travelling around the world lesson plan

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Exploring the World in Your Classroom

Jul 12, 2016

You can’t take your students with you on vacation as you travel the world, but you can take them on virtual trips as you explore different cultures together. Lesson plans on travel give you the opportunity to delve into topics like culture, geography and even math as you plan for travel expense. With a travel theme, you can dig into literature, help students embrace their inner artist and give them a love and passion for a new and exciting location. Whether you are digging into a country for a detailed unit study, want to diverge from the curriculum for some fun travel-themed lessons or simply want to give your students a love for travel, here is a list of resources that can help you embrace travel without leaving the four walls of your classroom.

Travel-Themed Lesson Plans for Educators

Grades K – 5

• Benefits of Cycling Lesson Plan (Grades K-5) – Teach students about the benefits of traveling by cycling using this curriculum outline. Related activities are listed under “Activity Sheets”
• Grandfather’s Journey (Grades 1-2) – Many of today’s families are multicultural. Take your students through a journey with one of these families using this book written and illustrated by Allen Say. Lesson includes discussion questions and story extension activities.
• The Counties of the UK (Grades 1-6) – Enforce geography skills with this lesson plan that requires students to look at maps and use compass points to describe positions in England.
• Celebrate Culture: Germany (Grades 1-2) – Introduce students to German geography and culture with this hands-on lesson plan.
• Christmas in France (Elementary) – Learn about Christmas traditions in this lesson plan designed for the World Language, ESL or traditional classroom setting.
• On the Road Again (Grades 3-5) – Students learn and identify different modes of transportation and communication using geography, math and language arts skills in this lesson from National Geographic.
• African Markets (Early Elementary) – Most American students have no idea what shopping at an open -air market is like. This lesson will help them identify advantages and disadvantages of this type of shopping.
• Transportation Lesson Plan (K) – Learn the different modes of transportation, build a cardboard car and create a real-life car wash.
• How Do We Travel to School ? (3-5) – This lesson plan from the Census Bureau discusses different ways children travel to school around the world.
• Let’s Travel to Mexico (Grades 1-2) – Take young children on an imaginary trip to Mexico to learn about geography and culture.
• Bicycle Education Lesson Plans (Grade 3) – This five-lesson unit teaches children about safe cycling practices.
• Transport (Elementary) – With an ESL focus, this lesson plan helps students learn vocabulary connected with public transport, including taxis and trains. Includes downloadable worksheets and audio exercises.
• A Child’s Daily Life in South Africa (Lower Elementary) – Give students a glimpse at what life is like for a kid their age in South Africa. This lesson plan is based on the book Not So Fast Songololo.

Middle and High School

• Spain: A Cultural Profile (Grades 11-12) – This lesson touches on the main geographic features of Spain. It will also discuss the cultural features of the country and its people. This lesson works best for an advanced Spanish language class.
• Destination: England (Grades 6 and above) – This ESL lesson plan uses guided visualization to teach students about the sights and icons of England, with a focus on London.
• German Food and Eating Customs (Grades 6 and above) – What is the food like in Germany? Find out in this hands-on lesson plans for upper and middle school grades from the Alabama Learning Exchange.
• Travel Brochures: Highlighting the Setting of a Story (Grades 6-8) – Students will create travel brochures to highlight the setting of a story they are reading. The lesson plan uses Al Capone Does My Shirts but can be adapted for any story with a well-defined setting.
• Budgeting for a Trip (Grades 6-8) – Travel is expensive. Students will learn to plan and budget for a round-trip vacation trip several international destinations.
• Four Days in Paris (Grades 6-8) – This activity encourages children to create a travel journal about a hypothetical four -day trip to Paris, discussing important landmarks and cultural activities.
• Global Trek (Grades 4-8) – Use technology to tour foreign countries and learn more about cultures and people around the world.
• The Next Top Travel Agent (Grade 12) – Students use available resources to play the role of travel agent to get clients to designations within budget.
• Bicycle Education Lesson Plans (Grade 6) – Aimed at middle school students, this five-lesson unit discusses all things cycling, including safety and health benefits.
• Transportation Systems (Grades 8-12) – This unit from the Henry Ford Museum looks at the past, present and future of all modes of transportation.
• Amazing Race (Grades 9-12) – Students use maps of a city to create an Amazing Race game in the classroom for their classmates to play.
• Where Shall We Go? (Grades 8-12) – A collection of activities centered around international travel that gets kids involved in the geographic side of travel.
• High School Road Trip (Grades 9-12) – Students will plan a virtual road trip using commuter or long-distance passenger rail service as the main transportation option.
• Vacation Time (Grades 11-12) – Students will create travel brochures for their hometown while discussing and identifying careers connected to the travel and hospitality industries.
• Spanish Travel Brochures (Grades 9-12) – Students will use online resources to create travel brochures for a chosen Spanish-speaking country.
• World Travel Trip (All ESL Grades) – Improve listening skills among ESL students with this listening travel-themed activity.
• Back-in-Time Travel Brochure (All Grades) – Have students embrace history and travel by creating a travel brochure for a specified location at a date in prior history. Adapt the rubric to make the activity grade-level appropriate for your students.
• Tourism Lessons (Grades 4 and Above) – Discuss career paths and occupations in the tourism industry and produce travel documents and itinerary with the help of technology.
• Lesson Plan: Let’s Take a Trip (ESL Students, All Grades) – Students plan for travel and work on English vocabulary at the same time in this interactive, hands-on lesson.
• What Is Public Transport? (All Grades) – Using charts and graphs, this lesson will discuss what public transportation is, why it is needed and how it has evolved over the years.
• Travel and Tourism (All Grades, ESL Focus) – An extensive unit on international travel and tourism focused on discussion and vocabulary skills.
• How Big Is Africa? (All Grades) – Take a closer look with your students at what the continent of Africa has to offer in this group of lessons.
• Traveling the Silk Road: Animals and Ecosystems (Elementary and Middle Grades) – This lesson plan from the Virginia museum of Fine Art uses East Asian Art to discuss the culture, animals and ecosystems of the Silk Road.
• A Collection of French Lesson Plans (All Ages) – A huge collection of lesson plans about France and French culture divided by age group.
• Spanish Culture Lesson Plans (All Ages) – A set of four lesson plans that delve into the culture of Spain and can be adapted for all ages. Topics covered include El Carnaval, Sanfermines, Las Fallas and La Tomatina.
• A Tour of London (All Ages, ESL Focus) – Take students on a tour of London and discuss vocabulary common to the city and travel in general.
• Life in the UK (All Ages) – Learn what culture is like in the United Kingdom in this comprehensive lesson plan collection.
• German Youth Culture (Middle and Upper Grades) – This lesson plan takes a look at the cultural differences between young people in Germany and young people in America. It uses comparing and contrasting to show similarities and differences.
• Exploring Africa ! (All Grades) – A comprehensive curriculum to help kids explore the geography, biodiversity and cultures of the continent of Africa. Take a walk on the wild side with this unit!
• Make a Transportation Museum (Elementary and Middle Grades) – This lesson gives students the chance to create a transportation museum in their own classroom.
• Transportation and Public Transit (All Grades) – This online lesson teaches children about the history and current status of public transportation. It includes multiple interactive chapters and chapter quizzes.
• Africa Lessons (All Grades) – A collection of lessons on the art, culture, geography and ecology of Africa from PBS.

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Free Preschool Lesson Plans for Around the World Theme

November 29, 2020 by Sarah Punkoney, MAT

Teaching an around the world preschool theme is a fun and effective way to teach preschoolers about different cultures and countries . Download these free preschool lesson plans for around the world lesson theme and start teaching today!

Around the World Lesson Plan Activities

Teaching your preschoolers about the world is not only fun, but also a great way to expose them to different cultures and countries. If you’re looking for an effective way to do this, then look no further! Download these around the world preschool activities for and start teaching today! The best part? They’re totally free! Not only are these lessons designed to help your students learn about different parts of the world, but they’re also designed to help them understand different cultures. From cooking traditional dishes to learning about holidays celebrated in other countries, your students will gain a better understanding of cultural differences and how they impact our lives. It’s also important to note that these lessons are designed with sensitivity in mind—they focus on celebrating similarities between cultures rather than emphasizing differences.

FAQ About Teaching an Around the World Preschool Theme

Have questions about teaching an around the world theme? We’ve answered a few questions for you so you can rock these around the world activities in your preschool classroom!

For preschoolers, the concept of around the world can be a little abstract. Developmentally , preschoolers are insular. They see others as just like them. They have many similarities and many differences, and both those should be celebrated. It’s important in an around the world theme in preschool to teach little learners that children live all over the world. You can use a world map or globe to describe this.

Like all well-planned preschool lesson plans, an around the world theme should include literacy and math activities, as well as sensory, art, dramatic play, and even science activities. It’s important to read plenty of children’s books that talk about other countries and cultures, and even books describing holidays around the world. Be sure to check out our highest recommended children’s book for this theme.

An around the world preschool theme offers so much opportunity to be creative. In this theme, we built pyramids out of paper cups , built the longest wall in our block center , explored foreign money in a sensory bin , and even “visited” a world market in our dramatic play center .

Important Info about these Around the World Lesson Plans

These around the world lesson plans for preschoolers are just one theme in a set of over 40 that will become a part of my free Learn At Home Preschool Lesson Plans.

The Learn at Home Preschool Activity Plans are a set of free activity plans you can use to teach your preschooler at home. Each set of lesson plans is centered around a weekly theme and includes a minimum of 16 activities that can be done throughout the week. They are designed to be done at home with parents, but many preschool teachers are using these lesson plans, too! Just glance over the lessons each day, gather the very few materials needed, and you’re ready to go! All the preschool learning  activities are quick and easy to set up , requiring very little (if any at all) prep and only require the most basic of household materials. This makes them especially easy for parents to implement…and this makes preschool teachers happy, too! These activities also work wonderfully in the classroom, and if you’re a preschool teacher who is remotely teaching you can send these lesson plans to your student’s parents.

Get the Convenience Bundle!

Yes, these really are free preschool lesson plans, but since it’s a part of so many other free weekly lesson plans for preschoolers, I’ve saved you some time and bundled them together.

