Perspective Journal

A Fun Way to Document Your Adventure

A Perspective Journal is a great way to get your kids excited about the journey and recording the adventure.  Before you leave home, have them pick a stuffed animal, lego figure or something similar to "travel and learn" throughout your trip.  With each new place you visit, take a picture of this character on location and then have your child journal from their perspective. Entries may start off like... "Hi, my name is Max and I'm going on a big trip.  This is my first time on an airplane."  It's fun for kids to write from someone else's point of view.

Spike the Chameleon - on a big adventure

Choose carefully:  Considering size and weight are certainly important things to keep in mind, but even more importantly is how attached is your child to this item?  A Lego figure might fit in your pocket, but it's also easier to lose.  I would not suggest choosing that special stuffed animal that means a lot to everyone.  If life would cease to exist should it get lost, then it's probably not a good choice.  But at the same time, it's important to choose something meaningful so that your child will be excited about participating in this project.

Spike is learning about Ancient Rome at the Coloseum

We have done two of these types of journals.  The first time was a trip through Europe when Elijah was 6 years old.   The chosen companion was a large stuffed chameleon.  At first I wanted to protest because of the size, but Elijah insisted and in the end, it all worked out.  I found out that "Spike" could easily be lodged in the handle of our day pack and we mostly didn't even notice he was there until we were ready to pull him out for a picture.  I should mention here that he also came in handy as a pillow a few times.

The second time was a vacation to Hawaii and Joseph chose a small stuffed gecko by the name of Berry.  Sadly, Berry started the vacation with us, but was somehow lost along the way, never to be seen again.  In fact, we had to go back and look through our pictures to see where we last had him.  It was on a hike along the road to Hana.  There were tears, but to this day, we joke that Berry is happily living among the flora and fauna on Maui. 

Set up the journal before leaving home:  Once you have chosen the special companion, set up a journal and title it something like "Spike's Big Adventure" or "Berry Learns about the Hawaiian Islands" and then let the fun begin.  You can use blank notebook pages  or the "generic photo page"  I have provided located under Journal Pages.   As you, your family and special companion travel and sight-see, simply add journal entries from the companion's perspective.  After all, he's going on his first big trip and learning so much!  My boys love to looks over these journals now.  They laugh over the pictures and remember the projects fondly.