What if you could travel around the world without leaving your home?
From the highest mountains and deepest oceans to colourful cities and fascinating landmarks, our planet is full of places waiting to be discovered.
World Tourism Day falls on September 27 every year, and while it's really a day for the travel industry, it's also a lovely excuse to get kids excited about the wider world — even the parts of it they haven't visited yet. A few fun facts and a little imaginative play can turn "learning geography" into something that feels a lot more like an adventure.
Fun Geography Facts for Kids
- The Sahara Desert isn't just sand. Large parts of it are actually rocky and mountainous — and it's roughly the size of the entire United States.
- Russia is so wide, it spans 11 time zones. When it's morning on one side of the country, people on the other side are already winding down for the night.
- Vatican City is the smallest country in the world — you could walk across the entire nation in under an hour.
- Australia is both a country and a continent — the only place on Earth where that's true.
- The Nile River flows north, not south. Most rivers head toward the equator, but the Nile flows the "wrong way" toward the Mediterranean Sea.
- Mount Everest grows a little taller every year. The collision of tectonic plates beneath it is still slowly pushing it upward, just a few millimeters at a time.
- The Pacific Ocean is bigger than all the land on Earth combined — it alone covers more surface area than every continent put together.
- Greenland looks huge on most maps, but it's actually much smaller than Africa — many world maps distort the true size of countries near the poles.
DIY Travel Crafts for Kids
Now that your little explorer has collected some geography facts, it's time to turn learning into a hands-on adventure. These simple crafts can also encourage pretend travel and imaginative play.
1. Make Your Own Passport
Create a mini passport using a few sheets of paper.
You will need:
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Coloured paper
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White paper
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Glue
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Crayons or markers
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Stickers
Fold the paper into a small booklet and decorate the cover. Add pages for different countries and let your child draw a flag, landmark or animal from each place they "visit".
For every new country they learn about, they can add a pretend stamp to their passport.
2. DIY Travel Camera
Let your little traveller become a photographer with a fun pretend camera!
You will need:
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A small cardboard box
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Coloured paper
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Glue
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Bottle cap
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Markers
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String or ribbon
Cover the box with coloured paper and decorate it like a camera. Add a bottle cap as the lens and a string as a camera strap.
Children can pretend to take pictures of their favourite landmarks, animals and places while exploring their imaginary destination.
Note: This is a pretend-play camera and is not meant for actual photography.
3. Make Pretend Binoculars
Every explorer needs binoculars to spot interesting things along the way!
You will need:
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Two empty toilet paper rolls
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Coloured paper
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Glue or tape
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String
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Markers or stickers
Cover the rolls, place them side by side and attach them together. Add a string so children can wear their pretend binoculars around their neck.
Now they're ready to look for elephants on an imaginary African safari, spot penguins in Antarctica or search for birds in their own backyard.
Safety tip: Use the binoculars only for pretend play and never look directly at the sun through them.
4. Create a Pretend Travel Suitcase
Give your child a suitcase for their imaginary adventures!
You will need:
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A small cardboard box
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Coloured paper
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Tape or glue
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String or ribbon
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Stickers
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Markers
Decorate the box with travel stickers, pretend destination tags and drawings of famous landmarks. Add a paper handle and let children fill it with their favourite toys, books or pretend travel essentials.
They can pack for a beach holiday, a jungle adventure or even a trip to outer space!
5. Make a Paper Plate Globe
Turn a simple paper plate into a colourful globe.
You will need:
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A paper plate
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Blue and green crayons or paints
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Pencil
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Scissors
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Glue
Draw a rough outline of the continents on the plate and colour the oceans blue. Children don't have to get every shape perfect—the goal is to help them understand where land and water are located.
For older children, ask them to label a few countries or continents.
6. Make a Travel Postcard
What would your child send home if they were travelling around the world?
Give them a sheet of paper and ask them to design a postcard from their dream destination.
They can draw a famous landmark, local food, animals or a beautiful landscape. On the other side, they can write a short message pretending they are visiting that place.
7. Build a Famous Landmark
Choose a famous landmark and recreate it using materials you already have at home.
Children could make a simple model of the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Great Pyramid or Statue of Liberty using paper, cardboard, craft sticks or modelling clay.
This turns geography into a creative building activity while helping children remember famous places around the world.
8. Create a Travel-Themed Memory Game
Make your own geography memory cards!
Draw or print pairs of countries and flags, famous landmarks, animals and habitats, or continents and maps.
Mix the cards face down and let children find matching pairs. It's a simple way to turn geography revision into a game.
Learn in a Flash
For children who love discovering countries and their colourful flags, flag flashcards can make geography learning quick, interactive and fun. Majestic’s My First 100 Illustrated Flashcards: Continents introduces children to countries through their flags, along with information such as capitals, currencies, languages and interesting facts.
Explore My First 100 Flag Flashcards
Make World Tourism Day a Learning Adventure
World Tourism Day doesn't have to be about simply learning the names of countries and capitals. It can be an opportunity for children to understand how wonderfully diverse our planet is.
Choose one country each day and explore it together. Find it on a map, learn about its food and traditions, discover a famous landmark and make something inspired by it.
You can even create a "My World Travel Book", where children record everything they discover.
The world is full of mountains to climb, oceans to explore, cultures to understand and stories to discover. And sometimes, the best journeys begin with something as simple as a map, a craft sheet and a curious little mind.
So, where will your child's imaginary journey take them first?