Activities in Around the World Lesson Plans for Preschoolers

These free preschool lesson plans feature hands-on learning activities in all the most important content areas in preschool. They include cultures and countries preschool activities that cover literacy, math and science, sensory and art, safe online activities, as well as other playful learning activities. Read all about them below.

Literacy Activities for an Around the World Theme

Packing Visual List – It’s time to explore the world! Practice “packing” a suitcase for a trip. What will you need to bring? Help your preschooler draw and write the sounds they hear for the items they’ll bring. Encourage them to think outside the box. Ask questions to help your preschooler determine what things they will need. Do they want to go somewhere cold or hot? How long will they be staying? What kinds of clothing will they need to bring for their location? Will they be doing anything or going anywhere special while there? How about a toothbrush or bedtime stories? Sun Name Craft – Although we live in all corners of the world and have different time zones, we all share the same star: the sun. (Read about how the sun influences culture in this article ). Invite your preschooler to make the sun by cutting a circle out of yellow paper or using a paper plate. Cut out yellow strips of paper for the sun rays and encourage your preschooler to write a letter from their name on the end of each ray. Glue the rays onto the yellow circle to create a bright sun. While creating this literacy craft, talk to your preschooler about different names they know. What are their friends’ names and family members’ names? Talk to your preschooler about how names are special and how they can reflect different cultures and traditions.

Teach your child about different cultures with picture books!

One of the best ways to teach young children about different countries and cultures is by using high quality picture books. Look for children’s books with beautiful illustrations to help bring out the details of the text.

Math and Science Activities for an Around the World Theme

Paper Cup Pyramids – Using small or large plastic cups, invite your child to build a pyramid tower . Show your preschooler the pyramids of Egypt and model stacking the cups on top of each other to make the large pyramid shape. Once done, count together all the cups that you use! Or for an added challenge, have your preschooler first count out 100 plastic cups. (Do this by counting sets of ten cups.) Then challenge your preschooler to build a pyramid that uses all 100 cups. This is the perfect challenge for preschoolers because they will begin building and run out of cups, or have left over cups, and then they have to figure out how to modify their design to use all 100 cups. If you are a kindergarten teacher, this is an amazing STEM activity for the 100th day of school. Beaded Necklace – Cut a piece of string about two feet long and grab some beads of any shape. Invite your preschooler to string beads on their own unique necklace to represent their culture. You can try something like this: red beads represent holiday traditions, blue beads represent favorite family foods, yellow beads represent religious traditions, and so on. This activity can be done on a larger scale with wooden lacing beads and used as an activity during circle time. Each day, add a few beads until you have created a class necklace. Take it one step further and invite your helper of the day be the one to add that day’s bead and wear the necklace that day. Longest Wall STEM Challenge – Grab some blocks and challenge your preschooler to build the longest wall possible. Show some images of long structures like the Great Wall of China. This activity is a surprising challenge because preschoolers have a tendency to want to build up, not sideways. Building the longest wall also requires preschoolers to navigate their creation around obstacles in the way, like chairs and tables. Make this activity even more challenging by adding more parameters, like having to make the wall three blocks high–no more and no less.

Don’t forget picture books that are all about maps!

Maps are one more thing to add to your around the world lesson plans. You’re not limited to traditional maps, either. Try some of these picture books, board games, and puzzles that all feature maps and map skills.

Playful Learning Activities for an Around the World Theme

Skin-Toned Playdough – Mix white playdough with brown and even a little bit of yellow. Do this several times and notice the difference in colors. Share with your preschooler that everyone around the world has different skin colors and that is what makes us special and unique. Cultural Foods – Go to an ethnic market or supermarket and try new foods from various countries. Many ethnic markets will sell prepared or packaged foods, which means that enjoying a meal from another country with your preschooler can be quick and easy. If possible, take your preschooler to the ethnic market and invite him or her to choose a handful of items to try. You might be surprised at what your preschooler ends up liking. Shrimp-flavored chips? Seaweed-flavored candies? Thick, tangy udon noodles? Building with Blocks – Look up buildings on the internet and share the images with your preschooler. Challenge your preschooler to try to build them with blocks. Get creative and build “water” around the base or add people to their block cities. Here are some famous buildings to consider : the Empire State Building, the Taj Mahal, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Coliseum, or the White House.

Social-Emotional Activities for an Around the World Theme

All Are Welcome – Go to YouTube and listen to the book All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold. Discuss the stunning illustrations and focus on the flags on the lunchroom page. Discuss the significance of the flags and the countries they represent. Encourage your preschooler to think of ways to make everyone always feel welcome, whether they are at school, a playdate, at a restaurant, etc.

Around the World Market – Host your own Around the World Market ! Invite your preschooler to use food containers to sell cultural foods. Most grocery stores have an ethnic aisle where you can purchase food items from various countries around the world. Go shopping together and pick out items that your preschooler is interested in trying. Then, use those food containers to set up a market for dramatic play. If you have a toy register or play money, incorporate it for more hands-on math learning. Encourage your preschooler to sell the items and “make” the food items to serve.

Make Your Around the World Theme Even More Fun!

These around the world themed items are great fun for making your theme more fun and interesting! Kids love using puzzles, maps, and flags to learn more about new countries

Just Plain Fun Activities for an Around the World Theme

Where in the World? – Check the labels on things around the house for where they were made and then look for that place on a map or globe. Go even further by looking up some locations on the internet and looking at images. Use small dot stickers to mark the map for where items were made, and discuss with your preschooler how some countries produce a lot of commodities and why that might be. Hola, Hi, Bonjour – Practice saying hello in different languages with this song . Invite your preschooler to practice saying hello to friends and family in a different language.

Pilot Dramatic Role Play – Encourage your preschooler to pretend to be an airplane pilot and play follow the leader. Set up chairs and sit in the cabin for takeoff and landing. Develop oral language skills by asking your little pilot where everyone is traveling. What things might they see out the window of the airplane as it approaches its destination?

Safe Online Activities for an Around the World Theme

Online Story – Go to YouTube and listen to the book Me On the Map by Joan Sweeney. After reading, invite your preschooler to draw a map of their own room or house. Encourage them to share where they would like to travel on the map or where they like to spend time and why.

Where Are You From? Song – This catchy song introduces new countries and traditions to young children in a simple and fun way.

Schools Around the World – This book and video is a quick view of what school looks like around the world. Invite your preschooler to ask questions about their clothing and their school set-up. How is it similar to their own school experience? How is it different? Which school would they like to spend a day in and why?

Bonus Activity!

Pen pals are an amazing way–like really, really amazing–to learn about other countries and cultures. You can match your preschooler with a pen pal from the United States or from another country with the Kids for Peace: Peaceful Pen Pals Project link below. They will feel like they are meeting children around the world.

Download Your Free Around the World Lesson Plans Here

Think your preschool will enjoy learning about other countries and cultures? Download these free preschool lesson plans by clicking the image below.

Around the World Activities for Toddlers

Paper Cup Pyramids – Around the World Theme

Around the World Suitcase Activity

I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.

Blog de Cristina

Digital tools and ideas to transform education, 8 engaging esl activities for teaching about travelling.

Engaging ideas and activities revolving about the topic of travelling coming right up!

These are some of the activities I have been doing with my upper-intermediate students. I thought I might share them with you, in case it saves you some time.

I have split the activities into two days as some of the activities in Day 2 require studying the vocabulary introduced in Day 1.

As my students are upper-intermediate, it is not the first time they study this popular topic.  Therefore, to revise some of the words I thought they knew, I used the website Half a crossword. 

Addicted to using technology in my class, as I have confessed time and again, I have used Genial.ly to create some flashcards.  The flashcards were initially used in class and then shared with them to encourage revision outside the walls of the classroom.

The flashcards contain common collocations related to travelling, but some words are missing. Before flipping the card, students try to guess the hidden word(s). The initial letters are provided to make guessing easier for them.

Note: click on the 3 dots to enlarge the presentation.

Think about it: how many pictures are stored on our mobile phones? What could engage students more than talking about what is real for them, about their own experiences, about their own trips?

Ask students to take out their mobile phones and ask them to choose their favourite picture from their last holiday. Allow some minutes for this part. Ask students to work in pairs or threes. Ask them to show the picture to their partners, talking about it and sharing the story behind the picture.  Encourage the use of the collocations in the exercise above.

This “flexible seating” strategy is quickly becoming one of my favourites to pair students with different partners. I explained the strategy here

For this exercise, I sellotaped to the back of the chairs of the classroom the phonetic transcription of the collocations studied in the flashcard activity. This way, I killed two birds with one stone, as the exercise helped me to revise the collocations and ensure they pronounced the words in the correct way.  To transcribe the collocations, I used a website I have been using for years. Check it out here.

Using a presentation with some conversation questions I created on Spark Adobe some years ago, I asked my students to discuss the questions trying to use the collocations studied in Activity 4.

Every two questions, I gathered all the cards containing the collocations, shuffled them and redistributed them. This meant, standing up and finding the matching card with the corresponding pronunciation and then, sitting on that chair and talking to a different student.

Groups of 4 students.  I displayed the first dilemma and asked students to pair up within the group and discuss for some minutes what they would do.  Then, I asked them to share their ideas in their groups and finally, we had a whole-class discussion.

I created some posters using Canva.com and put them on the walls of the classroom. To form groups, I numbered them off and asked all number 1s to form a group, all number 2s to form a group, …etc. This way, I made sure they worked with different students.

Before the class, I put the 5 posters up on the walls of the class. Next to the posters, I also put 3 or 4 cards containing common collocations from Activity 4.

I instructed the groups to choose a poster and discuss the question in the poster, trying to use the vocabulary in the cards.

I did not set a time for each poster, I gave them the freedom to discuss as much as they wanted, but encouraged them to do at least three posters. I dedicated 25 minutes to this activity.

Posters here

Giving your class a touch of modernity can’t get any easier. Ask your students to pick a city—any city in the world is at your fingertips-, and ask them to give a short speech about that city.  Just open Google Maps, write the keywords in the search box, drag the Pegman and enjoy the virtual trip. For more details, click here

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15 thoughts on “ 8 Engaging ESL Activities for Teaching about Travelling ”

Glad you find them useful!

Thanks, Cristina! You save my day! I’ve been struggling with warm-up activities that I can do with my intermediate students. And you gave me clues about that. Thank you so much!!

