For Children

For Nursery and Reception (3-5 year olds)

Holidays and Visits

Introduction/Starters

These activities are designed to be used to cover the experiences your child has had. They can be used in respect of a day out, a visit to grandma's or a holiday in this country or abroad. The concept of going somewhere different and making preparations for a special time away from home is what is important.

Writing Activities

You can download templates in pdf format for the writing activities, if you wish.

Brochure template

(87 kb)

Create a brochure for the place you are going to visit. You might want to provide the child with examples from the travel agent, atlases, postcards, or simply remind them of places they have seen on television or whilst out in the car or on the bus. You could also make up an imaginary place - the choice is yours! Think about where you want to stay - a hotel, a caravan, a tent etc. What will you find at your destination? eg, the seaside, a beach, an amusement park, a castle, a farm, woods etc.

Travel ticket template

(26 kb)

Make tickets for your holiday. Think about what sort of tickets they will be - bus tickets; plane tickets; space rocket tickets; magic carpet tickets; train tickets etc. Fill in - where you want to go to; times; dates; price; and sign it.

Luggage Label template

(25 kb)

Fill in the details on your luggage label - you wouldn't want it to get lost!

Postcard template

(25 kb)

Send a postcard to someone telling about your wonderful trip. Did you have fun? What was the weather like? Who did you meet? What did you see? etc.

Extension Activities

• Create a travel agents in your own home. Make posters from old magazines, cutting them up and creating a new holiday place. Pay for your holiday by cheque. Make lists of possible destinations. Make a name badge for the travel agent.
• If you are going abroad, you will want to have a passport. Make your own passport. Children could stamp the pages to show they have visited different countries.
• List what you need to put in your suitcase.

What will my child have gained from this experience?

As well as developing their knowledge and understanding of the world, the child will realise that you need to write for lots of different reasons and in lots of different places. You can write about real or pretend things. Your child will start to understand that there is a difference between pictures and print, but that both can be used to explain things to you. By talking about things first, children will get their thinking sorted out, and will then be able to experiment with writing it down.