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Show Off Your Travel Diaries

Show Off Your Travel Diaries
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Create a colorful travel diary using drawings, photos, maps, and captions; practice organizing memories and sharing favorite trip stories with family and friends.

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Step-by-step guide to create a travel diary

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how to make a travel journal ✈️ + trying a fountain pen 🖋 (ft bastion) AD

What you need
Adult supervision required, coloring materials such as markers pencils crayons, glue stick or tape, old maps or map printouts, pen or fine tip marker for captions, plain notebook or stack of paper, printed photos or hand drawn pictures, safety scissors, stickers or decorative tape optional

Step 1

Gather all your materials and put them on a clean workspace.

Step 2

Choose one trip you want to turn into a travel diary.

Step 3

Pick 6 to 10 favorite photos from that trip.

Step 4

Choose a few small mementos and map pieces to include.

Step 5

Lay out the photos mementos and maps on blank pages in the order you want the story to follow.

Step 6

Cut maps or photos to the sizes you like using safety scissors with adult help if needed.

Step 7

Glue or tape each photo map and memento onto its assigned page.

Step 8

Draw pictures beside the photos to show things you remember from the trip.

Step 9

Write a short caption on each page with the date the place and one sentence about the memory.

Step 10

Make a colorful cover with a title and add a simple table of contents listing the page order.

Step 11

Share your finished travel diary on DIY.org

Final steps

You're almost there! Complete all the steps, bring your creation to life, post it, and conquer the challenge!

Complete & Share
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Help!?

If I don't have printed photos, a physical map, or safety scissors, what can I use instead?

Use phone screenshots printed on regular printer paper or hand-drawn pictures in place of photos, print maps from an online map service to cut, and substitute child-safe scissors or ask an adult to do the 'Cut maps or photos' step with regular scissors.

My photos or maps won't stay stuck or my pages wrinkle—how can I fix that?

Try a glue stick or double-sided tape to adhere each photo and map, press pages under a heavy book until dry to avoid wrinkling, and always 'Lay out the photos mementos and maps' first so you only glue once.

How can I adapt this travel diary activity for younger or older kids?

For younger kids, use 3–5 photos, focus on big drawings and have an adult help with the 'Cut maps or photos' and write short captions, while older kids can include 6–10 photos, extra mementos, longer one-sentence captions, and a more detailed table of contents.

What are some ways to enhance or personalize the finished travel diary?

Make a pocket from an extra map piece to hold small mementos before you 'Glue or tape' them, decorate the cover with watercolor and stickers, optionally laminate the cover, and add a printed QR code linking to a trip video to include when you 'Share your finished travel diary on DIY.org'.

Watch videos on how to create a travel diary

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🌱 how to travel journal // my best travel journal tips + easy spread ideas for beginners

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Facts about travel journaling for kids

✂️ Travelers often tuck ticket stubs, pressed flowers, and postcards into journals — these little keepsakes are called ephemera.

🗺️ Early mapmakers sometimes filled unknown areas with sea monsters and fanciful drawings when they didn't know what was there.

🧭 Ibn Battuta wrote one of the most famous travel journals in the 1300s, recording journeys of roughly 75,000 miles across Africa, Asia, and Europe.

📸 In 1888, George Eastman's Kodak camera made snapshots easy — suddenly travelers could take photos to paste into their diaries.

🎨 Quick sketches, color swatches, and captions can turn a plain notebook into a colorful travel diary you’ll love to share.

How do I create a colorful travel diary with my child?

To create a colorful travel diary with your child, start by choosing a notebook or binder and decide a layout (by day, place, or theme). Collect drawings, photos, maps, tickets and let your child glue or tape them into pages. Add captions, dates, and short stories in your child’s voice. Use stickers, color coding, and pockets for mementos. Encourage drawing scenes and asking questions to prompt memories. Finish by sharing pages aloud with family or photographing pages for digital backups.

What materials do I need for a travel diary?

You'll need a notebook or scrapbook as the base, plus glue or double-sided tape, scissors, and a pen or markers. Bring crayons or colored pencils for drawings, printed photos or a small instant camera, maps or brochures, stickers and washi tape for decoration, and envelopes or pockets for tickets and keepsakes. Optional: a smartphone for photos, a small ruler, label stickers, and a laminator or clear sleeves to protect special pages.

What ages is this travel diary activity suitable for?

This activity suits many ages with simple adaptations. Toddlers (2–4) enjoy pasting photos, scribbles, and stickers with adult help. Preschoolers (4–6) can draw scenes and add short captions. Elementary kids (7–10) write short paragraphs, mark maps, and organize pages by day. Tweens and teens (11+) can design layouts, include longer reflections, and research locations. Family members of different ages can collaborate so each child contributes at their skill level.

What are the benefits of making a travel diary?

Making a travel diary builds memory, storytelling, and writing skills while encouraging observation and creativity. It strengthens fine motor skills through drawing and cutting, boosts confidence when children share their pages, and fosters family bonding by discussing favorite moments. Collecting photos and maps also teaches basic geography and organization. Keeping a diary creates a lasting keepsake that helps children reflect on experiences and practice sequencing events, which supports schoo
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