Happy summer to everyone in the northern hemisphere. If you plan to travel with your family anytime soon, read on! We have gathered links to ideas that may be helpful to parents preparing to travel with children. Planning ahead and “packing” some ideas and activities can make for a smoother and/or even more fun trip.
Check out our ideas below. We’ve tried to amass a variety, in hopes that there will be something helpful for every family. But our list is far from complete! What additional ideas do you have? What have you tried before, or what are you looking forward to trying on a forthcoming trip? Please share them with the community. Thanks, and may you have safe travels and a blessed time together as a family.
This travel prayer is a great place to start:
Lord Jesus,
You who are the Way, the Truth, and the Life;
You who traveled with Your servant Joseph;
You who accompanied Your two disciples on the road to Emmaus and set their hearts aflame with the warmth of your love;
Travel with (us) also and bless (our) journey.
Warm and gladden (our) hearts with the nearness of Your Presence.
Surround (us) with Your holy angels to keep (us) safe.
Deliver and protect (us) from all danger, misfortune and temptation.
Keep (us) in the center of Your love and obedient to Your will.
Journey always with (us) in (our) greater journey as pilgrims on earth on (our) way home to You.
Help (us) return home again in peace, health, and good will that (we) may praise and glorify Your exalted Name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all the days of (our) life.
Amen
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Orthodox resources:
Let Us Attend, Sunday’s Gospel for children, is presented each week in audio format at two levels – a retelling for younger children, and a reading of the Gospel for older children. This is an excellent resource, whether you are taking a long trip or just driving to church on any Sunday morning. Give it a listen at the Antiochian.org website or on Ancient Faith Radio. There are also free printable handouts for each week’s Gospel, written at five levels, and they can be found here: https://antiochian.org/regulararticle/809
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Daily Orthodox Scriptures for Kids is a daily podcast featuring children reading their way through the Gospels. This podcast is helpful whether you are at home or traveling, and can be found here: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/dailyscriptureskids
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There are many beautiful Orthodox coloring books that can be helpful companions while traveling, such as:
- more than 60 options for children of varying ages are available from Potamitis Press: https://potamitis.us/collections/orthodox-coloring-books
- these four (also available individually) from Ancient Faith Publishing: https://store.ancientfaith.com/coloring-book-bundle/
- and a series of free printable coloring/activity books about different saints can be found here: https://dce.oca.org/page/activity-books/
- if you would like to surprise your child with a coloring page of their patron saint, several original icon coloring pages of the saints are available to print from Sparks 4 Orthodox Kids: https://sparks4orthodoxkids.com/category/coloring-pages/
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Traveling with a stuffed Snuggly Saint doll may make the saint’s presence feel more real to a young child. Find these sweet dolls (available as a ready-made doll, a DIY kit, or the printed fabric) here: https://www.drawneardesigns.com/play?category=Snuggly+Saints
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These Little Saints blocks fit easily into a backpack or pocket for travel-time play. They also make a great gift to take to the children of a host family, if you’re staying with others. https://littlesaints.toys/collections/little-saints-individual-blocks
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These playsets are easy to pack, offer options for quiet play, and will not roll off of a car seat, lap, or tray table! https://orthodoxpebbles.com/diy-fabric-learning-sets/
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Find peg dolls featuring church friends, saints, monks/nuns, and more; as well as tiny portable prayer corners that will be good companions for any sized journey, in this shop:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/AnnalisaBoyd
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Find a parish near your destination so that you do not have to miss a liturgy, and so you can make new Orthodox friends: https://www.assemblyofbishops.org/directories/parishes/
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If your destination is too far from a parish to attend in person, join in on a live stream! If your home parish does not stream their services live, you can find a livestream here:
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General resources and ideas:
Create an activity binder with plastic sleeves and dry-erase markers for long travel days. This link offers additional links, including links to printable pages for the activity binder; fun road trip games; travel goodie bag ideas, and more: https://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/disneyland-week-what-to-do-in-the-car.html
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Find additional printable pages for a road-trip specific activity binder here: https://www.kcedventures.com/40-free-printable-road-trip-activities/
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Find even more road trip ideas (many of which would also work on flights) here: https://runwildmychild.com/screen-free-road-trip/
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Use photos of favorite people, places, or subjects and make several craft stick puzzles like this: https://www.motherhoodonadime.com/kids/popsicle-stick-puzzles/
(You may want to add adhesive felt pads to the back of each craft stick and store them in a felt pocket that doubles as the “puzzle building” space. The felt of the pads will cling to the felt of the flattened bag during assembly, keeping the pieces from sliding off of a lap or tray table.)
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Create a seek and find jar with small items buried in rice (you could make child-specific jars with items of interest to each child, or make a travel-themed one, or a destination-themed one), along with a list, in words or pictures, of the items in that jar. Children turn the jar to find the items buried in the rice, and see how many of the listed items they can find.
https://www.instructables.com/Search-Find-Jar/
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At the bottom of this blog, you will find free printable pages for license plate games, travel bingo, and I Spy:
https://mothersniche.com/the-ultimate-travel-activity-kit-free-printables-and-super-fun/
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Create a travel lego kit, complete with lego challenge cards
- use legos to recreate the lego brick patterns shown on these cards: https://www.funathomewithkids.com/2014/06/diy-portable-lego-kit-with-free.html?m=1
- create 3-D lego shapes to match these challenge cards: https://chaosandquiet.com/travel-lego-kit/
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Assemble an artist box or block building book like one of these: https://thesimpleparent.com/diy-travel-activities-for-kids/
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Use that artist box (or any art supplies that you bring along) to create tiny shareable art. Encourage your children to draw or write kind words on small paper (for example, sticky notes) that can be hidden at rest stops, stores, or other tourist locations for others to find and enjoy.
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Read aloud to your kids while you travel. If that’s not a viable option, check out audiobooks from your public library or its online resource offering app (Hoopla, Libby, etc.) and listen together. Need some ideas for books? Check out https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/great-audiobooks-for-kids; or https://www.orthodoxmotherhood.com/best-audiobooks-for-children-and-teens/
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Bring a small stuffed animal, plastic toy, peg doll, or even a cardboard-mounted photo of a friend/family member “along” on the trip. Brainstorm photo ops together and document the item’s “adventures” with all of you on the trip. Share the photos with family or friends; or print them into a book after the trip is over. (Here’s an example of a cardboard-mounted “fellow traveler”: https://www.flatstanleyproject.com/)
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Start a family collection as you travel. Make crayon rubbings of textured surfaces at each stop, or gather postcards, or collect tiny stones/shells/flowers/leaves that will remind you of each part of your journey. Have a plan for displaying your collection when you return home.
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Here are tips and tricks for road tripping with kids: https://talesofamountainmama.com/road-trip-hacks-for-kids/
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Double check your packing list with one of these: https://www.bonvoyagewithkids.com/road-trip-packing-list/
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This post is an update to the original Orthodox Christian Parenting post, On Traveling with Children, from July 12, 2017. Several useful and fun ideas are shared in that post if you are looking for even more options.
Orthodox Christian Parenting 