Travel Journal for Kids

You are going to have sooo much fun!! The first thing I would do is buy her a map and highlight your route or get a TripTych (sp.?) if you are in AAA. Go to the store with her and let her pick out a special book to keep the journal in. If you can, get one with pockets in it so she can put menus, brochures, etc., in it. Then, when you stop overnight, figure out a good time that you can set aside to work on it together. Maybe after dinner and pajamas, before bed? Sit down with her and help her out. She'll get the hang of it and will no doubt treasure her journal forever. What a fun thing to do with her! And take plenty of pictures to put in the journal, too.

Ditto the journal box. I love nature and a bit of leaves or a feather or rock native to the area would be my jumping off point. A quote from someone on the trip can do the trick. Make up a story about a stranger you meet on the way..where is he going or what is his family like? Do the same with any animal. Don't make her hate writing so one sentence is fine or you could write down a longer story together. Keep it light or make up a poem.
Get a rhyming dictionary or use the one on line. Make up a song or a new verse to one you hear on the radio. Get some picture postcards. Tell some funny family stories from long ago and get her take on it. Information is just a jumping off place for imagination. She is a lucky girl to have a mom like you! Keep writing!

We did a big trip at Christmas time and had my girls (8 and 10) keep journals too. The first thing was let her pick out a journal. Mine got some really nice ones at Justice. And they picked out some pretty pens, purple with feathers on top. Sometimes it's just the little things. And then we had a time at the end of each day that they wrote down what we did. Some days it was just a few sentences others it was pages.

Another thing, if she is old enough to write herself, and can do so in the car have her jot down things as she sees them while you're driving. And then she can draw pictures of what she saw too.

Have fun! You'll love it!

Get her kids camera and maybe she'll write about what she's taking a picture of? I personally am not a fan of journals or diaries. I wrote enough papers in school! I just want to have fun on vacation!

Make theme pages......things you're likely to see, i.e.) different animals, historical places, etc. Get stickers to go along with those themes that she can place on the pages. Have a page to write down all the state license plates she sees. Have pages with prompts: "The silliest thing I saw was...," "The most fun thing we did......," etc. They probably have "road trip" journal/activity books at Barnes and Noble. You could research their ideas.

I bought an empty hardcover journal and I have my granddaughter (5) tell me her favorite part of the day. I leave room at the bottom and she draws a picture of what she has described to me. We started this on a trip to Disney and as tired as she was at night before bed time, she loved doing this.

She also has a spiral notebook that she calls her journal that she carries everywhere with her. Some days she draws a picture of her day and some she writes her own notes with help from whatever adult is available to help with the spelling. LOL

I have never been one that likes to keep a journal, but my granddaughter loves to "write" stories so this is very fun for her.

Enjoy your trip!

other fun things when journaling is drawing a picture, or making up a story about something you saw. could add a little different take to just writing down what you did that day.
Have so much fun!

Can she write?

Or you can write for her, what she thinks/says.
She can also just draw in it.

A young child does need to be cued. But if she is older, and can write, then she can write on her own, as she feels something is worth writing down. Per her thoughts or observations.

She can also collect things along the way... leaves, rocks. That is a 'journal' too. And she can glue it in her journal and write down where she found it etc. or put it in a special "journal box."

Or take photos with a Polaroid camera, and put it in her journal. That is a 'photo journal.'

I got my son a "journal" when he was in kindergarten. It's just a spiral bound notebook and he mostly drew pictures of things he liked. Now he's in 1st grade and will actually write things along with pictures.