One of my favorite things about traveling with kids is the opportunity to be in the moment with them. There are no chores or distractions, just us! And when it's just us, we play lots of games. Games are a great way to build communication & social skills, reasoning, patience, resilience, mathematical thinking, and memory. So the first thing I decided to make for our first activity kit was a game, and one of the most versatile and compact games I know is a deck of cards.
As a classroom teacher, a rule I designed my classroom and curriculum around was that every place a child's eyes might rest is a place they will learn something. Kids are information hoarders! I put poetry above the trash cans, beautiful words alongside cubbies, maps on the windows, and math solutions in hallways. Everywhere children looked, I wanted them to see something worth looking at.
Making the Greece deck of cards was so much fun. I found the clipart on Etsy by LimeandKiwi Designs and I can hardly stand how cute these Greek God icons are. Playing with this deck, kids will learn about the twelve most famous Greek Gods and something about their mythology. They will also learn about four important symbols they will find everywhere as they travel through Greece. Of course, you can play any of your favorite card games, but I included three adjustments to some of our favorites to make them Greece-specific. First, I'd love to know what you think, and if you have any games you love to play with your family while traveling, I'd love to hear about it.