It’s almost a cliche to say that travel broadens the mind. When you combine travel and educational experiences, theme trips can be nothing less than life-changing.

Enriching travel offers opportunities to learn, grow, explore, and change the world – together. Introductory activities can be a fun way to spend time together, sometime leading to ongoing shared interests that help families stay connected through the stresses of daily life.

Close to home, educational experiences can be found in enrichment classes, home projects, team challenges, and day trips. When planning a family vacation, experiential travel opportunities are nearly limitless.  We’ve gathered a few theme-based travel ideas to help you get started.

Food and Travel:

Sometimes, sweet treats are the enticement that fuel happy family excursions, and sometimes they are the destination. Find the whole smorgasbord on Culinary Arts.

Outdoor Adventures:

The secret ingredient for our best family vacations is outdoor adventures, find out why in Outdoor Adventures Strengthen Families. Discover lots of great ideas for your own outings in our collection of  Outdoor Education articles.

Storybook Travel:

A literary trip takes you on a journey into the setting of a book for a deeper appreciation of its ideas, author, history, creative impulse, and so much more.

  • How To Plan A Read Across America Road Trip
  • Travel Tips for Reading with Kids on Road Trips
  • Read Across America Road Trip Begins In NYC
  • Taking the Kids to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Chicago’s Blues Festival
  • A Family Visit to Mark Twain’s Hometown in Hannibal, MO Is an Adventure of the Imagination
  • Take the Kids on a Wright 3 Mystery Tour of Robie House In Chicago
  • Travel Tips for Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando
  • The Hunger Games: Film Locations In North Carolina

Arts & Humanities:

  • Graffiti – Introduce Kids to Street Art
  • Corning Glass Museum: The 90 Minute Tour – Corning, NY
  • Get the Message! Explore Graphic Design with Kids – Albany, NY
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Tips for a Fun Thing To Do With Kids In New York City
  • Warner Brothers Studio – The VIP Tour
  • Visit the Newseum in Washington, D.C. with Kids

Engineering:

  • Why Some Kids Will Become Engineers Someday – Albany, NY
  • A Return to LegoFest – Hartford, CT
  • Seeing the Future at NANOvember Community Day – Albany, NY
  • NanoCareer Day and Student Outreach at CNSE – Albany, NY
  • Field Trip to an Operating Room at St. Peter’s Hospital – Albany, NY
  • MIT Museum – Visiting the MITERS, Computer Geek HQ – Cambridge, MA
  • How to Become a Video Game Tester in the Capital Region

History:

  • New York State Capitol Displays New Exhibits – Albany, NY
  • New York Women In History Now On Display – Albany, NY
  • A World Tour In a Day: United Nations, NBC Studio Tour, Nintendo World, and Chinatown – New York, NY
  • Historic Sites In New York – Yankee Doodle Came to Fort Crailo – Rensselaer, NY
  • Take the Kids to the Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.
  • JFK Tribute – Retracing President Kennedy’s Final Days – Fort Worth, TX

Interdisciplinary Studies:

  • Fun and Educational Things To Do at Disney World

Natural History:

  • Dig This! Rockhounding in New York
  • Glass Flowers at Harvard Museum of Natural History – Cambridge, MA
  • Beyond Planet Earth at the American Museum of Natural History – New York, NY
  • Fossils – Sternberg Museum of Natural History and Chalk Pyramids – Hays, Kansas

Wildlife:

  • Go On a Birding Family Adventure in the Adirondacks – Paul SmithsVisitor Center, NY
  • Get Close to Manatees in the “Real Florida” – Blue Spring State Park, Orange City, Florida