Glad you liked them!

Thank you for sharing your ideas. They are really helpful.

Thank you very useful and interesting ESL activities

Thanks. You’ve made my day!

You are amazing) Your work is fantastic! Thank you for sharing. Today you have inspired me to continue working and changing.

Thanks, Olga!!! Glad to have helped you!!

Christina!!! Thanks to your site I make my lessons the best in the world! It is perfect!

My advice?? One app at a time!! Once you master one, start with the next one!

Thanks Cristina for sharing everything… I´m learning to use all these apps to make my classes more interactive.. It’s driving me crazy hahaha… but I made it… I’ve already done a presentation with Adobe Spark and now I’m working on Genially.. uff.. hard work… thankssss

Hi Cristina, I did appreciate your tips. I teach English to Italian young learners, teenagers and adults and I really like the variety of tools you let students use as well as your teaching ideas in connection with technology. Congrats!

Yes. Seeing what other teachers are doing we can get better! Thanks for your comment!

Thank you very much Cristina! I always take inspiration from your lesson plans and I also love the tools that you use. Sharing is the best things that we, as teachers, can do!

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Adventure in the Classroom: Travel-Inspired Lesson Plan Format

• Posted by - Alyssa Weisenstein
• on - October 6, 2019

The volcanoes unit is one of my favorites to teach. Student buy-in is high because volcanoes are cool, but they have misconceptions that need to be debunked. How can I expect students to connect and truly understand concepts that are physically so far removed from them? Since I can’t bring them to the locations, the adventure has to start in the classroom. Follow this lesson plan format (with earth science examples!) to develop engaging travel-inspired learning.

During a volcano monitoring activity, students (freshmen in Southern Illinois – very far from any volcanoes) analyze the seismic activity on Hawaii to determine if a volcano eruption alert should be issued. They get all rowdy as the seismic activity increases and shout, “It’s going to blow!” “People are going to die, watch out!” The thing is though, Hawaii is formed by shield volcanoes, quiet eruptions of slow-moving lava, not Pompeii-style eruptions. Their vision of volcanoes is colored by what they’ve seen in movies and video games. Most have never even seen a real volcano. 

An activity is not enough for students to fully visualize the environments where the content occurs. I’ll break down each step of the lesson plan format to develop engaging travel-inspired learning. Sections of the volcanoes unit will be used as examples throughout, but these are the same steps I follow for all units. 

Table of Contents

Goals of Travel-Inspired Learning

Student will:

• Create a connection to the content
• Envision processes and phenomena that occur throughout the world
• Develop as global citizens who acknowledge and respect different cultures

Getting Started

Don’t feel like you need to change an entire course or even unit to fit the destination-based learning model. Start by tying in a single lesson to a travel experience that really spoke to you. My destination-based lessons started with a simple two-minute story that connected to the content; it wasn’t part of an intentional planning process. I’ve developed the travel-inspired lesson plan format to help you transition to destination-based learning.

When you are passionate about what you’re teaching, students pick up on that. They’ll get a piece of the connection you’re sharing about your travel and how it connects to the content. 

Exploration Passport

Each student has an Exploration Passport that they use for the entire course. Check out this article explaining Explorations Passports and for a FREE passport template. I do NOT let anyone take these out of the classroom. If they leave, you know they’re going to end up left in a locker, in a friend’s mom’s car, and who knows what other random places.

Exploration Passports include a United States map and a world map, so students know where we’re “adventuring.” This addition was made after an alarming number of students couldn’t find states on a U.S. map (including Illinois – where we live).

The pages within the passport are used as exit slips, learning reflections, and students’ own travel dreams. 

Lesson Plan Format : Step-by-Step

1. Select Destination(s)

You know your content and you know the travels you’ve loved the most. It’s okay to pick more than one destination that meets the needs of the current concepts. Try to stick to one-to-three destinations, otherwise the presentation becomes too overwhelming and jumbled.

Start your lesson by sharing the adventure destinations for the day. Pictures, a short video, or a quick story are a great introduction. Try to use your own materials when possible. Have a selfie on location?  Students enjoy seeing pictures of you at the destinations and you know how they love selfies. Now, students are hooked to your lesson and they’ll be engaged when you tie in the content. 

Volcano Example: Hawaiian Islands – Shield volcanoes Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona – Cinder cone volcano Eyjafjallajӧkull* in Iceland – Composite volcano (also called strato volcano) *No, I cannot pronounce the name of that volcano. This Icelandic person can though.

2. Show Destination(s) on the Map

Can you locate all 50 states on a U.S. map? Take a minute and try it out on this online quiz . How did you do? Too many high school students struggle with geography. I could no longer sit idly by and observe the geography illiteracy at the high school. 

Show the U.S. and/or world maps with the locations, so students are oriented with your destinations. Encourage students to identify and mark the locations on their Exploration Passport maps. 

Volcano Example:

3. Destination Information

Share brief information about the destinations with your students. This isn’t quite the time for content, but cultural information. I teach science, but I also have a responsibility for students to become well-rounded global citizens. I want people to be excited to learn about different areas of the world and the people who make those spaces unique. 

Information Ideas

• Popular foods
• Popular activities

Volcano Example: Hawaii is the only state to have two official languages: English and Hawaiian. Although Iceland has the word Ice in the name, there is a lot of beautiful green space. Iceland has over 10,000 waterfalls. Arizona is not just a desert! Some areas of Arizona have mountains that are high enough in elevation to have annual snowfall. The average annual snowfall of Flagstaff is about 100 inches. 

4. Share a Story

If you haven’t already, share a quick story about your experience at one of the destinations. Far off locations don’t seem real until you build a connection with them. You’re not sharing a novel here, so don’t sweat about it eating into your lesson time. Spending a moment engaging students will increase their overall learning better than more time can.

Volcano Example: Eyjafjallajӧkull last erupted in April 2010 over spring break and it released so much ash and dust that flights from Europe were grounded. A lady I worked with got stuck in Ireland for an extra week because she couldn’t fly out. “Shucks,” to being stuck on vacation for an extra week. 

5. Connect with the Content

Now it’s time to connect your destinations to the content. I know there were several steps to get to this part, but by now your students are mesmerized by locations around the world and you have their attention. Quickly share with them where the lesson is headed. 

Volcano Example: So, what do all of these locations have in common? They all were formed by volcanoes. However, volcanoes are not all the same. Some have violent eruptions, other quiet eruptions. Now, we’ll take a look at different types of volcanoes and how we can determine which type of volcano formed each destination. 

This is the meat and potatoes of your lesson. The bulk of your time will be spent here diving into each of the concepts. Sometimes I finish the notes for a section in a day, other times it is spaced out over a week. You know your content better than anyone else, so you’ve got this part. 

Volcano Example: You can access my exact unit slides! Teacher sharing is the best, so feel free to use them. COMING SOON!

7. Reflection/Exit Slip/Etc.

The final step of the lesson plan format is assessing students’ learning. It’s important for students to have time to process what they learned and share that information with you. I’d love to tell you I do this every day, but let’s be real, sometimes I’m just happy to make it through the hour unscathed. In all seriousness, we want to make sure our students are learning and quick formative assessments are a great way to do that. The strategy you select here does not really matter as long as you are doing something. Mix it up to keep students on their toes and play to different students’ strengths. 

Ideas for Reflection/Exit Slip

• Students write answers to 2-3 main point questions
• One-word “what I learned”
• Draw images explaining a process
• Share something that surprised you or you didn’t know before

As you review students’ responses, quickly sort them into  “got-it” or “not-quite” piles. Before starting the next day’s lesson, check-in with students who misunderstood a major concept.

Volcano Example: Check out the questions at the end of the volcano slides for the reflection questions. Students answer these questions in their Exploration Passports. I can look at them as students submit their passports or before the next class period. COMING SOON!

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LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

Where in the world.

Level: Elementary (A1-A2)

Type of English: General English

Tags: languages people and places nations and nationalities comparatives and superlatives 16-18 years old 18+ years old 13-15 years old Vocabulary and grammar

Publication date: 11/04/2020

Students learn vocabulary related to countries and languages and study superlative adjectives. They listen to a travel podcast and then write and share sentences about their own countries. There is a short optional extension activity relating to countries which use English as an official language.

by Stephanie Hirschman

where-in-the-world-be.mp3

This lesson helped me with listening exercises. 

Nice lesson. The texts are good and useful and the audio is a nice addition. Thank you .

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Students learn vocabulary related to countries and languages and study superlative adjectives. They listen to a travel podcast and then write and share sentences about their own countries. There is a short optional extension activity relating to countries that use English as an official language.

where-in-the-world-AmE.mp3

COURSE PLANS

This comprehensive course plan covers the full range of language needs – listening, role play, vocabulary development.

Worksheets in Elementary English course plan

Type of English: General English Level: Elementary (A1-A2)

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Did you know that your students can review the target language from our worksheets with our Expemo flashcard app? To let your student know, just enter their email address below (multiple emails can be separated with a comma).

Around the world

Emoji meanings around the world

Did you know that the same emojis can have different meanings in different countries? Watch the video to find out what these emojis mean around the world!

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Flag design

Print the worksheet about flag design and complete the exercises to help you practise your English!

• Read more about Flag design

Play some word games to learn and practise flags vocabulary.

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Flags flashcards

Print a set of flags flashcards, or print some for you to colour in and write the words!

• Read more about Flags flashcards

Kamala Harris: Why is her new job so important?

Do you know who Kamala Harris is? Watch the video to find out about this very special woman and her new job.

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Landmarks 1

Play a word game to learn and practise landmarks vocabulary.

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Landmarks 2

Play a word game to learn and practise more landmarks vocabulary.

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Landmarks flashcards

Print a set of landmarks flashcards, or print some for you to colour in and write the words!

• Read more about Landmarks flashcards

Print the worksheet about languages and complete the exercises to help you practise your English!

• Read more about Languages

One moment around the world

It's five o'clock in London and Ryan is watching TV. What time is it in other parts of the world and what are other children doing? Watch and find out!

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One small world

Listen to a song about cities and countries around the world.

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Pyramids in Paris

A naughty young giant is moving some of the world's famous landmarks! Where will he put them? Watch and find out!

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Spycat travels round the world looking for the evil Ratty. Will he catch him? Watch and find out!

