I am a big lover of travel guide books. I’ve been using them long before the internet was available. Frommer’s and Foders Guides were all I used before I had the web at my fingertips! I still love balancing a travel book in hand along with my beloved online trip advisor!
Eileen Ogintz, the author of The Kids Guides , sent us three different books for our kids to try out along our trip around the USA- Boston, New York and Washington DC. We enjoyed all of the tips we learned from these little books!
These books are awesome for many reasons:
The guides are:
- geared toward only kid-friendly activities and places, which is not the case with other travel books.
- geared toward kids 6-12 and they were very reader-friendly for our four who are at the upper end of the recommended age group.
- very compact making them the ideal size to carry along in a purse/backpack.
We found the books perfect to keep the kids occupied and learning on the trains and public transportation that we were on in all of the cities. I brought along little post-it-note flags that the kids could mark pages when they found things that interested them. It also helped the kids feel like they were a part of the planning!
The books include various games and quizzes that the kids can work on as well. I thought about photocopying each activity since we have four kids and only one book, but the activities are a bit young for our newly turned teens, so they happily took turns. It’s something to keep in mind though before you leave on your trip if your kids would each enjoy working on the activities!
We would’ve loved to have simple maps included in the books where we could get an idea of where the noted spots were located. It would’ve helped in our planning for sure. The kids also pointed out that the books talked about doing things from your hotel, even though we were staying at a campground!
Our family loved using these books and we look forward to checking out other city guides in the future! These Kids Guides would make perfect stocking stuffers for anyone planning an upcoming trip. The books can be purchased through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and on Eileen’s website Taking the Kids!
