A family vacation can change a kid’s view of the world. A family volunteering vacation can change the world. We travel to discover, to learn, and to grow—by traveling to give back, our kids can discover their place in the world, learn about other cultures, and grow into responsible, caring changemakers.
Habitat for Humanity: Global Village Program
Building a house on Habitat for Humanity International’s Global Village trip takes volunteer families and partners them with other cultures in order to build their dream: a safe home. Families can stay close to home by helping in Biloxi, Mississippi or travel as far as Tajikistan. Families can choose their project, fill out an application, and choose to work as just a family or with an affiliated group, such as a church. Certain site projects are recommended for younger children, and youth programs exist for kids fourteen to twenty-five, which could be your child’s first trip alone if the family trip is a successful one.
Global Citizens Network
Children can follow their parents’ lead on grassroots projects around the world under the leadership of the community they are visiting. Enlightening work projects can include setting up a library in Peru or Arizona, or reforestation in a Thai village or in Nepal. Ages eight years old and up are preferable, and GCN recommends speaking to their staff if planning a trip with any child under twelve. GCN has success with children wanting to participate fully on the work project, and children cherish their host families and cultural exchange. Whether it’s making tortillas or learning the local dance, all children involved open their hearts and arms during their shared project.
Ambassadors for Children
Ambassador for Children marks their beginner trips for children and families with a one paper doll icon, which includes a perfect introductory trip to a fresh culture, language, and outlook on life. Children and parents can take eight-day trips to Costa Rica to practice daily yoga and work on volunteer sites in local villages, with off-day adventures to waterfalls and the rainforest. Other trips include Jamaica with Kiwanis to help build playgrounds and working with at-risk youth on conservation projects in New Mexico. Bring their crayons and your camera, and return together with a new sense of the world.
Globe Aware
With exciting reviews by a nine, seven, and a five year old about discovering bats and waterfalls in Thailand, parents will be excited to share the world and its inhabitants with their children. Globe Aware wants families to immerse themselves in the communities they are helping, while providing some fun on the side for the young ones. Kids can sing along with local schoolchildren while helping to build their schools, or play games with young monks while teaching them their favorite English words. All projects either create infrastructure, environmental improvement, or preserve a cultural heritage, which are learning experiences best taught when young. Travel to Laos, Mexico and China, or help kids at a blind orphanage in Peru, any of the trips that Globe Aware provides will bring people and projects together in a joint effort toward discovery of self.
Earthwatch Institute
Earthwatch combines fun with learning on their ten-day family expeditions for those who want to interact with marine friends. While most lodging includes a swimming pool for kids, that won’t be necessary when your ten-year-old is swimming with sea turtles in Trinidad, or canoeing for Diamondback Terrapins in the salt marshes off the East Coast. Earthwatch also created teen trips so your adolescent could get on track to becoming the next Cousteau.
When kids return, Saturday may very well become the day to volunteer at the soup kitchen rather than the day to play videogames.
