How to satisfy child's curiosity for the word on a budget

[Bummler]

My son is 6 and has always showed an interest in other countries and cultures but he is starting to get more interested and aware of travel opportunities and is wanting to go and visit just about every place he hears of.

He has only been abroad twice and we can only afford an abroad holiday once every three years or so. Does anyone have any ideas of how I can satisfy his interest in other countries without actually visiting them?

We are trying to get books from the library but are struggling to find things suitable for his age.

He is interested in all kinds of things about other countries. Will ask me if I know any words in their languages, what do they eat on Christmas day, what kind of landscape and animals they have. He often asks me to look at the world map with him and he will point to random countries and ask me to tell him all I know about them.

Music
Art
Fashion

Can you holiday in places in UK with unique landscapes? Temperate rainforests, mountains, beaches, sea? Wildlife

VR headset?

He would love this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Day-So-Many-Ways/dp/1847809731
My kids want it over and over again.

Is Google Cardboard still a thing? A few years ago we bought a cheap 3d cardbord viewer, and you slide your smart phone in the back, and you can download 3d photos that allow you to “walk” through places all over the world. You can follow the trail to Macchu Picchu, or stand in the moon, or with a famous band on a concert stage, and all sorts.

Link to Google cardboard

Apparently it does still exist but is now open source. I’m sure someone smart on here can tell you how to download the right stuff and find the appropriate Cardboard viewer.

You have a little explorer

Films from other countries like The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

Books set in other countries. The Boy Who Biked The World is good.

British Museum has lots of things from other countries

National Geographic Kids was great, hopefully still available!'

My 6 year old ds loves his interactive globe
This Leapfrog one, it has a small screen and plays clips and there are different modes on it.

he also enjoys flicking through national geographic magazines

We also love Worldle! It can spin you off into other games like WhereTaken, where you have to guess the location in a photo, which is interesting and surprising even if you’re well travelled.

Banjo Robinson is a sweet one to sign up to, my daughter had their letters when she was younger. We now have a subscription box called snack verse where they send a box of snacks from a different country each month with a booklet telling you more about the place.

Films
Books
Theatre
Museums
Art galleries
Restaurants
International supermarkets
Interactive/VR experiences
China Town for Chinese New Year

Go Jetters is a good BBC cartoon where they go to different countries.

https://www.unicef.org.uk/paddingtons-postcards/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAjKu6BhAMEiwAx4UsAm9KM3DZzCh6a1BHjIftJJLWI0xhBjoDXCCMX7csV5G2_ceqcXOS7RoCp-gQAvD_BwE

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Simply sign up online and Paddington himself will send a personalised postcard (and more!) to your adventurer for just £8 per month. It’s the perfect gift for curious children aged 6-10.
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Surely educational screen time is different?

You could set aside X amount of time for you or his dad to sit down with him, and look at this stuff together?

Take him to the library. Loads of books about the world there and they are free.

When my kids were little we would pick a country for the holidays, and find stories set there, find songs or folk tales, look at art and cook food/eat a meal at a restaurant serving food from that place. And I'd Google and find craft activities too so that were in some way linked to the country. And we'd learn a few basic words and phrases of the language.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Welcome-Our-World-Celebration-Everywhere/dp/1788007123

My 6 year old loves this book. It's not very "in depth", but in terms of a fascinating overview of life around the world it's superb. Lots of little phrases to learn in different languages, pages about toys, food, school, homes around the world etc.

It's not going to give you a really detailed look at any one country, but we love it for the breadth of countries and topics covered.

Would 100% recommend :)

(And it's a book not a screen! Which we also prefer!)

There's an app called Geoguesser which lets you walk up and down the streets of random towns in random countries and you have to try and figure out where you are just by wandering around.
it's using Google earth software but you play against other people and Iv had loads of fun with it road signs, shops,billboards people etc

great shout @AwakeNotThruChoice live web cams, definitely

try these @Bummler

Sun Holidays quite often have £9.50 holidays to camp sites in France, Spain, Croatia etc…

Also I’d totally consider inter railing trip around Europe for a holiday staying in hostels. A great way to travel, I used to stay in Christian hostels as a teen around 2010 as they had strict curfews and were much quieter. A family ticket for four days of travel in a month is about £350.

I do this 😳😁

Friends of mine host an overseas student on school exchange every year for a couple of weeks. They get an allowance which covers costs plus a little extra. They have had teens from Japan, China etc stay and their kids love it.

If he's interesed in a specific country, say Turkey, then take him to a Turkish restaurant. Exploring a country through their culinary traditions can be very interesting and satisfying. You could then recreate those dishes together at home (use an online recipe).

Your son is my son! But mine is 9. His go to-s are:

The travel book (lonely planet kids)
The Times collection of 8 atlases. Game changer!!!!! Got used on ebay.
Amazing night sky atlas (lonely planet kids)
A book of flags (you could watch Olympics highlights?) Fun for learning flags!!
Where to go when (Eye witness travel)
Nat Geo kids

If he also likes transport:
How trains work (lonely planet kids) facts from all over the world
Transported: 50 vehicles that changed the world
Cars, trains, ships & planes: A visual encyclopedia of every vehicle

I also got A year full of Stories - folk legends from around the world (Angela McAllister) but its been buried behind other books (Must read tomorrow!!)

Screen time:

Google earth / google maps. Zooming in and out. The other day he was looking at the airport runway in a Dubai Airport...

Global food bloggers (Mark Weins, i dont know any others)

If you go onto a flight, ask if he can have a look in the cockpit. If it's long haul, he can also follow along a world map.

Ask him to draw a map of the world? You might be surprised! You could also get a placemat of a world map.

DM me - we need to swap ideas and tips!!!

Extreme day trips. Join the Facebook group. Takes a bit of time to fins a good deal but it's an affordable way to travel especially if you live near a major airport