Are you looking for the best kid friendly travel diaries for your next family trip? Whether you're on the hunt for paper or digital travel journals, we've got your kids covered in today's post.

Kids can get a lot out of keeping a travel diary. Journaling is fun, encourages creativity, and makes for a great souvenir to look back on. Plus, a journal with activities will keep kids quiet and give them something to do on long journeys, which is a total parenting win!

We’ve picked out our favorite kids’ travel journals that cater to every type of trip. From short city tours to month-long overseas adventures, here are the best and most creative travel journals for kids.

UPDATE: The world of kids travel journals changes as quickly as my travel itinerary! This article was originally entitled “18 Best & Most Creative Travel Journals For Kids” and published in 2019. Since then I've continually updated the article with new kids journals as I've come across them and replaced out-of-print journals with new ones on the market. The list has grown to 18 19 20 21! If you know of any other good ones, leave a comment at the bottom of this post or e-mail [email protected] and I'll add them to the list. Thanks!

#1) Kid's City Guide & Journals by My Little City Explorer [NEW!]

My little city explorer wants to encourage kids to be explorers, seek adventure, and make memories. Through their City Guides & Journals, kids will learn about city, find fun places to explore, and have a place to write down their experiences. Each book contains fun and educational activities like word searches, coloring pages, city specific trivia, the ASL alphabet, and more. Aileen Choi created the Exploring Toronto Home Edition for her daughter so that she and other kids that call Toronto home could explore nearby family friendly places. She's since expanded her series with Exploring Toronto Travel Edition and Exploring Chicago, with more city guides on the way.

#2) Journey Jotter Books

Jessica Mouw felt that two things were missing from traditional kid's travel journals — activities to help kids process and remember their experience, and personalization to fit the traveler and their particular journey. She created Journey Jotter Books, a modular and expandable book filled with activity chapters custom built to fit each traveler and trip. The activity chapters are designed to engage kids in critical thinking and creativity, all while making lasting travel memories no matter where they are. Plus, every book is customized from the cover design to the chapters themselves. Journey Jotter Books are durable, easy to write on, and offer a built-in plastic pouch for small keepsakes and a pencil.

#3) A Travel Journal for Kids by Wanderlust Storytellers

Andrzej Ejmont, his wife Jolene, and their three daughters have been traveling the world full time since 2015 and sharing their adventures and travel advice on their blog WanderlustStorytellers.com. So they know a thing or two about traveling with kids! Which led Andrzej to create A Travel Journal For Kids – an 80 page color journal filled with fun kids' travel activities, games, and journal writing prompts. This is a great one for kids aged 6-12.

#4) Lonely Planet Kids – My Travel Journal

Lonely Planet reigns supreme in the world of travel books, and it takes the crown for kids’ travel journals too with their Lonely Planet Kids: My Travel Journal hardcover edition. This journal is suitable for ages 5-8 and is bright, fun, and conveniently backpack-sized. There’s loads of space to draw, collage, and make notes across 77 well-designed pages. It also includes plenty of writing topic suggestion and activities to help get the creative juices flowing.

#5) Geo Journey Travel Journal

The Geo Journey Travel Journal is a handmade travel journal that is the perfect option to inspire kids to learn about the world. Each of the 26 beautifully designed pages are packed full of information on things like flags and cities to get children thinking about different countries in an engaging and creative way. There's lots of space to stick tickets and other mementos, and there's room for older kids to keep a diary of their travels too. The journal measures 7.8” x 7.8” and comes with a cute little passport which has a page for the child to complete their name and address and add a photo. Plus, plenty of pages for stamps.

#6) Wee Society Interactive Travel Diary

The award-winning creative team at Wee Society have put together a colorful, vibrant, and super fun travel diary for kids aged 4-8. Go! My Adventure Journal is a gorgeous 9.3” x 6.8” journal packed full of thought-starters to help kids capture the cool things they see and do. There are tons of activities crammed into this travel diary, including stickers and postcards to send home. This journal aims to gamify travel with a series of adventure badges to be earned.

#7) Little Writing Company Personalized Travel Journal

Time To Travel is a pocket-sized travel journal is pretty simple and stripped down to the basics, but the option to personalize the cover is a nice touch. There’s space for 14 days of vacation journaling as well as lots of room to stick photos and ticket stubs. The diary also includes plenty of activities and exercises to complete to keep kids entertained on long travel days. The book is aimed at children aged 6 and over and comes with a protective cover so it can be safely stowed away in their backpacks.

#8) The Little Mews Travel Journal Kit

This spectacular handmade, customizable travel journal is made to order and contains over 140 individual items. The Little Mews Travel Journal Kid with its cool vintage design is aimed at older children (adults will love it too), and it has everything they’ll need to get creative and be entertained on long journeys. The comprehensive kit includes a world map, travel prompts, and packing lists. Plus it also contains pens, markers, tags, and color-coordinated papers.

#9) Luckies of London Scratch Off World Map Diary

Luckies of London's Travelogue Scratch Off World Map Diary is best suited to older children who want to keep travel diaries. The cool thing about this option is that it contains eight scratch maps. Each one represents a different part of the world so your kids can keep it with them as they travel and scratch off every country they see. The journal is compact and easy to travel with, but there’s still plenty of space for planning trips and keeping diaries.

