A guided tour is a wonderful source of both entertainment and education. However, a tour may not always be captivating enough for your little one. If you are gearing up for a family tour, make sure you have activities and gadgets that can supplement the fun. Whether it is an art, architecture, restaurant, wildlife, nature or city tour, there are effective ways of keeping your kids entertained and involved. Here are some tips to help you keep your children occupied and engaged during a summer guided tour:
Fun Family Games
When you are on the tour, have some games at the ready. There are classic games that may keep your kids entertained if they are of a younger age, like iSpy or a quantity game where they keep track of specific entities. You can also create a scavenger hunt before you go on your tour, so the experience is one that has an air of competition and mystery. For example, you could create a scavenger hunt for an art museum, where you children must identify different works of art — i.e. paintings by a specific artist, a style of art, a type of sculpture or a piece that’s from a certain time period. This kind of scavenger hunt should be scaffolded, so they are still involved with the tour but also have a side project they can use as additional entertainment. You can also play a quiz game to be administered throughout the tour or at the end of the tour. The quiz can consist of questions related to the tour, which will help fuel your children’s motivation to engage in the content of the tour. Make sure you provide a worthy incentive — a coveted prize — if they perform well on the quizzes.
Essential Gadgets
Your digital natives will crave technological stimulation while they are on the tour. Luckily, there are ways you can integrate tech devices into the experience. Ask the tour company that is guiding your experience if they have any devices your child can use during the tour. Museums and city tours will often have tour guide headsets that let your children explore in-depth information about what they’re seeing. This kind of gadget is perfect for children who have a natural curiosity and are active learners. However, if your children aren’t stimulated by straight-forward knowledge and require a more creative outlet, you can provide them with a tablet where they can create a visual depiction of what they are seeing. Tablet art and drawing programs make it easy for your child to draw their own art in response to the content of the tour.You can also provide them with a smartphone for looking up relevant facts and streaming videos. Avoid having to worry about data overages and bring a phone featuring a 4G LTE network.
Designated Photographer
Have your child act as the official photographer of the tour. You want a documented account of the experience, and this is a great way you can preserve your memories, as well as involve your child. A smartphone camera is probably the most age-appropriate option as it is a user-friendly device with an easy-to-access camera. Lend your kids a durable smartphone that can capture quality photos and video. Provide your child with some direction of the kind of photos they should aim for, so their photos are tour-focused. You could brainstorm this list with your child before you embark on the tour, involving them in the planning process. You could also map out video plot frames, representative of events that will likely occur on the tour. They can then record the tour with intention, so they may later edit the video and present it to the entire family.
