Montessori Travel Tips

Mom and Dad, traveling with kids can be more impactful with just a few Montessori travel tips.

And, we can engage their minds whether we’re taking a one-day ‘staycation’ in the backyard or a summer safari across the country or continent. 

Building Curiosity in Kids via Food

The key thing we want to do when traveling with kids is to empower their curiosity.

By that, we mean teaching children about the differences—and similarities—of people everywhere. 

How do we do that?

First, let’s talk about food! 

Although the staples used in preparing food are generally the same worldwide, how we cook that food is often very different. For example, take a quick ride in the car toward the nearest strip mall and what restaurants do we see? Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, American, Indian and even Japanese choices are right near us!

How, then, do we engage curiosity? By focusing on spices, vegetables, meats and fish!

“Wow, mommy, what’s this in here? Show me how they cooked that! Can we do that at home?”

“Yes, we sure can. Together, you and me, let’s both cook something like that when we’re home!”

The point is this: all people eat but many cultures eat and prepare food differently than we may. And those unique flavors and spices and smells illustrate those features that separate—and bind us—easily via cuisine.

Consider having a series of ‘international cooking nights’ together with your children and neighbors’ children the Montessori Travel Tips way--engage your kids to help you in the planning, set-up, selection and easy-to-do parts of building a meal from a foreign country. Then, work together in the post-meal clean-up and put-away modes.

Building Curiosity in Kids Via Culture

Now, how can we take this to the next level?

The easiest entrance to a whole new world is to engage your child into that cuisine’s place in the world:

• Where it comes from
• Where it is located
• The language people speak
• The type of money they use in that country
• The type of art, architecture, landscapes and music they create and play and how it expresses their peoples’ lives.

Whether you actually go to the source country is secondary: in San Diego, there’s live culture everywhere! So, visit the Japanese Gardens or Old Town San Diego or Little Italy! And, as part of ‘staycation’ or ‘daycation,’ give your toddler and preschoolers some tools to show you what they’ve seen:

• a notebook
• color pencils
• a coin pouch for foreign currency
• a stamping kit
• a travel book about the country (or ‘Airports’ if you’re really going)
• a backpack to put it all in

And, no iPhones, computer games or TV unless the trip goes haywire!

Summary

Traveling with kids can be enlightening when we parents pre-plan the opportunity for them to do more than simply observe. When we immerse them in other foods and culture and then pepper them with questions, we truly get to the heart of the Montessori Method—learning by doing, learning to love knowledge, learning to be independent and learning how to be a lifelong learner.