The first thing you will want to do is make your travelers. Travelers are in various sizes and shapes. Some are pictures of people, animals, and cartoon characters, while others are paper dolls dressed in their finest. Many paper doll sites are available on the Internet. By using keywords "paper dolls" in the search engine, you will find many sites that you can copy and print patterns of paper dolls. Color them as you want and give them a name. Some of the names we have chosen are "Flat Matthew", "Flat Bumpkin", and "Flat David". Remember to write your name, address, and email address on the back of the traveler. It is sad, but true, that some travelers never make it to the host family, or home. If possible, laminate your traveler. Your traveler will go through the USPS many times and this can cause them to be tattered and worn. Lamination helps your traveler stay clean and safe.

Finding a host for your traveler is fairly simple if you belong to a group. Email a prospective host to see if there is room for your traveler before you send it out. If the host family is full, they will most likely let you know when you can send one to them. During this time, you will exchange mailing addresses through private emailing and determine if you are going to exchange travelers with each other, or just have one hosted. You may decide that you would rather be a host yourself.

After you have found your hosts and have your Flat Travelers made, you will need to make a journal. Journals and travelers should be small enough to fit inside a business size envelope and cost not more than a single postage stamp (though some cost more, depending on what is included in the envelope). You can type in questions you would like answered and put in lines for the answers or you can just put blank lines for the host to fill in as they see fit. Most people just enclose a sheet of notebook paper for the journal entries while others make small booklets to send along.

You will also want to include information about your hometown and state. This information can be something you prepare yourself or can be preprinted brochures found at your local chamber of commerce or tourism board, or printed from an online source.

If you want to be a host of a Traveler, although not a requirement, it is good to send back brochures about your home and a few pictures of the Traveler at local events or attractions and other fun stuff. We like to include a US flag pin and fun stickers. Post Cards are always fun to receive from the host family. Keep in mind that the more you send back with the traveler, the more it will cost to send. The only requirement in returning a traveler is the traveler and journal.

Travelers are usually kept by the host family for one week. Unless other arrangements have been made with the host family, return your visiting traveler promptly. Children are excited and depend on their travelers coming home in a timely manner.

The main thing is to keep it fun as well as educational. We have a wall map that we mark the locations of where our travelers have been, then research the state or country. We also find the latitude and longitude as well as distance from where we live, the customs and holidays associated with that country.

Flat Travelers is a wonderful experience for children and adults alike. It keeps their curiosity going and I don’t know of a better way to incorporate Geography, History, and Math than with our Flat Travelers. They make learning fun and exciting. It has brought us many friends from abroad and a closeness that cannot be matched by any other source.

Above all, have fun!

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