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Syrian refugee family

These Syrian children have travelled to the other side of the world and started a new life in Australia. Watch the video to find out about their experiences.

• Read more about Syrian refugee family

Traditional stories from around the world

Practise your writing by answering the questions and telling us about traditional stories.

• What traditional stories do you know?
• Are there any traditional stories from your country? 
• Tell us about a traditional story!
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Two boys from Syria and Germany

Do you have friends from other countries? Watch the video to find out about two friends who come from different places.

• Read more about Two boys from Syria and Germany

What are child rights?

What do children need to live a full and healthy life? Watch the video to find out about child rights!

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World Refugee Day

World Refugee Day celebrates the strength and courage of refugees around the world. Read the article to find out more about it.   

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English courses for children aged 6-17

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Trip around the world with english4tutors

As an ESL teacher, I know firsthand how difficult it can be to get students excited about learning English. I mean, let’s face it, grammar rules and vocabulary lists aren’t exactly the most thrilling topics in the world. However, I also know that there are plenty of creative ways to make learning English fun and exciting for students. That’s why I’m excited to share with you the advantages of using our travel -themed ESL lesson plans that cover a variety of topics, including trip planning, accommodation, transportation, customs, cultures, sightseeing, and more.  

What’s that? Your students can’t afford traveling to these places? Fear not, my fellow teacher. It’ll be like taking a virtual trip around the world without them ever leaving the comfort of their own home (or classroom). And who doesn’t love a good adventure? 

What are the advantages?

Fasten your seatbelts and let me explain why english4tutors Travel lesson plans provide an exciting and immersive way for students to learn English. 

Sparking creative thinking

One of the greatest advantages is that they encourage students to think critically and creatively. As students learn about different destinations, they are also exposed to new cultures, traditions, and customs. This provides a great opportunity for students to practice their critical thinking skills by comparing and contrasting different cultures and exploring the similarities and differences between them. Your student will learn why British people drive on the left side of the road, why Americans smile so much, what is ‘stiff upper lip’, and much more.

Discussions based on personal experience

By incorporating travel -related vocabulary and grammar, students can better understand the language in context and engage in meaningful conversations about their own cross-cultural or traveling experiences. Why not give it a try with ‘ What did you do on holiday? ’

Improving language skills through interactive activities

Lesson plans in this category help students develop important language skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Through interactive activities such as role-playing, associations, guessing games, and more, students can practice these skills in a fun and engaging way. Plus, the content itself is sure to keep them interested and motivated.

Navigating real-world situations

Another advantage is that they provide an opportunity for students to improve practical language skills. Whether it’s ordering food at a restaurant, asking for directions, or haggling with street vendors, our lesson plans equip students with the language they need to navigate real-world situations. These practical language skills are invaluable for students who plan to go abroad or those living in multicultural communities. 

Exploring places and cultures

Perhaps one of the most exciting advantages of using these lesson plans is that they can inspire students to explore the world beyond their own borders. By learning about different destinations and cultures, students may even get itchy feet. This not only expands their worldview but also motivates them to continue learning English in order to communicate with people from different backgrounds. They’ll be able to learn and talk about the Lofoten Islands, find out and discuss why Danes are considered the happiest nation, or learn how to avoid London’s worst tourist traps.

So, if you’re looking for a way to make learning English more fun and entertaining for your students, consider using our ESL lesson plans. You’ll be sure to create a learning experience that your students will never forget. And who knows, you might just inspire your students to become the world travelers they were meant to be. Bon voyage!

P.S. If all else fails, your student can always order pizza in English (because let’s be real, pizza is the universal language).

Tijana is an ESL Teacher, Teacher Trainer, and ESL Content Creator with a decade-long working experience. She designed 600+ lesson plans. Tijana holds a B.A. in Applied Linguistics from UVic, an M.A. in Curriculum and Education from UBC, as well as a 120-hour TEFL certificate.

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Topic: Travelling

Hotel reviews

Engage students in conversations about different types of places to stay and their experiences! With this lesson, students practise vocabulary related to accommodation, watch videos and write hotel reviews.

My home is your home

Check out this lesson to have an engaging conversation about home exchange and house sitting and help your students learn useful vocabulary to describe experiences.

Please have your boarding pass ready

Students learn airport and plane phrases, listen to announcements and watch a video with a song. They also talk, role-play and exchange ideas.

Business trips: fun or boring?

This lesson allows students to talk about business trips, learn some useful vocabulary, and have a lot of discussion and role-play. 

Downsides of tourism

This speaking lesson focuses on talking about tourism and its problems. Students talk about travelling in general and tourism as an industry, watch a video and discuss solutions to the problems. 

The intangible benefits of travelling

In this lesson students talk about the article they read at home, learn some vocabulary and talk about different ways of travelling and their benefits. 

Food culture, coffee culture

In this ESL lesson about coffee and food culture students have a lot of discussion, watch a video, study nouns that can be both countable and uncountable, and have a lot of fun practice.

Living abroad

In this ESL lesson about living abroad, students watch a testimonial video about learning Portuguese in Brazil, learn some useful collocations and talk about living in different countries. 

Nation branding and St. Patrick’s Day

In this lesson about St. Patrick’s Day, students watch a video about the origins of the holiday. They also discuss nation branding and practise vocabulary for talking about abstract ideas. 

Are you into flying?

This worksheet focuses on speaking about air travel. Students answer different questions, watch and discuss a video. They also read and discuss short stories and create their own. 

Would you like a lava snack?

With this tourism lesson plan, students discuss gastro-tourism, watch a video and learn vocabulary related to food. 

Life is better outdoors!

In this lesson, students watch a video about Taiwan and practise vocabulary related to nature and free time activities.

You’re never too old for great things

In this lesson, students learn the differences between Present Perfect and Past Simple. They also practise using the two tenses, watch a video and talk about active lives of elderly people. 

Visiting the art capital

This lesson plan is all about New York. Students will discuss some quotes about New York, watch a video about art in this city and learn adjectives to describe art.

Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer

With this travel worksheet, pre-intermediate students can talk about how travelling changes them and learn some useful vocabulary. They also read a short text, watch a video about dream travel destinations and write an email.

Let’s go hiking!

In this lesson students learn hiking vocabulary, read some tips, watch a video about hiking and decide what they would and wouldn’t take on a hike. 

Flying business class (conjunctions and prepositions)

In this video-based lesson about flying economy, business and first class with Emirates, students will be practising conjunctions and prepositions. They will also discover some luxurious cabin features while discussing business trips.

What are your travelling tips? (modal verbs)

Thanks to this worksheet, students will discover and practise modal verbs (can, have to, should), watch a video and discuss different travelling tips and rules.

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Trending Theme : Fall Activities for Preschoolers

Preschool Around the World Theme Activity Plans

Let’s take a trip! Exploring different areas of the world doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg for plane tickets or hotel rooms. Young kids can discover different cultures, foods, holidays, and climates with our Around the World preschool theme activities.

The Around the World activity ideas include developmental areas of art, music, science, literacy, and math. Prepare for an exciting and diverse experience as your children navigate Around the World children’s activities.

Recommended Age

For preschool activity plans:, 24 interactive around the world theme activity plans for young children.

Get ready for fun and learning with all our preschool activity plans. These Around the World activities for preschoolers are packed with literature-based plans that are easy to prepare and fun to do.

Just like all of our themed activity plans, the Around the World art and activities included in this activity plan are created around a set of high quality, classic traveling themed books that your preschoolers will love. We have included the list of books below so that you can grab them from your public library or purchase them for your personal library so that you can use these activities year after year.  

What are the benefits of the around the world preschool activity plans?

• Explore a variety of themed hands-on Around the World learning activities!
• Build vocabulary and early literacy skills with multicultural songs and circle time games!
• Get learners ready for school with worldly printable activities!
• Develop math skills through fun Around the World counting activities.
• Our traveling science experiments and fun Around the World crafts for kids bring out the creativity in your preschoolers!
• Use ideas from countries around the world in your math, art and sensory activities to learn more about different cultures and geography.

These easy-to-follow Around the World activity plans include modifications and adaptations to meet the needs of all of your preschoolers.

Every theme is comes with recommended reading lists, songs, material lists and more.

Digital Download

Each of the Preschool Activity Plans themes is a digital download that you will receive access to immediately after purchase.

No need to wait for a book to come in the mail to implement these fun preschool activities!

Every theme contains 2 files within a .zip file. Once you open the .zip file you will see one PDF with all the printable activities and one PDF with the themed activity plans.

Take a Look at What is Included:

This theme includes activities for:

Mini themes included within the around the world activity plans :.

World, Cultures

Recommended Reading:

• ‘How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World’ by Marjorie Priceman •’Everybody Cooks Rice’ by Norah Dooley •’Tikki Tikki Tembo’ by Arlene Mosel •’Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears’ by Verna Aardema •’What We Wear: Dressing Up Around the World’ by Maya Ajmera

Get the Books for this Theme

Get all the books that you need for this theme right here. No need to take a special trip to the bookstore or search around to find the right books.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Materials List for Fall Preschool Activity Plans:

• Cardstock or heavy paper
• Resealable plastic bags
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Food coloring
• Paper plate
• Paint brush
• Plastic animals (optional)
• Toy airplane
• Cotton balls
• Ice cube tray
• Whole coffee beans
• Blue pipe cleaners
• Empty plastic water bottle
• Dyed rice (different colors)
• Different play cultural foods
• Play cash register
• Construction paper (black or grey, green, brown)
• Contact paper
• Large plastic tweezers
• Dry erase markers
• Black beans (dry)
• Laminating material (optional)
• Apple shaped sticky papers
• Ground cinnamon
• Rolling pin
• Mini pie pans (or recycled lids)
• Small rainforest animals
• Small plastic trees
• Sidewalk chalk or painters tape
• Pocket chart
• Sentence strips
• Clothes from around the world

• Water table/sensory table (water container) • Buckets • Scoops or small containers • Drinking straw • Glitter glue • Sequins • Feathers • Washable paints (different colors) • Markers • Various spices

Around the World Themed Activities at a glance:

What is included in the around the world preschool activity plans, math around the world activities for preschool:.

