Traveling the World From Home

Every summer for most of my kid’s lives, we have traveled the world from home! It has always been a high value for me to teach my kids about the world, different cultures, and God’s love for all nations. But, most summers or school breaks, we either didn’t have the means to take a big trip around the world or for many other reasons, it just wasn’t going to happen. This is why I began developing ways for us to “travel the world” right from our own home and community each year! While we may have years we are able to travel, we have grown to look forward to this tradition of traveling around the world in a summer’s time.

And well, I figured, what better time to share about some of what we have done, than in a time when most people won’t be traveling this summer or school break because of COVID-19!

Why teach your kids about the world?

I won’t spend a ton of time on this- that is for an entire post of its own! But, that being said, as believers in Christ, we can look at the great love that God has for all of His creation and pray for this same heart He has. God has intricately made all people in His image to glorify Him and my, oh my is He creative! As we look at the cultures and diversity amongst the nations of the world, we can marvel at God’s majesty, goodness, creativity, and love! God cares for every person and desires that all would come to glorify Him, so we should also care for and love every person He has created. As we learn to understand, care for, pray for, worship with, and relate to other cultures, we get a glimpse into eternity as we see in Revelation 7:9-10:

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

We want to pass along this great vision, plan, and love that God has for all the nations of the world to our children! As we do, we pray that they will grow to be Christians who not only walk with Christ, but who are world changers for Christ as they seek to make disciples of all nations alongside us (Matthew 28:18-20).

Over the years, I have built up quite a resource list as I’ve discovered different ways to do this each year. While nothing can compare to actually traveling and experiencing new places, people, and cultures, I hope this encourages you to learn about the world together as you “travel the world” from home! I will also say, the BEST resource to start with is the Bible- start there to dig into God’s heart for the world and from there keep this as your central focus as a family as you travel together!

6 Resources to Travel the World From Home:

1. World Explorers Adventure Kit from Focus on the Family:

This was our very first travel the world adventure we did together and we LOVED it! It takes you around six continents to learn about 33 different people groups in 66 days! You get a free poster sized map, travel guide with activities, and even a passport with stamps for the kids to put on for each place you travel. There are also verses to discuss along the way as you learn about God’s heart for all the world together! I would highly recommend checking this one out!

2. Summer Around the World from Wycliffe:

Wycliffe has an awesome array of activities to talk about the nations with children on their website! We have done a variety of these different activities from book activities, prayer activities, family fun activities, and seasonal activities. Summer Around the World is my favorite of them all! It is actually designed to be a free VBS program, but you can tailor it to do however much you’d like at home.

Throughout the five days (or however long you take for each area of the world…I would recommend a week for each!), you will memorize a verse, learn about different languages and cultures, play international games, and make unique crafts from those different places in the world! It is so much fun!

3. Window on the World:

This book is incredible! It is a book similar to Operation World but geared towards kids! It is a great resource for kids to learn about how kids live in other countries, some facts about the country, a few terms in their language, and gives you ideas of how to pray for each country. The book is organized alphabetically working through over 100 countries to learn about and pray for together! It also has pages about different religions in the world, maps, and other helpful resources for getting started talking about the nations as a family.

We have used this to pray for a different country each day, find it on the map, and discuss. We have also done other activities along with it that I found on pinterest or we found a meal to cook from that country for dinner that night! The ideas are endless! For recipe ideas, there are tons of cookbooks that you can find out there, but we love using The Usborne Children’s World Cookbook.

4. Missionary Biographies:

Heroes For Young Readers is a wonderful series of missionary biographies for younger kids! They are in more of a picture book format that you can read through in one sitting. My kids LOVE these books. They tell the story in a very relatable way and always finish by challenging the kids to use their giftings to share Christ with those around them and the nations. They are published by YWAM and they have also put together activity books to go along with each book. Go check them out!

Christian Heroes: Then and Now is a favorite series of missionary biographies for older kids. This series is in chapter book form, and the books are a quick and engaging read whether you read aloud to your kids or have them read them on their own. I have loved reading these over the years and my kids are starting to love them too as they get older!

We have used missionary biographies in a number of ways to travel the world different years. If we are reading a shorter one, we will read the book, find the country on the map, read the section in Window on the World to pray for the country together, or send letters to missionaries we know who are currently in those countries!

5. God’s Love For You Bible Storybook

This book is a great, simple starting point for talking about the world with your kids. It teaches a Bible story followed by a real story of a child that parallels the Bible story in some way. The stories are incredible ways of how God is working around the world in the lives of real children! They give insight to what life is like in that particular country as well as fun facts about the country the child is from. Each story comes from a family involved with World Vision around the world and the proceeds for each book also go to World Vision! This book will challenge us all to be generous, world Christians as we watch how God is doing that in the lives of the stories shared.

6. Engage with Missionaries You Know!

Now, this one may not seem like a resource, but let me explain! One of the most amazing resources you can use to teach your children about God’s heart for the world (outside of the Bible!) is to connect with missionaries you know who are currently serving around the world.

Contact people you know in different countries, ask them what life is like where they live, how God is working, and how to be praying for them. Ask them about the culture there, the food they eat, the holidays they celebrate, and the common beliefs in the country. Then, discuss it as a family, find activities relating to those countries to do together, spend time praying for those missionaries, and end by writing a letter/drawing a picture to mail to the missionaries you contacted! You have no idea how encouraging you will be to them! Trust me, from my experience living overseas, there is SO much JOY that comes when you are contacted, prayed for, and sent mail as a missionary family across the globe!

Don’t know any missionaries or friends living overseas? Contact your church to see who they are supporting and how you can get in contact with them!

There are so many other ways to engage our kids with culture and what God is doing among the nations, so don’t stop with these ideas! Get creative and use your own giftings to come up with ways to travel the world as a family right from your own home.

Other fun ideas may be: go to local festivals celebrating different holidays/cultures, get to know the international families in your town/city, adopt an international student who is living near you while studying at university, invite visiting missionaries for dinner or to stay in your home, and welcome people of all backgrounds into your home with an eagerness to learn and celebrate your cultures together!

And don’t stop there, when you get the chance, do actually travel around the world as a family! There is no better way to learn than to be immersed in a culture and to be with people from around the world!

Happy traveling from home!

Want to get started in discipling your children? Check out this post: Discipling Children: Where Do We Start? Or, if you’re looking for another way to pour the Word of Christ into your family, sign up below to get your FREE discipleship resource for families!