An educational trip to London can be an exciting and valuable experience for your child. However, in order to make the most of it and keep your kid motivated to learn, you have to prepare for this adventure in advance. This will make the upcoming trip not only more interesting for the little one but also safer.
How to Prepare Your Child for a Trip to London in 3 Steps
Get the child involved in planning your itinerary
Children of any age love it when adults ask their opinions. Doing this allows you to not only show your kid how much you love and respect them. This will help them become independent and responsible individuals.
If you want to plan a perfect trip to London. Getting your kids into the planning will ensure that you set up an itinerary that everyone will truly enjoy. Today you can visit websites of museums and other attractions to get virtual tours and breakdowns of various activities and exhibits. Study your options together during family nights and discuss them in order to pick the best ones. You can even make some small presentations to support your choices. For children this would be a good experience in developing well-rounded arguments. This will help them when they have to write academic papers in the future. Such discussions will also be a good bonding exercise as all of you will learn something about each other. 2
Read London-themed books
The benefits of reading to your kids are many, says the Insider. They are proven by studies advocated by renowned psychologists. You can make your nightly story time even more beneficial if you choose books directly related to your educational trip to London.
Please, don’t think that you have to read boring history books or guides for this. Instead, turn the adventure magical by reading Harry Potter, one of the most popular children’s book in history. When you finally come to London, make an adventure of going on a Harry Potter Tour. You can use this experience as an opportunity to get your child interested in reading.
You can do similar things with a variety of stories as many great writers lived in the city and many stories take place there. For example, there’s a Sherlock Holmes Museum in London, as well as Shakespeare’s Globe. There are even some Jack the Ripper tours, which moody teens might enjoy. The trick is to use an opportunity to see some London sights to get your child interested in some book, or vice versa.
Make learning safety rules fun
Run a few safety drills at home emulating a variety of situation that might happen on your trip to London. The acting aspect would be interesting for kids, especially the younger ones. However, its main value is teaching them how to behave in potentially dangerous situations.
The topics you should cover during this training include:
- What to do in case one of you gets lost.
Set up a pre-arranged meeting place and be sure everyone knows how to reach it. Even if your child is young, provide them with written instructions that will contain all relevant contact information. This way, they’ll be able to get help from a police officer or another authority figure. The best place for emergency meeting spots is your hotel. - How to get help from the local authorities.
In a best case scenario, you should give your kid a simple mobile phone with contacts of emergency services, your personal numbers, and the hotel programmed into it. Make sure your child knows how to call for help in an emergency. You should also go over the contact procedure for local authorities. Show your kids the photos of local uniforms so they know how to identify different public service workers.
Your educational trip to London will go smoothly if you plan it to the last detail, so start preparing for it as early as you can.
I and my kids always wonder about the educational trip to London. I have heard a lot about it. Thanks for sharing your insights on it.