Monday, June 5, 2017

Self guided - Family Tours

As a family when we travel, we typically don't join city tours unless its the only way to see a sight. Maybe we should more often, I am sure there is a lot to learn from them, but I guess we just really like to explore on our own. We are used to DIY for most parts of our lives and we are always trying to keep our budget as low as we can.

However, we recently experienced self guided -family tours in Prague where we live and it was really great! 

This is a new product available for families travelling or living in Prague, Paris, Barcelona, and Altmuhl/Gunzburg, Germany, Rome, Northern Brittany, France and Amsterdam. More cities are added all of the time around Europe and eventually beyond. This is the website to order and learn more about all the self-guided tour products they have to offer.  


We followed the 2 out of the 3 self guided tours in the Prague Family Kit, which can be ordered here. This is how it works... You order the kit - you can receive it immediately in a pdf if you want to see right away what to expect and want to plan, then you can receive the hard copy by mail or have it delivered for free to wherever you are staying in Prague. 



What we really liked about these guides is, the fact that the kids get the chance to lead and see the information and activities as they match to locations on the map.  Our kids are 5, 7, and 9 and they all enjoyed it. There is plenty of variety in the sites/stops and interesting quirky things to find that kids like. The parents are given a guide also that provides more information about the sites and Czech history so they can give it when the time is right and let kids just explore when that is what they are inclined to do. We have lived in Prague for several years and there was a lot  on these tours that we didn't know about. The travel guides also allow the kids to have something to keep to remember their experience by. 

The guides are packed with history and learning experiences geared for kids. Its fun and interesting and it will make your worldschooling experience in these cities enjoyable and memorable. These are just different than typical guidebooks... I found them just enough information to absorb without being too much and well worth the price.

Here are some pics to show what to expect from 2 of the tours in the Prague kit. We did The Castle to Kampa and Magical Old Town

On 22 tram from our house Savannah is planning our route

Walking to first stop Strahov Monastery
Guidebook asks them to find the Czech word for library and write it.
Viewpoint to Prague, what do they see?
Loreta Palace  - Can they find where to go next?

Why are these balls here? Can they guess?
Recommended stop for refreshments. Would  have never known about this place...
Entrance to what feels like a secret playground

Nice place to rest and catch up on filling out guidebooks


Fun task of hiding treasure
Savannah's choice for hiding treasure
Buried treasure waiting for a lucky person to find!
Can they find this and why is it there?
Which way do we go now? Did they find the next clue?
Lennon Wall - the kit comes with chalk for them to add their own message to the famous wall
What is this goblin doing here, never noticed it before!
David Cerny's famous babies, what is this all about?
Yellow penguins in the river, Prague is full of surprises
They loved filling in the books
Municipal House, walked my here many times, never looked up!
Can they find a hidden picture in the mosaic and fill in the answer?
They then get to make their own mosaic with materials provided
What is this? Another hidden surprise I never noticed before
Walked through the Old Town Square many times, never noticed this!
Can they find the clue here?

Another quirky surprise
The famous sweet shop, finally found it!
Kids are tired by now and once they have found the clues it gives them the answer to a special Czech treat in a traditional Czech sweet shop

I would definitely recommend adding these guide books to your next trip to Prague and likely to the other cities on available (though I haven't tried these). As a family who has traveled a lot and attempted to make it fun and educational, these make that job a lot easier. 

Message from Prague's famous Lennon Wall 

My favorite new message on the wall
Cheers, from the Barnes Family