Travel

Family Fun in Edinburgh, Scotland

August 15, 2018 By Terri Thompson

Family fun can happen anywhere. You can find adventure at home, in your community, and even when you travel.

We’re going to be highlighting some ideas for family adventure all over the globe, starting with family fun in Edinburgh, Scotland.

MaryAnne from the awesome blog Mama Smiles – Joyful Parenting recently spent some time there with her family and she’s here sharing some fun ideas with us.

There are so many places to explore if you're looking for family fun in Edinburgh, like these places to see and tips for traveling with kids.

Let’s travel to Edinburgh, Scotland!

This summer, my husband and I took our four kids to Scotland for the summer. For four weeks!

It was our second time making the trip (DH takes students over to study), and I wasn’t sure how it would go. The kids had loved Edinburgh at 3, 6, 8, and 10 years old. What would they think of the city at 5, 8, 10, and 12 years old? We’d already spend four weeks there; would they want to revisit the same sites again? Would they be open to exploring new places?

I needn’t have worried. Edinburgh is an incredible place for families to travel. Our four weeks in 2016 flew by, and the same was even more true of our four weeks in 2018.

Family Fun in Edinburgh

As the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh is full of exciting things to do. From the free museums my children adore to two castles (the well-known Edinburgh Castle and lesser-known but not-to-be-missed Craigmillar Castle) and a palace, the city is bustling with exciting things to do. You can even tour the Scottish Parliament! There is usually a bagpiper playing along the Royal Mile, along with other street performers. This summer the kids also enjoyed a sand artist who was there every time we visited.

We always stay near the Meadows, a free public park with lovely expanses of green grass and two fun playgrounds the kids love. Hike to the top of the nearby Arthur’s Seat for stunning views of the entire city.

Travel to the edges of the city for sandy Portobello beach and sightings of Highland Coos.

The city is surprisingly compact; you can walk to many sites (a large number are found along the Royal Mile). We always take Edinburgh public transport – even to out of the way sites. My kids enjoy seeing how many people they can wave to and convince to wave back when we ride the buses.

Tips for Visiting Edinburgh with Kids

Edinburgh is one of those cities where you can experience all four seasons in a single day. You’ll definitely want to pack layers, including some that can handle being out in the rain. This summer it only rained twice, which is highly unusual. Two years ago we had only one day when it didn’t rain!

We brought a collapsible backpack along this year, which proved really useful for carrying extra layers when the sun suddenly decided to show up. The buses are not air conditioned, which can be uncomfortable on those rare occasions (like this past summer) when the weather is warm.

If you have the time, don’t be afraid to venture to cities outside of Edinburgh! Trains to Glasgow run frequently, and there are affordable buses to cities throughout Scotland. We took the train down to London this past summer, and the kids enjoyed the five-hour journey.

Thanks MaryAnne for all these fabulous tips for family fun in Edinburgh!

More tips for traveling with kids from Mama Smiles

Tips for Taking Kids on Long Flights

Packing for Trips with Kids

From San Francisco to Edinburgh via London

About MaryAnne

MaryAnne lives in California with her husband Mike and their four kids: Emma, Johnny, Lily, and Anna. She blogs about parenting, education, crafts, and family travel at https://www.mamasmiles.com/. Follow her family’s daily adventures on Instagram. Find book recommendations at Great Family Reads, and toy recommendations at Top Toy Finds.

If you enjoyed these ideas for family fun in Edinburgh, the above photo is perfect for saving on Pinterest.

Tips for Hiking With Young Children

May 2, 2018 By Terri Thompson

Does the thought of hiking with young children send shivers down your spine? Where can you go? Will I end up having to carry my kids half-way through? How can I keep them safe? All. The. Worries.

I’m here to tell you to stop worrying. You’ve got this.

Hiking can be such a fun family activity. It gets everyone moving. You can explore a new place. And, it’s a fun way to learn and explore in nature.

Yes, you can go hiking with young children. It's a fun and rewarding family activity. Find all the best tips for a successful hike with your toddlers and preschoolers here so you can plan a successful family hike.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

How to have a fun hike with your kids

I took my kids hiking by myself all the time when they were younger. But, here’s the thing, our hikes looked a lot different than they would if it was just me and my husband.

