Store-Bought Travel Journals

• You can buy travel journals for kids in stores or online. These store-bought journals already have lines and sections, and you can choose the cartoon character or theme you want. The journals tend to be divided into sections with titles that children fill in. You can buy journals dedicated to kids’ travel for under $10 as of 2011.

Printable Travel Journals

• If the journals in the store aren’t suitable, you can print out journal pages for free from some websites. You can get plain black and white pages for the child to decorate herself, or print out color pages with flower or animal designs. The advantage of printable pages is that the child can choose her own binder.

Homemade Travel Journals

• The kids may enjoy making their own travel journals before the family heads off on the vacation. You can buy a colorful small binder folder from a stationery store, along with paper of different colors and an A4 sheet of cardboard. Cut the paper to the size of the folder and use a three-hole punch on the pages. Cut the cardboard to the same size, punch holes in it, and use it as the front and back layer of the journal. Then place the colored paper into the binder, allowing two pages of each color in a row so the kid has enough writing space for one day. Buy sticky transparent pockets from the stationery store, then stick them onto individual pages so the child can press flowers or leaves from the vacation between the pages. The new journal owner can decorate the inside and outside of the folder with stickers and drawings.

Journal Entry Ideas

• If a journal has lots of different sections and headings, the child will be able to put lots of detail into the journal, making the vacation memories more accessible. For example, you can have a section marked “What I Ate Today,” or a section for “A Fun Skill I Learned.” He can dedicate the first page of his travel journal to the list of items he will need to pack, and write the number of souvenirs he bought in the last page of the journal. Keep every fourth page clear of sections so he can glue menus, maps or photographs into the journal.