Mi Diario de Viaje: A Spanish Travel Journal
Keeping a travel journal is a great way to remember a trip and also a way to make a keepsake of your travels.
Since we’re always trying to stick to Spanish resources at home, I made a Spanish travel journal, un diario de viaje, for my daughter to use! Not only is this a great opportunity for my daughter to do some authentic writing in Spanish, but it also creates some home-made Spanish reading material for her once we get home.
This customizable travel journal has a lot to offer and has options for mixing and matching to make a piece that works best for your kiddo, depending on their interest and abilities.
In this article I’ll explain the benefits of using a travel journal and I’ll share how this travel journal worked for our family.
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Table of Contents
Benefits of Using a Travel Journal
Journaling in itself has a lot of benefits – for kids and adults! When you’re going on a trip there can be a lot of reasons to start a travel journal.
Travel journals help to build excitement and vocabulary for your kiddo before you even head out! Even if you aren’t going far, learning words specific to a new location can build a lot of Spanish background knowledge for your child.
It can be hard to write about a vacation after you come back. The days get mixed up in your memory and it all seems like a blur. When your child keeps track of what they did each day, they can form a more solid memory of the trip!
Travel journals have space for keeping track of small keepsakes. Did you got to the movies while you were away? Save the ticket stubs in the memory section! Pay for a parking tag at the beach? Save the beach tag for the memory section! Snap some cute photos? Print a few out and put them in the memory section!
One of the most important reasons that we have for journaling is to work on our Spanish literacy skills. When my daughter writes in her Spanish travel journal, she is working on her Spanish writing skills. When she comes home and reads about her own adventures, she is working on reading in Spanish. All of these homemade materials add to our collection of Spanish materials in our home and boost the importance of Spanish as a second language for us.
Printable Travel Journal
The printable travel journal that I made for my daughter is a simple PDF. It comes with a front cover, back cover, and a customizable “belongs to” page that your child can decorate.
If you subscribe you can get one of the interior notebook pages for free to use as you’d like! If you’re interested in the whole journal, check it out here on my TPT page!
There are lots of travel journals out there, but there aren’t a lot of Spanish options and not many that are simple with pages that you can interchange, so I made one that worked for our family. Here’s a sneak peak of what it looks like!
Before the trip
After that there are a few “before the trip” pages that you can decide to add depending on the nature of your trip.
The first of these pages is called, “Mi Destino” and it includes areas where your child can write all about their destination. There’s space for including the dates of the trip, the duration, who’s going and adventures that they want to have while they’re there.
The second page is a packing list that encourages them to think about the duration of the trip and what the weather will be like at their destination.
During the trip
There are two options for interior pages. You can use all of one type of page, mix and match, or alternate each day during the trip.
Each notebook page includes a space to mark the date and location, as well as the day number and lines to write about the day’s adventures. There’s also an area for adding a photo or a drawing!
After the trip
The “after the trip” section has pages to document the types of transportation used, a review of the trip and memory pages.
Once you’ve downloaded the PDF you can add and duplicate pages as needed to make it the best possible configuration for your family on your trip!
How to Print and Assemble
Download the PDF and print the pages that you’d like to use. We decided to use all of the pre-trip and post-trip pages, and then we printed and copied enough note-taking pages for each day of our trip.
One you have the pages selected and printed, you can staple them three times to make a booklet, or you can hole punch the edges and use a string to tie the pages together.
If you subscribe you can get one of the interior notebook pages for free to use as you’d like! If you’re interested in the whole journal, check it out here on my TPT page!
SUBSCRIBE HERE to get the free travel journal printable note page, plus access to all my subscriber-only free printables!
Other Travel Resources in Spanish
Before we go for a trip, I always try and build some Spanish vocabulary about traveling so that it’s easier for my daughter and I to talk about the trip in Spanish.
When you’re thinking about specific vocabulary that you might want to front load, you can consider the climate of your destination, any specific cultural landmarks you’ll see while you’re there, or specific vocabulary to talk about the methods of transportation you’ll use.
Here are some of the books that we like to use to talk about traveling in general.
When we travel, I always try and look for Spanish resources that we can use on the way. For example, if we’re going to be in the car for a while, I try and make a new Spanish playlist or get some new audiobooks for the ride.
If we’re going on a plane, I try and find some fun busy activities that she can do with the lap tray.
Here are some of our go-to travel items for trips!
These interactive books with figurines are super fun and easy to travel with- you can read more about them here.
The music does get annoying after a while but it’s entertaining for my kiddo in the car! Check out more Spanish toy ideas here.
I hope that this “diario de viaje” gives you some ideas for what you can do with your bilingual family!
Check out my TPT for more ideas and expanded printables!
Happy Learning!
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