Travel journals for children

A few weeks ago my mum was having a clear-out and unearthed one of my old childhood notebooks. I vividly remember this notebook – it started out as a little travel journal of a holiday to Yorkshire when I was about six. I’m the one standing on the rock, pictured with my Mum and older sister, Sarah.

Immediately, I was transported back twenty-five years – sitting in our caravan on a wet holiday in April: cutting, sticking and writing little snippets about our adventures…

Clearly, the best bit about visiting Skipton Castle was the shop! Some things really don’t change, and the lure of the gift shop is just the same for my six-year-old son, Gabriel. I also must have had chicken pox around this time…

I’m not sure who Lady Ann Clifford was, but I do remember sitting at the table in the caravan cutting that picture out – presumably from the castle leaflet? She’s just the sort of person I would have wanted to be in our imaginary castle games. I always had to be the princess.

Around the time my mum found the notebook, I happened to read this inspiring post by Rachel of The Ordinary Lovely. The travel journal she has created for her son was beautiful and it reminded me that it was about time my boys started one too! I found these notebooks in Wilko’s – which have a nice elastic to keep all the loose bits and bobs secure. Also, the camping theme will fit in perfectly with our plans for this summer.

Yesterday, the boys made a start on them. Here’s a peek into Gabriel’s…

And here’s Tom’s first entry…

I can’t wait to see what other adventures will make their way onto the pages this summer. It can be a little hard sometimes to get boys to sit down and write something, but I’m going to make sure we keep up with these little journals. Looking back at my old notebook really reawakened all those memories that were just sitting at the back of my mind. I want my boys to be able to do the same thing in twenty years time.