(SPOILER ALERT!) There’s a travel journal template for kids which you can download for free! The link is provided at the end of this blog post.

Before I became a mom, traveling was my biggest passion. My Husband and I were avid travelers, we had visited 42 countries thus far, and it is a report card that we proudly hold close to our hearts.

Now that we are parents to two, we obviously couldn’t travel as often as we did in the past, but that doesn’t mean we have stopped our travels. We just had to modify how we travel to accommodate our young kids!

Travis on his first trip to Perth at 1 year old.

We brought Travis on his first trip when he turned one year old. And being our first trip with our firstborn, it was one of the most memorable trips we’ve ever had.

It is, at times, frustrating to hear parents say that their kids are too young to travel. In truth, no perfect age exists to start traveling with kids, so why not start now?! Starting while they’re young gets them accustomed to how traveling is and helps them develop a deeper appreciation for the world around them outside of this little red dot we live on. I find this especially important since Singapore is such a small city - there are truly so many things going on out in this world that the next generations need to be aware of instead of living in their tiny little bubble.

Learning can happen anywhere and anytime.

This can’t be anymore truer for children! From the age of 1 to 5 years old, a child’s brain undergoes a rapid period of development producing 700 new neural connections every second. By the age of 5, 90% of a child’s brain is already developed, which means the progression from birth to 5 years old is a critical part of their lives.

With their brains developing at such a fast and exponential pace, learning can truly happen anywhere and anytime. Here’s a really great article to help you understand a child’s brain development from age 1 to 5 - click here.

In this article, I share 17 tips on how to incorporate learning into everyday life! Yes, you do not always need expensive toys, or lots of time and effort to prep activities 😉. Find out how below!

Sensory play was one of the first few activities I carried out with my little one when I started our learning through play journey. He was just shy of 18 months old when I set up his first sensory play. At that time, I simply used the largest Tupperware container I can find at home.

And since then, I had been on the lookout for a better sensory play tray. IKEA Trofast storage box in white came close to what I had in mind. But it wasn’t until I stumbled upon the Kmart serving tray that I found my perfect play tray!

This circular serving tray is made from powder-coated iron sheet with wooden handles, and comes in black and white. It measures 45cm by 36cm in length and width, and 10.3cm in height. It’s only available in Australia’s Kmart stores, and try as I might, I could not find it anywhere in Singapore!

It wasn’t until a family trip to Melbourne in 2018 that I decided I just had to get my hands on this! We drove 40mins to the nearest Kmart from where we were then, my husband probably thought I was crazy, but I insisted we had to lug one home. We bought the black one and I’ve never regretted since. We used this as our play tray so often at home it was definitely worth the time, effort and money to get this!

I call it my perfect play tray. Why?