I finished high school and it was an easy choice – grab my passport and go traveling. I wanted to see more, know what was out there, meet new people, taste new foods; EXPLORE! So when Little Passports contacted me to work with them and offered to show me what big things can be taught from a little suitcase, I immediately said YES!
I met my husband (an Australian) abroad (in London) and once we were finished our time there, we naturally took time to travel. We have traveled to well over 50 countries. My first time overseas was at a year old and basically it never stopped. My parents are European and I was born and raised in Canada. We traveled. To see relatives, to explore different cultures, to learn how lucky we were to be raised in a safe and wonderful country…we traveled.
That was all BEFORE KIDS. Yes…you heard that. Our traveling has basically entirely stopped since having children. It’s not that it can’t be done; it’s simply that it’s not quite the same easy and carefree experience given we have two 5 year olds and a 3 year old. My desire for the amazing sights, sounds, smells, tastes and colours of other cultures still pulls at my heartstrings regularly. The conversations you have while traveling are the best kind. The people you meet. The experiences that just don’t compare to daily life. The memories that are created.
We will definitely pick up where we left off again…but until then, Little Passports is a great way to teach our children all about the world we live in. It’s such an easy process; you order online and receive a starter kit in the mail with a sweet little suitcase for your child to put all of their treasures. We chose the Little Explorers package, which was perfect for our preschoolers. There are also characters (Max, Mia & Toby, the dog) that write a letter to the recipients and our kids instantly fell in love with them. The girls especially loved the characters, Xavier, my three year old especially loved the suitcase and all of the kids enjoyed putting the stickers into their passport and seeing where the continents are on the map.
It helps that we have family and friends all over the world; I showed them where everyone lives and we talked about all of the places we dream of going together one day. I also found this amazing DIY that explains the concept of how our community fits into the wider world to explain the concept to young children.
The kids were extremely interested in the whole thing and once I told them another package would arrive in about a month, they were very excited to check the mail each day!
The second month, we received a package all about landmarks. It was great fun as I could tell the kids stories about going to some of these landmarks (take me back to the Eiffel tower and the great sphinx of Giza now please!) and the kids then wanted to re-learn all of the things we had talked about a month earlier.
By the time the third package arrived, the kids literally ran to the door yelling, "Mama, Max and Mia are ready to take us on another adventure! Mom! It's the music one!" They were SO excited to explore music of other countries and I was impressed that Putumayo World Music (who put out some of our favourite playlists) had been involved to produce a new cd about songs from different countries.
The learning from this package is endless and provides such a fabulous foundation to start telling the kids about our world. As a parent who has traveled extensively and is now trying to teach my children about other places, Little Passports is instrumental to this process. I would highly recommend giving them a try; what a perfect way to introduce geography to preschoolers!
You can take advantage of The Little Passports Back to School Sale by using code READY15 at check out.
*This post was created with Little Passports. All photos and words are my own.
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