• Beaded Necklaces
• Counting Apples
• Apple Counting Cards

Around the World Literacy Activities for Preschool :

• Letters in Names
• R is for Rice Craft
• Ladder Letters

Around the World Science Activities for Preschoolers:

• Rice Cooking Experiment
• Well Water Play

Around the World Social Studies Activities for Preschoolers :

• Playdough Continents
• Fly the World
• Color the World Map

Around the World Sensory Activities for Preschoolers:

• Serving Rice Sensory Bin
• Rainforest Sensory Bin

Around the World Art Activities for Preschoolers :

• Festive Masks
• Hand print Chinese Dragon Craft
• Spice Painting

Around the World Fine Motor Activities for Preschoolers:

• Apple Pie Playdough
• Chopstick Transfer

Around the World Gross Motor Activities for Preschoolers :

• Pretend Ladder Climbing

Music Around the World Activities for Preschoolers:

• Musical Rice Shakers Activity

Around the World Circle Time Activities for Preschoolers :

• Apple Pie Sequencing Pocket Chart Activity
• Birth Order Graph

How Can I Expand the Around the World Plans Even Further?

How Do We Travel?

After completing the Around the World activities, have children explore different forms of traveling transportation. Create a transportation station with play airplanes, ships, cars, buses, trains, and submarines.

Time to Cook

I’ve never met a child yet who doesn’t love to help cook or bake. Try out new recipes from around the world that you and your child might enjoy. Quesadillas from Mexico, Curry from India, Pizza from Italy… the possibilities are endless (and so yummy)!

Who Developed the Around the World Activity Plans for Preschoolers?

Developed by a team of talented teachers and parents, these Around the World preschool activities range from whole group circle time ideas to active learning games. All activity plans have been carefully crafted and kid tested!

Whether you are a new teacher developing an entire preschool curriculum, a veteran teacher searching for new inspiration, or a parent homeschooling your preschooler, you’ll find everything you need in these Around the World Preschool Activity Plans.

Similar Posts

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Preschool Dinosaur Theme Activity Plans

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Preschool Spring Theme Activity Plans

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The Homeschool Resource Room

creative ideas, practical advice, genuine support

Around the World in 5 Days: Elementary Continent Studies

This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy for details.

Welcome to the first day of our Around the World Hopscotch!

Today you’ll find books, activities, and resources to support your geography studies. plus, you will find links to our 5 days around-the-world series and resources organized by continent.

I’m so happy to be able to share these amazing resources with you. We went around-the-world with our kindergarten curriculum and plan on “traveling” again when my younger kids are in K and 2nd grade.

These resources are meant to complement and enrich your lesson plans. If you are creating your own plans, you will find resources here that certainly could fill up a year! Our family enjoys reading, crafts, hands-on activities, projects, and using media to support learning. We are truly an eclectic bunch!

These resources are appropriate for 5-8 years old, roughly primary grades k-2. As always, use your best discretion. 

AROUND THE WORLD HOPSCOTCH

Hop around to find a ton of resources to support your elementary continent studies.

Day 1 Sunday : Elementary Continent Studies. That’s this post! You’ll find: General geography resources and materials appropriate for elementary aged children plus all of the links to our resources by continent!

Day 2 Monday : Around the World Picture Books

Day 3 Tuesday : Movies Around the World

Day 4 Wednesday : Shows Around the World

Day 5 Thursday : Apps and Websites for Elementary Geography

Be sure to grab the  Around the World printable pack at the bottom of this post ! Find our very favorite resources, printable lists, and a few ideas that will work with any continent or country study!

Continent Study Resources

The links below lead to our other posts created to enrich our elementary continent studies. Click a link or browse all of our around-the-world posts here .

Kid’s NORTH AMERICA Resources and Activities

Animal Studies: North American Grizzly Bear Books, activities, playlists, and a lapbook project.

Kindergarten Books & Activities: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt A full unit study inspired by the classic children’s story.

North America Streaming Resources Movies, shows, and playlists to supplement your lesson plans.

SOUTH & CENTRAL AMERICA Activities and Media for Kids

Rain Forest Unit and Animal Study: Poison Arrow Frog Learn about the tropical rain forest with through beautiful books, create your own kapok tree, and make a lapbook about the poison dart frog (aka poison dart frog).

South & Central America Streaming Resources Movies, shows, and playlists to supplement your lesson plans.

EUROPE Unit Studies and Resources for Kids

Unit Studies: We spent extra time in Europe, and gathered excellent projects, books, and resources for a few country studies. United Kingdom Unit France Unit Greece Unit

Kindergarten Books and Activities: Ratatouille Movie Unit Study A full unit study based on the Disney movie.

Europe Streaming Resources Movies, shows, and playlists to supplement your lesson plans.

Activities and Resources for Kids about Africa

Elementary Introduction to Africa Books, activities, and media to introduce children to Africa’s habitats, people, and animals.

Jane Goodall Lapboook and Animal Study: Chimpanzees Create a DIY lapbook, read about this ground-breaking scientist, and discover online resources and printables to support your unit.

Africa Streaming Resources Movies, shows, and playlists to supplement your lesson plans.

Resources About Asia for Kids

Asia Streaming Resources Movies, shows, and playlists to supplement your lesson plans.

Kid’s AUSTRALIA & THE PACIFIC ISLANDS (OCEANIA) Resources

Oceania Streaming Resources Movies, shows, and playlists to supplement your lesson plans.

POLAR REGIONS – ANTARCTICA & THE ARCTIC CIRCLE for Kids

North and South Pole Streaming Resources Movies, shows, and playlists to supplement your lesson plans.

ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHY RESOURCES

National Geographic Kids First Big Books We referred back to these books many time over the year. With large text, charts, and gorgeous images, these texts are a great reference for Around the World studies. Take a at the  Big Book of Animals  for animals categorized by habitat, well-known scientists, philanthropists, artists, and more in  Big Book of Who , and landmarks arranged by continent  Big Book of the World .

How to Make and Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman This was an adorable introduction to our Around the World activities.

View the read aloud here or watch our Apples and Maps playlist !

Magic Tree House Series by Mary Pope Osborne See the full list of titles organized by continent .

Our hands-down favorite from our around-the-world studies, Magic Tree House has books for every continent. We listened to audio books , read aloud together, and eventually my son started reading them on his own. A wonderful series to motivate a beginning reader.

Around the World ARTS & CRAFTS for Kids

We created so many projects over the course of the year. If you have an artistic child, looking at art and architecture around the world is so inspiring. Below is my five-year-old’s Greek Mosaic from our Greece Unit Study .

Around the World Coloring Book by Winky Adam World facts like a text book and more engaging than a workbook, this coloring book was a great companion for our Around the World studies.

Art Around the World: Loo-Loo, Boo, and More Art You Can Do by Denis Roche We tried several around-the-world art books over the year, but this was our favorite. The colorful illustrations, interesting facts, and simple directions make the activities accessable for pre-k and primary aged kiddos.

If you love puzzles and art studying geography, don’t miss these fabulous  GeoPuzzles ! We learned so much by putting together these durable, thick, bright puzzles. Each puzzle is a different continent with countries in by shape. They also offer a  world map puzzle . They look complicated at first, but with around 70 pieces each, your child will be putting them together independently in no time.

Use these puzzles to discuss continents, countries, and regions of the world. Practice reading the names or sounding out new words. Name the oceans, look at a compass rose, and compare the sizes of countries from around the world or each continent.

Around the World Enrichment Pack

Download Your PDF

Top elementary geography posts from the Resource Room: 10 FUN Geography Games for Kids! Read Around the World with The Magic Tree House Map 20 Lovely Picture Books from Around the World for Kids!

I’m so excited to be part of IHomeschoolNetwork’s Hopscotch . Find tips, encouragement and resources for your homeschool in this week’s exciting posts!

Ashley helps parents who want to homeschool find the resources they need to successfully teach their children. Ashley is a former teacher, current homeschooler, published author, and designer behind Circle Time with Miss Fox printables as well as the creator of this website, The Homeschool Resource Room.

25 replies on “ Around the World in 5 Days: Elementary Continent Studies ”

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Wonderful resources! We love traveling the world through books, movies, games, and activities.

Thank you 🙂

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Around the World in 50 Experiments

Around the World in 50 Experiments is a series of science experiments designed to take children on an adventure around the world learning about different countries and cultures as they go along.

Print the passport and mark off countries as you go along, or just choose your favourites!

Start by making a compass and then head wherever you choose!

It’s a bit of a work in progress so do keep popping back to see which countries have been added.

Model the Dead Sea

Maple syrup and ice hockey

Monsoons and mountains

Pyramids and Mummies

Spices and turtles

Red Crab Migration

Around the World From Home: Travel Theme Preschool Activities

Wishing you could get out and travel…but can’t? Looking to introduce travel to your littles or classroom? Find our favorite around the world activities and travel theme preschool crafts to spark wanderlust from home.

Disclosure : This site contains affiliate links for products and services I recommend. When you make a purchase through an affiliate link, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Read our full disclosure here.

As much as I’d love to travel all the time, I can’t.

We have jobs. Travel isn’t cheap. My kids are a handful to deal with. Sometimes things just happen and you’re stuck at home!

But who says you need to put the travel bug on the shelf?

Travel, adventure, and having some sort of understanding of the vastness of the world is part of our everyday lives, too. We continue to teach about and introduce travel and culture, even from home.

From reading books, to doing map puzzles, to learning languages, our hearts and minds are often immersed in worlds way beyond our living room windows.

Whether you’re looking to fill the days stuck at home or simply wanting to introduce new places and cultures for later, you’ll love the suggestions below.

I’m sharing my favorite theme activities, preschool crafts, and DIY adventures so you can travel around the world without leaving your home.

After reaching out, five travel and family bloggers submitted their favorite travel activities for kids. You’ll find their incredible suggestions, as well.

So, go beat the boredom and start sparking that wanderlust with your kids.

Adventure Around the World with these Travel Theme Preschool Activities

Read some travel books.

My librarian years haven’t failed me yet.

I may be home with my kids now, but in a past life, I planned hundreds, if not thousands, of children’s storytimes. I adored taking kids around the world through stories, and then following it up with preschool crafts and on theme activities.

With library books, digital resources, and even materials you may have at home, you can easily recreate a travel themed book-venture.

