Dear Diary: 3 great kids’ travel diaries

Summer holidays are finally upon us. It’s time to let the kids forget about homework for a few weeks and soak up their surroundings instead. If you’re travelling this summer, we’ve reviewed just the thing to keep the young ones busy en route to your destination, as well as while you’re away. Travel diaries have been a popular pre-hols purchase over the last few years, and the juniors in our families have loved re-reading theirs later in the year (especially if we’ve taken the time to print off and stick in accompanying photos). They make great show-and-tell exhibits at the start of the new school term too. Here are 3 journals that we think are well worth ordering this summer:

Paperchase Aqua Marine Travel Journal – www.paperchase.co.uk

British stationery brand Paperchase can always be relied upon for a cool, contemporary stash of paper, pens, stickers, cards and officey bits. This hard-backed, ring-bound diary features an origami sea creature design and it’s not too childlike either. There’s plenty of room to draw pictures and write up notes about favourite memories for each day of the holiday. Our favourite section though focuses on holiday preparation and the journey itself, with pages to include research about your destination, a hand luggage checklist, a holiday planner and even a reading list. There are plenty of pages at the back to stick photos cuttings in as well as a double page Holiday Storyboard section to create a comic strip of your trip. A big thumbs up all round!

Kids Travel Journal – My Travel Diary for Australia – www.amazon.com

This range has journals for specific destinations and, as we will be holidaying in Australia later in the year, we thought we’d take a closer look at this Down-Under diary. It’s in A4 format with activities at the back, lots of bits to fill in, and pages to record an itinerary and a packing list. Some great ideas include Yummy or Yuck pages to write about new foods that the kids try, as well as recording things they’ve seen, smelled and heard that day. It’s not as slick as the Paperchase version, but will suit kids who like to doodle their ideas down quickly.

Kikki K Kids’ Adventure Journal – www.kikki-k.com

Uber-stylish stationer, Kikki K, has hit the bullseye with its Adventure Journal (lovely leather-bound option is also up for grabs for the grown-ups). We think this one has it all: modern, clean design; hard-cover, but not too heavy; stickers!; lots of writing and drawing room; creatively thought-out sections (how do I feel today?, my new friends, today’s adventure); blank space at the back for doodles and sticking stuff in. We’re not sure about the pages for contacts and addresses but, apart from that, it’s perfect.