But, no matter how they looked, they were fun and they were valuable. My kids loved a family hike.

The key: keep it simple and keep it on your kid’s level.

You don’t need to hike up a mountain or go deep in the woods to experience all the fun of a hike. For our hikes we often stayed local and would choose a paved path in a wooded area.

We also kept it short, stopping and turning around when the girls requested it. After all, there was no way I could carry both of my kids back to the car if we went too far.

A long hike for a young child may not necessarily seem long to you and that’s okay.

Let your kids lead the way

Another thing that worked well for me when hiking with young children was to let my girls lead the way. I would stop when they stopped. I would look at what they looked at.

We would examine anything and everything that they wanted to look at. I saw so many nature treasures that I would have missed if I didn’t have the kids along.

We’d look at a cool rock or feel the texture of the bark on a tree. My daughter had an eagle eye when it came to spotting wildflowers.

We picked up sticks and laid them all out to examine and figure out which were the best ones. Apparently there is special 4-year-old criteria when it comes to finding the best stick.

If you look high and look low, you’re sure to find something interesting, like this bird’s nest already abandoned for the winter.We also found bright yellow leaves, a big curvy tree, a small batch of berries (which we learned not to touch since we don’t know what they are), a secret path leading to a dock on a small lake and lots of nature treasures.

We found all of these on small, simple hikes.

Tips for Hiking With Young Children

Keep it short.
Bring along water and small healthy snacks for energy. (And be prepared to carry your waste until you find a trashcan.)
Keep it slow. Let your kids explore and examine as much as they want.
Go someplace familiar. You will feel more comfortable if you know the area well.
Turn back if the kids start getting tired. You don’t want to push them and end up having to carry an exhausted child!
Use your eyes, ears, and nose to learn a little about the natural world around you. Experience the hike, don’t just walk it.
And the most important… Keep it simple! You will all enjoy yourself more.

Let’s Go on a Family Hike!

Are you ready? Let’s do this.

Pick a location, get the kids ready, and just go. I guarantee you’ll have fun and want to go hiking over and over again.

Hiking is such a great family activity that you can do with kids of all ages. Keep it simple while hiking with young children and then as your kids grow older, you can go on longer and longer hikes.

Get out, explore, and have fun.

Kids to Parks Day

I wrote this post to help celebrate Kids to Parks Day from the National Park Trust which is coming up on Saturday, May 19, 2018. It’s a fun day to get out and have fun with the family. You can attend an official event or do something on your own, like a fun family hike! You can check here to find a local event.

No matter what you do, take the opportunity to celebrate the outdoors and to celebrate your family. Have fun! Share your adventures with the #KidstoParks hashtag on social media.

Little House in the Big Woods ~ A Mini Adventure

July 10, 2013 By Terri Thompson

Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the
Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs.

Thus begins Little House in the Big Woods, the first book in the Little House on the Prairie series.It was one of my favorite book series growing up (and still is). My mom read them, I read them, and now I’m reading them out loud to my girls.

It was love at first sentence for the girls and I’m so happy that they are falling in love with Laura and Mary.

Thanks to the popularity of the books over the years, most of the Laura Ingalls Wilder home sites have been restored.Museums have been built, bits of pioneer life have been preserved, and you can have a first hand look at what life may have been like.

Living in Minnesota, we are very fortunate to live very close to a few of the Laura Ingalls Wilder home sites.

Over the 4th of July weekend this year, we took a camping trip and combined it with a trip to see Laura’s birthplace and the site of Little House in the Big Woods.

I promised the girls this trip as soon as we finished reading Little House in the Big Woods.

Then came the planning – a camping trip to the shores of Lake Pepin and a day trip over to Pepin, Wisconsin to see the Little House.

We had such a great time filled with s’mores, lake swimming, a fireworks show, and of course, Laura.

The house you see is not the original Little House. The original didn’t survive all these years nor did the Big Woods.

In the 1970’s the town of Pepin took great pains to rebuild the house almost exactly as it was when Laura, Mary, Ma, Pa, and baby Carrie lived there.