Reading books about and set around the world is great for prepping your kids – whether they’re in preschool or high school – for an upcoming trip. Even with no travel plans, though, introducing a lesson on a specific country, keeps their views of the world vast!

Teach Kids to Navigate With Analog Wayfinding

Are you dreaming of fun family hikes? Exploring forested trails, splashing through creek…wait, the phone with the trails map just fell in that stream!

Did this dream hike just turn into a nightmare? In a GPS world, adventurous families still go off-grid (sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident).

Kids of all ages can navigate without digital devices—it’s a life skill best learned before getting lost on a trail. Here are three ways to begin wayfinding:

• Look for Landmarks: In the car or on bike rides, even preschoolers can navigate the way home. Asking “Which way should we go from here? How do you know?” trains them to pay attention to landmarks. Older kids can take on trail-boss responsibilities, in charge of the rout out and back.
• Get Comfortable with Paper Maps: Drawing maps is more than a fun art project—it helps kids internalize spaces. Start small, drawing the neighborhood. Include favorite places—even the dog’s! Work up to reading printed maps symbols and identifying hills and valleys by topo lines.
• Compass Games in the Backyard Develop Orienteering Skills: Start with basic skills like holding the compass flat so the needle floats freely. To find magnetic north, hold the compass straight and turn until the needle points to N (red goes in the shed!) Low-tech geocaches and treasure hunts are a fun way to grow orienteering skills. Most importantly, stash a compass in each backpack, ready for the next real adventure!

*Submitted by Suzanne from Blue Planet Travels .

Go on a Home Safari

Our DIY home safari adventure was one of my finer ideas as a parent. You know you’re winning when something keeps your kids engaged for more than 20 minutes.

The best part about this adventure, was that I didn’t really need to do much. My son has a safari play set, so we simply pulled it out and highlighted the safari theme with other books and activities.

Some of his favorite add-ons were putting animal stickers on his map and watching a virtual safari on our TV.

Even if you don’t own a safari play set, this is easy to recreate with a few stuffed animals and books or DIY flashcards.

Create a Travel Vision Board

Kids can get excited about travel without ever leaving home by designing a travel vision board. Vision boards are a crafty and creative way to spark kids’ dreams about future fun trips and adventures.

Creating a travel vision board simply consists of cutting out inspiring words and pictures of places you’d like to visit from magazines – or printing some off the internet – and pasting them on to poster board.

My daughter likes to customize her visual creations using crayons, markers or colored pencils, decorating with stickers and glitter, designing borders around each picture and including fun quotes.

Young children may need a little help getting their imagination rolling. You can ask questions like “if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? What would you do while there?”

Let children run wild with their ideas. Are they dreaming of an Arctic dogsledding adventure in their future? A visit to a theme park or waterpark? Or maybe a trip to Italy for pizza and gelato?

Whether children tailor their board for ultimate bucket-list destinations or for upcoming family trips, designing a travel vision board helps kids visualize and look forward to future exciting experiences.

*Submitted by Deanne from Scenic and Savvy .

Play Travel Related Board Games

One of my favorite indoor activities for young children is to play board games.

A travel-themed board game young children particularly like is Ticket To Ride First Journey. It is suitable for ages 6 and up. You can either purchase the Europe or United States of America map. The goal of the game is to be the first player to complete six Tickets. You complete a Ticket when you have built a continuous line of trains between the two cities printed on your Ticket. The map, pieces and cards are all bright and colorful, which will appeal to young children. It inspires children to travel to and visit different cities in Europe or the United States of America, depending on which version you purchase. 

Another favourite travel-themed board game for young children is My First Carcassonne, which is suitable for ages 4 and up. The first player to place all their meeples down wins the game. The game consists of placing a tile down to build the medieval city of Carcassonne in France. You can place a meeple down when you close a street. The tiles and meeples are also bright and colourful like Ticket to Ride First Journey. The tiles fit together no matter the placement, which makes it easy for little ones.

Playing board games is a fantastic travel activity to do at home with young children.

*Submitted by Clara of Petite Capsule. Check out her roundup of indoor activities for babies for more at home ideas.

Learn a New Language

Learning a new language has never been as popular as it is right now! Experts all agree that the younger children learn a new language, the more easily they will learn it fluently and remember it throughout their lives.

Not only will it strengthen their brains, but it will also help them to understand other cultures. If your family can’t travel, you might as well learn.

Fortunately, there are several ways to help your children learn a language – even if you don’t know the language yourself. There are tons of apps out there for a variety of age groups.

My personal favorite is Mondly Kids. It covers a multitude of languages and uses sounds and pictures (in addition to words) so children who can’t read can still learn. This would be good for children about 4 to 10, but I have known 2-year-olds who could have figured it out. If you help them learn how to use the app for a few levels, most kids will pick it up pretty quickly.

Different apps have different features, so be sure to explore your options. Any type of helpful app will have music, stories, or videos in another language. YouTube has tons of options, but there may be better apps for specific languages.

While immersing your child in the language (without any English words during learning), bilingual videos also have their perks. Since children under 3 are still learning English, it doesn’t hurt to sing songs that teach them words for both languages.

* Submitted by Raquel of Meals and Mile Markers. Check out more of her recommendations to feed your wanderlust from home.

Camp in Your Living Room

Did you not grow up setting up a living room tent and begging your parents to let you sleep in it?

Why not set up a simple home tent (use a sheet if you don’t have a play tent) and transport your family to the mountains? Maybe your kids prefer the National Parks? Or the Grand Canyon.

We’ll pack some “camping” snacks, roll out our sleeping bags, read books and listen for animal sounds. Set your TV for theme-appropriate background noise!

Take a Virtual Theme Park Ride or Tour

Theme parks are a special place, especially for kids! No other destination combines so many varieties of fun – thrill rides and rollercoasters, playgrounds, candy, shows and live entertainment, animals, and the chance to meet your favorite characters in person. When we aren’t able to visit our favorite theme parks, we can experience some from the comfort of our own couch.

Make sure nobody suffers from motion sickness before proceeding .

To watch as a family, access YouTube through your smart TV, or project your laptop screen to your TV. Google has plenty of tips on how to do this if you have any trouble.

If you have a VR headset, there are many options to install virtual rollercoaster apps, which are heaps of fun, but only one person can use these at a time. If you don’t have one, there are plenty of options to play along with just your TV or computer.

Disney teamed up with Google to create a street-view virtual visit of their parks, allowing you to walk through. You can choose which direction you want to go, look from side-to-side, and, just like always, there are crowds. You may even spot some of your favorite characters around the park! Start here and just use your mouse to click through!

If you want something slightly more thrilling, there are rollercoasters you can virtually ride! To make it as realistic as possible, try clearing some space in front of the T.V, and put some chairs in front, side-by-side.

Here are a few YouTube options to get you started:

• Virtual Disney World
• Canada’s Wonderland
• Universal Studios

Best of all, there are no crowds, and lunch won’t cost a fortune! Until we can go back, enjoy these virtual theme park experiences.

*Submitted by Jenna of I Know The Pilot .

Cook an Ethnic Recipe

Sometimes I serve Ikea Swedish meatballs from a bag and call it a Scandinavian delicacy. Other times, we make curry from scratch.

My kids love ethnic food, because they’re exposed to it frequently. It’s one of my favorite family travel benefits . Recently, I’ve started trying to teach about the places certain foods come from.

This doesn’t work for boxed mac and cheese, though. Sorry.

We’ll talk about where a certain food comes from and if we’ve been there or are planning on it soon. Sometimes we read stories from that area and look at maps.

Personally, cooking is one of my favorite activities and I love being able to transport my family anywhere around the world right from my kitchen.

It makes trying new food fun and gets them excited to travel. My toddler also loves helping me in the kitchen…then eating his creations!

If you’re enjoying these at home travel activities, check out our Travel Gifts for Kids . Many gift suggestions are geared towards preschool kids, and are ideal for venturing around the world when you can’t travel!

Around the World Theme Preschool Crafts

Anytime my kids have a chance to create something or get a little messy, their day is made!

With simple craft supplies, household products, and recyclables we’ve created instruments from around the world, masks, toy airplanes, nature mandalas, binoculars, and many more preschool theme crafts!

A quick online search will yield more global crafts and activities like printable passports and flags, along with an endless supply of free coloring pages.

Typically, when we spend some time learning, reading, or planning an at home adventure, I’ll search for related crafts and activities to keep my toddler engaged and busy!

We have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to learning about and introducing travel at home. You can find our favorite travel theme crafts, preschool books, and other fun activities to take you and your kids around the world.

What activities and adventures take you around the world? How do you keep the wanderlust alive for your kids when you’re stuck at home. How do you prep them for an upcoming trip, whether it’s tomorrow or in ten months? I’d love to hear your favorite at home travel ideas.

Save these travel theme activities and around the world adventures for later. Pin to Pinterest:

The at home safari sounds like a ton of fun! Connor already gets super excited to go see his Winnie the Pooh, so I’m sure he’ll love finding animals around the house as he gets older! I like the idea of camping inside your house or in the yard too. I remember doing that as a kid!

Awe that’s so cute!! Camping inside is always a hit..it’s like they’re allowed to make a mess!!

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Malaysian embarks on solo trip around the world in his Perodua Kenari

Friday, 03 May 2024

Related News

Solo expeditions, sports tourism among top travel trends to watch

‘beijing to make it easier for solo travellers from mainland china to visit hong kong’, hong kong tourism board to roll out flight deals, vouchers and ‘3 must-haves’ to lure travellers from xian and qingdao in solo visitor scheme, voon set off on his global expedition in his trusty perodua kenari on may 1, ready to explore over 108 countries. photos: facebook/jack voon.

A Sarawakian man has started his solo trip around the world in his trusty Perodua Kenari on May 1. The journey is expected to take three years.

Jack Voon Kuet Fei, 47, says the expedition is expected to span approximately 200,000km, covering over 108 countries across Asia, Europe, Africa, North America and South America.

The flag-off for his trip took place in Kuantan, Pahang and was hosted by Pahang exco member and its unity, tourism and culture committee chairman Leong Yu Man.As a digital and social media content creator, Voon has always dreamed of travelling the world since he was young, envisioning the vastness of the globe.