#10) Pomegranate Travel Journal: Map of Europe

Pomegranate Journals produces a series of kids’ travel journals themed around different parts of the world. This European edition, Travel Journal: Map of Europe, has a year planner to note down upcoming adventures, and there’s space to create packing lists. Kids can keep a daily log of their vacation and there are plenty of pages reserved for scrapbooking, too. The journals contain 100 pages and are 10” x 8” which is a large enough size for younger kids to be able to get to grips with.

#11) The Alphabet Gift Shop Personalized Kids Travel Journal

This simple, pocket-sized journal is available in two colors and can be customized with the owner’s name and their vacation destination. The Personalized Kids Travel Journal by The Alphabet Gift Shop doesn’t contain any activities and is designed to be used as a diary, so it’s best suited to older children. The journal comes with a pack of colorful pencils.

#12) Travel Journal Books: My Trip to Costa Rica

The company behind this My Trip to Costa Rica travel journal stocks lots of versions for a huge variety of countries, so kids can collect them as they travel to new parts of the world. Measuring 9.2” x 7.5” and containing 102 pages, there’s plenty of space to keep a detailed diary and draw pictures. The country-specific design of this journal is intended to be educational as well as fun, and each edition includes trip ideas, packing lists, activities, themed facts, and puzzles.

#13) Leather Writing Travel Notebook by Maleden

If your kids aren't into activity books and would rather feel like an old fashioned Indiana Jones inspired adventurer, they will love this Leather Travel Notebook by Maleden with a compass on the front cover to remind them of the places they'll go. This notebook is unlined and good for drawing maps, sketching ideas, or writing notes. The pages are also moveable and refillable so your kids can turn their notes into an album at the end of the trip. It could work for all ages, but best for older kids.

#14) Oh, the Places I’ve Been – Dr. Seuss

If you’re a fan of Dr. Seuss, then Oh, the Places I've Been! Journal is for you! Based on the ever-popular book, this travel journal is packed full of inspirational quotes and colorful artwork. This pocket-sized journal contains 160 pages which are mostly lined, so it’s definitely better suited to high-school age kids who want to keep a diary of their travels.

#15) Peter Pauper Press Kids’ Travel Journal

This super-colorful kids’ travel journal is 96 pages of interactive and educational fun. Kid's Travel Journal by Peter Pauper Press offers space to keep a daily diary and paste in tickets and mementos, and there’s a little pocket to tuck away small souvenirs. Kids can learn with this journal too, with fun world facts, puzzles, and maps. This journal is 8.3” x 6.3” and is recommended for kids aged 7-12.

#16) Mudpuppy Kids’ Travel Journal

Kids' Travel Journal by Mudpuppy has a great design and is hardy enough to be slung in a backpack and taken on adventures around the world. Mudpuppy markets this travel journal as being suitable for kids aged 5-13, but older kids would probably appreciate the illustrations and activities more. That being said, there are plenty of guided activities for younger kids to get stuck into, and there’s lots of space for note taking and scrapbooking.

#17) Willow Day DIY Travel Journal for Kids

If none of the options on our list tick all your boxes, there’s always the option to make a your kids a DIY travel journal. This unique design by Willow Day is fun, compact, and can be clipped to backpacks for on-the-go note taking. Older kids can even help make their own travel journals for themselves or as cute gifts for their friends.

#18) One Second Everyday App

Digital travel journaling has seen a huge rise in popularity in recent years, and the One Second Everyday App is a really fun take on travel diaries. As you might have guessed from the name, this app records one second of footage every day, which is then stitched together to make a beautifully emotive travel video. The app is easy enough for older kids to use and is free on iOS and Android.

#19) Day One App

Day One App is the most popular journaling app on the market, and although it isn’t geared specifically towards travel, it’s perfect for older kids to take along on adventures. The clean design is simple to use and makes it easy to add photos, sketches, and audio to written entries. The On This Day feature is a nice touch that lets the user look back on vacations gone by. Day One is free to download but is only available on iOS.

#20) Travel Diaries App

Travel Diaries App is the perfect combination of digital journal and physical travel diary. Layouts are customizable and photos and maps can be added. Kids can keep their online diary private or they can turn the diary into a blog to share it with family and classmates via social media. And once their trip is over, there’s the option to print the diary as a souvenir of their travels. Travel Diaries is available on computers, laptops, and tablets and the company is also in the process of developing an app.

#21) Little B & The Boy Travel Journal

Here's a new travel journal for kids aged 4-9 called Little B & The Boy Travel Journal. The creator, Andrea Walsh e-mailed me after seeing this post and I'm happy she did because this is one cool little journal. Her goal is to engage kids in their environment and have them think about how they feel about new experiences. Each day, the child circles the date, weather, their feelings, and who they were with. Then, with your help or on their own, they write in what they did, ate, and learned and why the day was great. The back of each page allows for additional memories and drawings. Andrea also has a “See It Check It” discovery journal which is more photo oriented for non readers or early readers.

What are your thoughts on kids travel journals?

That concludes our list of the best, most creative travel journals for kids. If you travel as a family, do you encourage your kids to journal? If you have a journal to recommend, let us know in the comments or drop us an email. Happy journaling!

PS: Do your kids love to TRAVEL and COLOR?

Hi it's Paul Drecksler – founder of Travel is Life. While you're here, check out my World Map Coloring Poster (also available on Amazon). I created it several years ago on a mission to design a collaborative coloring project that got families talking about travel. Every home should have a world map on the wall, so why not a one of a kind map that you created?

If you like it then you should've put a Pin on it!

Love this Travel Buyer Guide and want to share it to your favorite family travel boards? Use our special Pinterest friendly graphics below!