Then they created a charming roadside park around it with picnic tables, trees, and lots of shade. We picnicked there and spent a very pleasant time exploring and taking pictures that afternoon.

The Big Woods are also gone and in it’s place are corn fields. The rolling hills are still there and the landscape is still simple and beautiful.

My daughters immediately left the present time, and flew back to pioneer time.

You see, every few days, Lizzie, age 6, tells me, “if Laura were still alive, she and I would be friends.” Yes, I’m sure they would.

She played with Laura that day. They climbed into trees, ran around, and explored the house together.

The house was incredibly tiny. It’s hard to believe a family of 5 could live there. But, they did, and they were happy. Sometimes I believe we think we need more space than we actually do.

The town of Pepin has also erected a Laura Ingalls Wilder museum. We spent a small amount of time there as it is currently undergoing a major renovation. The renovation is set to be completed in the fall of 2013.

The museum was nice, but to me, the true gem was the home site. It was so easy to close your eyes and envision the Big Woods. Suddenly you’re hearing the crack of an ax and a few girlish giggles. The wind blows through your hair and your senses awaken. I can see why they loved this place. I really can.

We do projects all the time to bring a book to life, but it’s not too often that you can travel to the place where a book took place. We were very lucky to have this opportunity and snatched it up. It wasn’t the trip of a lifetime, but it was a perfect mini-adventure and a trip back in time to see the Ingalls family.

More more information about the Laura Ingalls Wilder home site at Pepin, WI, please click here.

Travel Activity Bags

September 21, 2011 By Terri Thompson

As you’re reading this post, I’m probably off on an epic road trip with my girls.

To say I’m a bit nervous is an understatement. I’ve never traveled this far alone with the two of them, so I’ve been preparing and preparing and preparing to make sure I have plenty of stuff to keep them occupied.

The girls are 4 and 2, so I tried to come up with activities that were mess-free and they could do without any help.

1. I recycled a few old greeting cards to make color-your-own finger puppets. Each girl will get two finger puppets and a box of crayons. Once they’re done coloring, they can stick their fingers through the holes and have fun!

2. I found vintage Betsy McCall paper dolls that I could print myself. I printed them out on card stock and the dolls themselves have been reinforced with a double layer of card stock. Each girl will get one doll and three dresses.

3. I bought them each a clipboard and printed out A LOT of coloring sheets, dot-to-dots, tracing pages, etc. I plan on giving them a few at a time. I’m also bringing plain drawing paper as well. Most of the printables I’m using came from Education.com.

4. I made three sets of mini notebooks. (I’ll have a tutorial for you soon!) The first set is for stickers. I’ll give each girl a sticker book and a selection of stickers.

5. I also made doodle books. Each page has some sort of shape, line or squiggle. I hope they’ll use them to kick-start their own drawing. If not, maybe they’ll at least color them pretty!

6. The last set are little sketch books. I mixed up the paper is this one to make it a bit more interesting. In addition to the plain copy paper, I also added lined paper and pink paper.

I’m also bringing along a few books for them to read, audio books for all of us to listen to and a supply of movies, cause I have no qualms letting them watch movies the entire way if needed!

How do you keep your kids occupied on a long car trip?

Japanese Garden Trip

September 2, 2011 By Terri Thompson

I was very delighted to find a small Japanese garden close to home. It was the perfect field trip for our Japan theme week.We talked a bit about the garden before we got there. I wanted the girls to understand that it was not a place to go running and yelling through.

They understood quite well and seemed to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of the garden.

It was a small garden, with a few hidden delights scattered throughout. The garden was hidden away and we were the only people there that afternoon. It was a lovely, peaceful time.

I encouraged Lizzie to bring her camera along. She loved taking pictures of the hidden treasures along the way. She was especially delighted with this fountain.

The girls enjoyed seeing the garden and were very respectful of the space. (They also greatly enjoyed the playground trip afterwards so they could run, be loud and get all their energy out!) All in all it was a wonderful field trip!

Travel

Family Fun in Edinburgh, Scotland

Let’s travel to Edinburgh, Scotland!

Family Fun in Edinburgh

Tips for Visiting Edinburgh with Kids