hundreds from the library over the years.These books have deeply enriched our travels.  We’ve studied geography, languages, cultures, traditions, and history about the places we plan to travel and we’ve read non-fiction books about real people who lived “back in time” where we are headed.  Giving the kids the opportunity to hear stories about people who actually grew up in the places we’re visiting helps kids truly understand the history of that place.  (Our favorite was reading the Little House series before our trip to the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, South Dakota.  That remains one of our kids’ favorite trips!)A few books that we have purchased for our collection include:National Geographic Kids National Parks Guide USAThe Scrambled States of AmericaNational Geographic Kids World AtlasDK First AtlasUsborne Jigsaw AtlasNational Geographic Kids Ultimate US Road Trip AtlasI hope these ideas inspire a love for travel in your kids while also keeping your home simple and clutter-free.  I’d love to hear what gifts you’ve found that have inspired a love of travel for your kids.  Send me a note and share!To Simple Gift Giving and Happy Travels,LisaThis post contains affiliate links. 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