You’re going on a trip! Here’s some fun learning activities to do while travelling:

1. At the planning stage, have a chat with your child and involve him or her in some of the decisions regarding holiday activities.
2. Before you head off, involve your child in the packing process. This is a great opportunity to estimate weight and to use correct terms such as kilogrammes, heavy, heavier, heaviest, light, lighter and lightest.
3. Travel involves a lot of time-tabling and time-keeping. Make your child aware of this by discussing departure times and arrival times (read the boards together). Explain why the time is changing if you are passing through different time zones.
4. Keep a travel journal. This may include your boarding pass, train tickets, museum tickets, photos, postcards, some personal writing and pictures.
5. Take out a map and explain to your child where you will be visiting. Use the map to plan journeys you will take while you are away.
6. Make use of free city maps, encourage your child to pick out landmarks and read words on the map.
7. If you are visiting the beach, take the opportunity to practise letter and number formation in the sand.
8. The beach is a great place to practise construction skills. Why not use the language of capacity while building your sand castles – full, empty, nearly full, nearly empty, more, less?!
9. Embrace different languages and share any new words with classmates.
10. Visit and research cool historical landmarks.
11. Visit and research cool geographical landmarks.
12. If visiting family, interview older relatives about games they played when they were younger.
13. If visiting family, compare your school day with your cousin’s school day.
14. Immerse yourselves in the local culture; visit an art museum, see a show and try the local cuisine.
15. Take lots of photos and encourage your child to share their wonderful experiences.

Many thanks to Mary Mc Donnell from Citywest E.T.N.S. for this document