One of the losses our family has felt profoundly this year has been travel. We love hitting the open road or boarding a flight for new adventures!
With “hunker down” orders keeping us close to home, we’ve been exploring the world through books instead. We love children’s books that take us to new cities, countries — even back through the past or off to fantastic lands from our favorite stories!
Here are just a few titles that can take your family on virtual vacations while you stay safe and healthy at home.
All Aboard series from BabyLit
BabyLit board books are favorites among toddlers and their book-loving parents, so we love their All Aboard series! These beautiful, sturdy books introduce tiny book-lovers to the Great Lakes region, the Pacific Northwest, Texas and Paris, and they’re as stylish as they are fun to read.
Elementary-age kids love to learn about the world, and this atlas from DK and the Smithsonian is made to engage that natural curiosity. Designed with children in mind, this bold and bright atlas explores the world by region, with lots of pictures and information broken up into bite-sized paragraphs. Our kids especially love the pages that compare climates and geographic features, like the biggest deserts, coldest temperatures, and deepest caves.
The Ultimate Book of Cities (and more)
The “ultimate” pop-up books come to us via one of our favorite Insta-moms, Kelly Ray from K.Ray Collective. The Ultimate Book of Cities takes little readers inside every part of a three-dimensional city, from the rooftops to the hidden goings-on below the streets. When your kids have pored over every detail of the city, there’s more to explore in The Ultimate Book of Vehicles, The Ultimate Book of Space and The Ultimate Construction Site Book.
See Inside series from Usborne
Who doesn’t love a lift-the-flap book? The See Inside series from Usborne includes some of our favorite lift-the-flap books. Little armchair travelers can explore New York City, a museum, landmarks like the Chunnel and the Golden Gate Bridge, the universe, and more — and the books are sturdy enough to hold up to many, many virtual voyages!
You’ve probably seen more than enough of your neighborhood this year — but what did it look like 100, 1,000 or 10,000 years ago? A Street Through Time looks at the journey of one stretch of land from early civilization through the future. This is a great book for a range of ages, with oversized, detailed illustrations that offer new surprises each time it’s opened.
Disney Maps: A Magical Atlas of the Movies We Know and Love
The real world has incredible places to explore, but sometimes you need to get away to Alice’s Wonderland, Moana’s Motunui, or Ariel’s grotto. Disney Maps is a beautifully illustrated atlas that maps the imaginary cities and kingdoms of some of your family’s favorite movies — the perfect colorful escape to curl up with on a gray winter day.