"In this programme, I will be documenting my journey and creating educational and promotional videos. I am hopeful this programme will build an opportunity to unite people, broaden our horizons and instil the spirit of adventure while promoting Malaysia to the world,” said Voon, who is from Kuching.

He estimates the trip will cost him about RM860,000, which covers 12 categories of expenses including telecommunications, fuel, meal, accommodation, insurance, vaccines and visa fees.

Regarding his choice of car, he said the Kenari is economical and safe. His car has been equipped with travelling essentials, including a solar panel, mini fridge, mini stove, spare battery, heating system and halogen headlights. The back seat of his white car is outfitted with cabinets to store items, while the roof has been transformed into a sleeping cabin capable of withstanding low temperatures.

According to his travel log on Facebook, his car was struck by an unknown party when he was in Kuala Terengganu on May 2.

However, Voon will certainly not let this small hiccup hamper his journey of a lifetime.

The wanderlust traveller

Voon wants to share the beauty and diversity of malaysia with the world., voon has always dreamed of travelling the world since he was young., despite setbacks like his damaged light, voon remains undeterred on his quest to promote unity and friendship worldwide..

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Tags / Keywords: Solo traveller , Globetrekker , Perodua Kenari , Sarawak

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Money latest: Which cereals have least sugar? Your guide to eating a healthier breakfast without paying a fortune

Our series on how to eat more healthily for less is back - and we're looking at a breakfast staple. Read this and all the latest consumer and personal finance news below, plus leave a comment in the box.

Friday 3 May 2024 07:14, UK

• Prescription charges rose this week - but there are ways to pay less
• 'Outrageous': Billie Eilish fans complain about ticket prices
• Mortgage rates are rising - here's everything you need to know if you're a first-time buyer right now

Essential reads

• Which cereals have least sugar? Your guide to a healthier breakfast without paying a fortune
• How to nab yourself a free upgrade on a flight
• You're probably washing and storing your clothes wrong. Here's what you should do instead
• Money Problem : 'Builders won't repair dodgy work - what are my rights?'
• '£2,000 landed in my account' - The people who say they're manifesting riches

Ask a question or make a comment

If you earn significantly more or less than your partner, how do you split payments for things like housing, food, household essentials, entertainment and holidays? 

Do you both pay equally, do you split costs according to income, or do you have another method? 

Get in touch with an outline of your situation in the  box above or:

• Email [email protected] with the subject line "Money blog"
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It can be hard to balance getting nutritious foods that make you feel good without spending a lot.

In this series, we try to find the healthiest options in the supermarket for the best value - and have enlisted the help of  Sunna Van Kampen,  founder of Tonic Health ,  who went viral on social media for reviewing food in the search of healthier choices.

The series does not aim to identify the outright healthiest option, but to help you get better nutritional value for as little money as possible.

Today, we're looking at the breakfast staple - cereal. 

A sugar trap?

"Protein and good fats are what fill you up and satiate you to get your day going," Sunna says.

"Cereal unfortunately is a sugar and carb-heavy start which causes your blood sugar to spike and as a result you feel hungry way before lunch time."

A glance at the nutrition labels and you'll see the problem. 

"Some popular brands contain 35% sugar or up to 12g of sugar per 30g serving - that's already half of the daily recommended intake for children," Sunna says. 

That's before accounting for the fact that most people double up on recommended portion sizes. 

"According to research the average bowl weighs 73g rather than 30g suggested portion size - that means your child could be having their daily sugar quota for breakfast before school," Sunna says.

Healthier cereal choices

"The key to healthier cereal bowls is to ensure minimal sugar and maximum fibre - which is where options like Weetabix come to the forefront as a better option - at 4.2% sugar and 10% fibre," Sunna says. 

Among the main brands, this is hard to beat.

Frosties and Crunchy Nut don't fare well at 35% and 37% sugar respectively. Cornflakes at 8% and Coco Pops at 17% are better - but still high.

Alternative breakfasts

Greek yogurt:  "High in protein and packed with probiotics, Greek yogurt is my breakfast go to. Top it with some fresh berries and a sprinkle of seeds for an antioxidant boost."

Porridge:  "Oats are a great breakfast staple, offering a good dose of fibre, but context matters.

"It's great before a run or the gym but if you are just sitting at your desk all day it will spike your blood sugar and may be best to add more protein and fats to it. 

"Try adding peanut butter or protein powder for a more filling breakfast with more stable blood sugar."

Eggs:  "Boiled, poached, or scrambled, eggs are a protein-rich option that can keep you fuelled till lunch. Pair them with sourdough toast and you have possibly the most well-rounded value breakfast."

"Switching to these alternatives can drastically cut down your sugar intake and increase your energy levels."

We know cereal is a value-for-money and easy breakfast option, but let's have a closer look at the numbers. 

If we take the average cereal bowl at 73g, a cost per bowl looks like 50p for Crunchy Nut cereal and about 25p for the 250ml of milk that goes with it. 

"So, your daily breakfast is costing you 75p per day or £273.75 per year for the privilege of 9.3kg of sugar per year," Sunna says. 

In contrast, a typical medium free-range egg is 25p. 

Put three on a slice of sourdough (15p per slice) and an optimal breakfast has only cost you 90p a day or £328.5 a year. 

"So, you can swap over 18g of sugar every morning for over 18g of protein for just £54.75 extra per year," Sunna says. 

"A health investment, well worth the money."

However, if you want to stick with cereal - supermarket own-label brands are usually 60% cheaper than branded versions. 

Read more from this series... 

With the mortgage market proving more volatile than expected this year, and rates rising again, we're launching a feature providing an overview of the market at the end of each week - and outlining the best deals.

The independent experts at  Moneyfactscompare.co.uk  will be here every Friday. Commentary this week comes from their finance expert Rachel Springall, who has focused on the first-time buyer market...

Fixed-rate mortgages are once again on the rise, with many of the UK's biggest high-street lenders upping rates this week, including Santander, Halifax, Nationwide and NatWest. Lenders have been reacting to growing speculation that interest rates will remain higher for longer. 

Economists predict that the Bank of England will hold interest rates next Thursday but might cut base rate in the summer. Week on week, the overall average two- and five-year fixed rates rose to 5.91% and 5.49%.

This week the lowest two-year fix for first-time buyers with a 5% deposit comes from Loughborough Building Society, priced at 5.49%, which comes with a free valuation incentive and carries a £999 product fee.

First-time buyers with a 10% deposit will find the lowest two-year fixed rate offered by Clydesdale Bank, priced at 5.19%, which does not carry any incentives and charges a £1,499 product fee.

Those new buyers with a 5% deposit who want to fix for longer will find the lowest five-year fixed mortgage comes from The Co-operative Bank this week. Priced at 5.21%, this deal carries a £999 fee but borrowers get £250 in cashback and a free-valuation incentive.

Borrowers with a 10% deposit who wish to fix for five-years will find Clydesdale Bank offering the lowest rate this week priced at 4.64%, which charges a £1,499 fee but does not carry any incentives. 

As a first-time buyer, it's possible you have exhausted your savings on building up a 5% deposit and will use surplus cash to cover removal costs and legal fees. 

If you are looking to save on the upfront cost of your loan, then a Best Buy mortgage could be the most cost-effective choice.

This week one of the top packages on a two-year fixed mortgage comes from Coventry Building Society priced at 5.74% and HSBC priced at 5.79%, both of which come with a free valuation, but HSBC will also pay you £750 as cashback and Coventry Building Society will pay £500 in cashback.

A five-year fixed mortgage may be more appealing for you to guarantee your monthly repayments for longer. 

HSBC has a deal priced at 5.30% which carries a free valuation and £1,000 cashback, but if you want a lower rate, then Coventry Building Society is priced at 5.27%, and offers a free valuation and £500 cashback.

If you live in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland you don't have to pay for your NHS prescriptions - but in England they now cost £9.90 after a 25p rise this week.

Fee-free options remain in place for some, such as those who are pregnant, have certain disabilities, students or the elderly.

But if you're not exempt, there are still some means of cutting the costs of treatments.

Prepayment certificates

Prescription prepayment certificates (PPC) cover NHS prescriptions over a given time period, no matter how many medicines you need.

There are two options: A three-month PPC (£32.05), which will start to save you money if you buy four or more prescriptions in that period, or a 12-month PPC (£114.50), which pays off if you buy 12 or more in a year.

Ask for a larger prescription

Doctors may agree to prescribe a longer course of medicine - such as two months' worth instead of one, halving the cost.

Just ask the question - they might say yes, especially if there's no danger of overuse.

Menopause medication

The NHS offers a particular PPC for hormone replacement therapy.

It lasts for 12 months and costs £19.80.

Women can use the PCC as many times as they need within the year.

You might not need a prescription

For some ailments, there are over-the-counter options sold cheaper than their prescribed alternative. You can ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice.

Pint-sized bottles of wine will be allowed on UK shelves from autumn under new post-Brexit trade rules - although doubts have been raised over their demand.

Seven changes to pre-packaged wine sizes are due to come into force on 19 September.

The move to introduce the 568ml size of wine, to sit alongside 200ml and 500ml measures already available, was announced in December and hailed by ministers as a Brexit "freedom".

Pint bottles of Champagne were sold in the UK before Britain joined the European Common Market and were on shelves until 1973.

Read more here ...

JD Sports has told head office staff they must return to the office at least four days a week .

The new amendment to the hybrid working policy will be effective from 1 July and will impact employees at the retail chain's head office in Bury, Retail Gazette reports.

However, the chain will still allow flexibly depending on individual roles.

Pubs could stay open late during the Euros this summer, according to The Sun .

Home Secretary James Cleverly hinted he was looking into extending pub opening hours for the tournament on The Sun show Never Mind The Ballots.

He said: "I will certainly look into it."

We've been bringing you news of plenty of bank switch deals offering free cash these past few months, but Virgin Money has a different kind of incentive for switchers - a 12% interest rate. 

People who switch to its M Account, M Plus Account or Club M Account will be able to get bonus interest rates of 10% gross/10.47% AER (fixed). 

This is on top of the 2% gross/2.02% AER (variable) interest rate already offered on current account balances up to £1,000 - meaning customers can get an interest rate of 12%. 

No other savings accounts offer interest rates this high, and the bonus applies for a year.

TikTok will restore millions of songs to its app after settling a royalty dispute with Universal Music Group. 

