Setting up a virtual trip/geography lesson for kids
Print out a virtual trip passport for the kids and get started! Using this, children can learn and keep track of their favourite facts about different places as they visit countries virtually.

How to “visit” different countries at home 
There are plenty of ways you can share and get into visiting different places while at home. The best way to start is to pick a specific country and then start to collect information about it (you can also let the kids decide ahead of time and let them know that they should start preparing for their virtual visit to that country next week).

Things you can think about setting up are:

• Information about the country.
• Where is it? Show this on the map.
• What does the flag look like?
• What language do people speak there? What are some words in that language?
• How many people live there?
• What is the capital of the country?
• What is the climate? Is it hot or cold, how does it differ from New Zealand?
• What do they eat there?

When helping to get kids more immersed in the country trip, there are also plenty of online resources that you can use. This can include:

• Taking a walk through the capital city using Google Maps street view.
• Finding and preparing videos about places in the country on YouTube.
• There are often documentaries on YouTube or Netflix which explain the culture of the county as well.
• There are even some famous places in the world where you can watch live webcams, such as the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy.

Another way to make a virtual trip more real for kids, inspiring them to learn more and get excited about it, is to create a scavenger hunt around the house. 

To do this, print out pictures of different places in the country, include some fun facts on the back of the paper, and a little hint for where they can find the other places in the country (around the house). You can even get advanced and include directions, such as the city is to the North or West, and have the kids figure out which direction that is in the house, or have North be upstairs and South downstairs.

A fun, educational, and immersive way to learn about “what they eat there” is to try making a popular dish from that country together with your kids. This can help to get them more involved with other cultures and feeling like they are “travelling away from home”. 

This free downloadable country flag map can also act as an interesting learning tool, helping kids to learn the flags and the locations of countries at the same time.

For more fun and educational school holiday activities, check out the rest of our Brother Babysits School Holiday articles. Alternatively, you can find more free activities on the Babysits blog.