Users had been unable to make videos featuring songs from the likes of Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande due to a row over how much TikTok was paying. 

The fight had led to Universal withdrawing music from some of the world's most famous singers. 

The dispute appears to have been settled as the companies announced "improved remuneration" for artists.

More than 10,500 black cab drivers in London have launched a £250m legal case against Uber. 

They accuse the app of breaking the capital's taxi booking rules and deliberately misleading authorities to secure a licence. 

Transport for London (TfL) rules state drivers cannot take bookings directly from customers and must instead use a centralised system. 

The drivers, who are being advised by law firm Mishcon de Reya, argue they have faced unfair competition from Uber and that it knowingly broke these rules. 

Uber has denied these allegations and said the claims are unfounded.

The company has faced numerous challenges in London, including refusals from TfL to renew its licence which were later successfully appealed. 

Billie Eilish fans are complaining about "outrageous" ticket prices for her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour.

The 22-year-old singer unveiled an 81-date tour programme this week, sending fans rushing to secure tickets.

But some expressed disbelief on social media at the prices.

"I know I moan about this all the time, but look at the price of Billie Eilish tickets," one fan called Marianne wrote on X, sharing a screenshot of seated tickets priced at £398.50. 

"Something seriously needs to be done about ticket prices, it's f*****g outrageous!" 

Another complained they had paid less for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, which was also criticised for high ticket prices.

A fan called Liv tagged Eilish, Live Nation and Ticketmaster, writing: "Are you ok? £145 for standing tickets is atrocious."

Thousands of people who receive government benefits, including Universal Credit, will be paid as early as tomorrow.

This is because there's a bank holiday coming up on 6 May which will affect benefits paid by both the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HMRC (they don't pay benefits on bank holidays).

A statement on the government website reads: "If your payment date is on a weekend or a bank holiday you'll usually be paid on the working day before. This may be different for tax credits and child benefit."

Here are the 11 different government benefits that are expected to be paid early:

• Universal credit;
• State Pension;
• Pension Credit;
• Disability Living Allowance;
• Attendance Allowance;
• Carer's Allowance;
• Child Benefit;
• Income Support;
• Jobseekers Allowance;
• Personal Independence Payment;
• Tax credits (such as Working Tax Credit)

Will your benefit payment change?

No, you'll be paid the same amount you usually receive.

Benefits are usually paid straight into your bank, building society or credit account.

Goldman Sachs is removing a cap on bonuses for London-based staff, paving the way for it to resume making multimillion pound payouts to its best-performing traders and dealmakers.

Sky News can exclusively reveal the Wall Street banking giant notified its UK employees today that it had decided to abolish the existing pay ratio imposed under European Union rules and which the government recently decided to scrap.

In a video message to staff, Richard Gnodde, chief executive of Goldman Sachs International, which comprises its operations outside the US, said it had decided to bring its remuneration policy in Britain in line with its operations elsewhere in the world.

"We are a global firm and to the extent possible we adopt a consistent global approach across everything we do," Mr Gnodde said in the message, which has been relayed to Sky News.

"The bonus cap rules were an important factor preventing us from being consistent in the area of compensation."

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Even as He Faces Prison Time, Binance’s Founder Plans a Comeback

Since pleading guilty to violating money-laundering rules, Changpeng Zhao, who ran the giant crypto exchange Binance, has networked across the United States to set up his next act.

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By David Yaffe-Bellany and Cade Metz

He enjoyed a home-cooked dinner in Montana with a former U.S. senator. He visited Telluride, Colo., and Moab, Utah, a vacation spot known for its national parks. And he chatted about start-ups with Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI.

After pleading guilty to a money-laundering violation in November, Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, did not sit still. A federal judge denied his request to return home to Dubai, but Mr. Zhao, 47, was free to roam the United States. So he spent the past five months traveling the country, networking with other entrepreneurs and laying the groundwork for his next act.

When he pleaded guilty, Mr. Zhao, once the most powerful figure in the global crypto industry, resigned as Binance’s chief executive and agreed to pay a $50 million fine. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Seattle sentenced him to four months in prison ; prosecutors had sought a three-year prison term, while defense lawyers had asked for probation and no time behind bars.

But Mr. Zhao, who goes by the initials CZ, is already looking to the future. He has a $33 billion fortune, according to Forbes , and he announced last month that he was starting a new web platform to promote online education.

Mr. Zhao has also expressed interest in investing in artificial intelligence and biotechnology, and has corresponded with other executives. Late last year, he and Mr. Altman exchanged text messages, two people familiar with the matter said, and discussed the challenges of expanding a start-up worldwide.

Many powerful crypto executives have faced federal lawsuits and criminal charges since the multitrillion-dollar industry imploded in 2022. Some have gone to prison , while others have enjoyed the high life before being arrested . Mr. Zhao’s fate is likely to be kinder than most.

His frenetic activity since November contrasts with the consequences faced by Sam Bankman-Fried , the founder of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX. Once Mr. Zhao’s greatest rival, Mr. Bankman-Fried was largely ostracized after FTX imploded in 2022 and prosecutors charged him with stealing $8 billion in customer funds. A jury found him guilty of fraud last year, and he was sentenced in March to 25 years in prison.

Mr. Zhao, who pleaded guilty three weeks after Mr. Bankman-Fried was convicted at trial, still enjoys widespread support in the crypto industry. Dozens of current and former Binance employees have submitted letters to Judge Richard A. Jones, the federal judge overseeing Mr. Zhao’s case, asking him to impose a lenient sentence. And many crypto entrepreneurs, investors and dignitaries have continued supporting Mr. Zhao, court records show.

A short prison stint “is a small price to pay to be a billionaire for life,” said John Reed Stark, a former Securities and Exchange Commission official and a critic of the crypto industry. “The industry just does not care about the extraordinary crypto crime wave ushered in by people like CZ.”

Representatives for Mr. Zhao and OpenAI declined to comment.

For much of Binance’s existence, Mr. Zhao was dogged by accusations that he had broken the law to build a crypto empire. Binance was the world’s largest crypto exchange, processing as much as two-thirds of all transactions. And Mr. Zhao became a crypto celebrity, with nearly nine million followers on X. His posts helped set off a chain of events that led to FTX’s demise in 2022.

Last year, Binance faced its own reckoning. The company agreed to pay $4.3 billion to the U.S. government to settle charges that it allowed criminal activity to flourish on the exchange.

U.S. officials said Binance violated economic sanctions, allowing access to its platform to people in countries like Cuba, Syria and Iran. Mr. Zhao failed to set up proper anti-money-laundering controls, prosecutors said, and let customers sign up for accounts without providing the basic personal details that financial services firms usually require.

“Zhao violated U.S. law on an unprecedented scale,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing on Wednesday. “Zhao’s sentence should reflect the gravity of his crimes.”

Mr. Zhao started talking about his next act the moment the charge against him was announced. In a post on X the day of his plea hearing in November, for which he appeared in person in federal court in Seattle, he said he was interested in investing in areas like crypto, biotechnology and A.I.

“I may be open to being a coach/mentor to a small number of upcoming entrepreneurs,” he wrote. “If for nothing else, I can at least tell them what not to do.”

In a filing last week, prosecutors said Mr. Zhao had traveled throughout the United States, visiting New York, Los Angeles, Telluride and Moab. Mr. Zhao, who grew up partly in Canada, has spent some of his free time skiing and snowboarding, a person who knows him said.

Mr. Zhao met Mr. Altman in person about a year ago, a person with knowledge of the matter said. They were in contact again after a leadership battle at OpenAI in late November, two people familiar with the exchange said. The next month, over hot pot in Los Angeles, Mr. Zhao told Ronghui Gu, a computer science professor at Columbia University, that he had communicated with Mr. Altman.

“He talked to Sam, and they both believe that A.I. is going to help a lot in actualizing the development of technology and human knowledge,” Mr. Gu, who founded a start-up that Binance helped fund, said in an interview.

At the same meal, Mr. Zhao mentioned that he was “looking for opportunities” to invest in the large data centers that power A.I. applications, Mr. Gu said.

(The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems.)

In a letter filed in court last week, Mr. Zhao said he had also spoken with “a number of biotech start-ups” in recent months and planned to make disease prevention a focus in the next chapter of his life.

“I’d like to help fund small research labs with the aim of curing diseases once and for all, as well as providing medical access to billions in the world using blockchain technologies,” he wrote.

In March, Mr. Zhao announced on X that he was starting a project called Giggle Academy, a free online learning platform for children. A seven-page “ concept paper ” posted on Giggle Academy’s website said the platform would involve A.I. and automation, as well as nonfungible tokens, the unique digital collectibles known as NFTs.

Mr. Zhao wrote on X that Giggle Academy would have “no revenue” and that he was recruiting a small team to work directly with him.

On his travels, Mr. Zhao has also caught up with influential acquaintances. A couple of months ago, he had dinner at the Montana home of Max Baucus, a former U.S. senator and ambassador to China. In a letter filed in court last week, Mr. Baucus, who worked for Binance as an adviser, said he and Mr. Zhao had discussed the criminal case.

“He didn’t make any excuses except to note he didn’t hurt anyone,” wrote Mr. Baucus, a Democrat. “He didn’t use others funds for his own account distinguishing him from Sam Bankman-Fried, who did just that.”

At the dinner with Mr. Gu in December, Mr. Zhao was joined by his son, a freshman at Pepperdine University. The dinner was mostly casual, Mr. Gu wrote in a letter to the court last week. He and Mr. Zhao discussed their shared interest in crypto, as well as “insights on being a good C.E.O.”

Then Mr. Zhao’s son asked his father whether he was really guilty. “The sudden silence that followed was palpable,” Mr. Gu wrote. “He acknowledged his mistakes and his guilt, emphasizing that making mistakes is not something to be ashamed of.”

Mr. Zhao soon lightened the mood, the letter said, cracking a joke about Mr. Gu’s “continued willingness to dine with them.”

Kitty Bennett contributed research.

David Yaffe-Bellany writes about the crypto industry from San Francisco. He can be reached at [email protected]. More about David Yaffe-Bellany

Cade Metz writes about artificial intelligence, driverless cars, robotics, virtual reality and other emerging areas of technology. More about Cade Metz

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