Join us as we journey to the incredible country of Thailand! During this virtual tour of Thailand for kids, we’ll enjoy fun and inspiring Thailand activities. This Thailand virtual field trip is a perfect way to explore and also serve the world right from home during this holiday season!
You can find the full list of countries for the global children’s advent right HERE. Be sure to sign up for the email list to get all the information in advance and to receive fun extras!
Don’t miss the global service opportunities, teaching moments, and giveaways with the Global Service Advent!
Get your FREE Printable Global Service Advent Coloring Calendar here!
Here’s the 2020 Global Service Advent schedule!
Here’s the Global Service Advent Printable Book List!
This Thailand virtual tour contains affiliate links, but all opinions are 100% my own. That means I earn a small commission if you purchase through my link, but doesn’t change your price.
Thailand Activities for Kids and Service Ideas
Table of Contents
SERVE AROUND THE WORLD
Featured Organization Doing Good: Thailand Freedom Project
The mission of the Thailand Freedom Project is to, “prevent child trafficking & exploitation through culturally relevant programs for vulnerable children & share their stories to empower creative, compassionate people to act.” They provide education, scholarships, and resources that help at-risk Thai students stay in school and break the cycle of poverty and exploitation.
How Families Can Help in Thailand
- Consider if there’s some way you can donate or fundraise at least $1 for the Thailand Freedom Project. Here are some ideas for either fundraising online or outdoors:
- Sell 4 cups of lemonade
- Sing a holiday song in a parking lot and collect donations
- Host a virtual fundraising campaign
- Teach a 10 minute kids class on Zoom (baking? LEGO building? Star Wars origami?)
- Review this list of goods produced by child and forced labor
- Use this Responsible Sourcing Tool to find out who made your products
- Support children affected by homelessness as well as LGBTQ+ children, who are most at risk of trafficking
- Shop through Amazon Smile to donate to the Freedom Project
- Read through this US government list of 20 ways to fight human trafficking
- Simple service at home: Read and share students’ stories of hope and success
Supporting Thai Individuals
- Use this free Thai Cooking School (and donate to support them!), or book an online course here!
- Purchase beautiful Thai handicrafts
- Support local and authentic Thai restaurants and grocers
THAILAND ACTIVITIES: LANGUAGE ARTS
Featured Thailand Book: Thailand Activities for Preschoolers
Mela and the Elephant by Dow Phumiruk (Author), Ziyue Chen (Illustrator)
Picture Book Read Aloud
Picture Book Discussion Questions
Other Thailand Books for Kids
Thailand Activity Books For Kids
Languages in Thailand: Thailand Activities for Language Arts
THAILAND SOCIAL STUDIES: THAILAND VIRTUAL TOUR OF HISTORY & LANDMARKS
Thailand History
Basic Facts
- The capital of Thailand is Bangkok.
- The official name is the Kingdom of Thailand and formerly known as Siam. In Thai, it is Prathet Thai, which means, “Land of the Free.”
- Maha Vajiralongkorn is the current King of Thailand.
- Thailand is located in southeast Asia
- Thailand borders 4 countries: Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and Myanmar.
- Thai is the official language of Thailand.
- The currency in Thailand is the baht. $1 USD ~ 31 baht.
- Thailand has three official seasons – hot, cool, and wet. The hot season runs from March through to June. April and May are the hottest months of the year.
- 95% of the Thailand is Buddhist, about 4.6% is Muslim and 0.7% are Catholic Christians. The remaining ~1% are Jewish, Hindu and Sikh.
- Major Industries include: tourism, textiles and clothes, and light manufacturing.
Thailand Interesting Facts
- Thailand is the only southeast Asian country that has never been colonized by Europeans.
- There is a monkey festival every November.
- It is against the law to criticize a member of the monarchy.
- All young men used to become Buddhist monks for at least a short time.
- Bangkok’s ceremonial name is one of the longest in the world: Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit. The name means, “City of angels, great city of immortals, magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by Visvakarman at Indra‘s behest.”
- King Bhumibol Adulyade, who ruled from 1946 to 2017, was the longest-reigning head of state in the world. He also composed Thailand’s national anthem.
- Bangkok was named the world’s hottest city.
Map of Thailand
Color in Thailand on this map of Asia!
Thailand Flag Activity
Flag from HERE
HERE is a fun printable Thailand flag coloring sheet!
Thailand Virtual Tour to Featured Landmarks
Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn)
Wat Arun is a Buddhist temple along the river in Bangkok. In the morning, the temple showcases beautiful reflections of the sun. It also has stunning colored tile!
Wat Pho (Reclining Buddha)
Wat Pho is a Buddhist temple in Bangkok. It is one of the most important temples in Thailand. It became the main temple of King Rama I, and some of his ashes are placed there. The temple is considered the earliest place of public education in all of Thailand, and is also one of Bangkok’s oldest temples. The reclining Buddha is over 150 feet long!
Krabi
Krabi is an area in Southern Thailand filled with stunning beaches. Many love its beautiful longboats there! There is excellent snorkeling and wildlife, and many nature-oriented activities.
Featured Important Thai Person: Therdchai Jivacate
Therdchai Jivacate is an orthopedic surgeon who is also an active humanitarian. He has provided free prosthetic limbs to many who could not otherwise afford them. He has also developed techniques to make prosthetic limbs from local materials, including using plastic yogurt bottles. By doing this, he was instrumental in developing limbs that were much less expensive but still high quality. He also has made prosthetics for elephants who were injured in landmines!
THAILAND ACTIVITIES: ARTS & CULTURE
Featured Thai Artist: Chalermchai Kositpipat
Chalermchai Kositpipat is mostly a painter, and he is known for using many Buddhist images in his work. He started out by painting movie advertisements for billboards, but moved into more traditional art. He pushed boundaries in mixing more contemporary styles with traditional themes, and mixed temple art with modern images.
Thai Craft & Culture Activity for Kids:
Gold Leaf Model Reclining Buddha
Materials
- Watch the very brief video on Wat Pho and the Reclining Buddha from above to get an idea of how the Reclining Buddha looks. Then begin creating your own Reclining Buddha out of clay. Let sit until dry.
- While your clay is drying, consider learning about Buddhism and the significance of statues in this book for kids.
- When your clay has hardened, take your brush and gently brush the metal leaf adhesive in short upward strokes in small sections. Place bits of gold leaf on the glue and gently brush away the excess. Continue on to the rest of the figure.
Aluminum Foil Asian Elephant Craft
Materials
- Piece of cardboard
- Glue
- Heavy duty aluminum foil
- Paint + brushes or Sharpies
Instructions HERE
Thai Art Books
Other Thai Kids Activities
- Try this Thai Pongal craft, a Hindu harvest festival.
- Songkran is the Thai New Year. Here are several Songkran activities for kids, including a beautiful paper flower bud.
- Here’s a Thai umbrella art lesson.
- Thailand features beautiful long-tail boats to transport people around. You can create your own model long-tail boat by carving it out of soap or modeling it out of clay!
THAILAND ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS: MUSIC & MOVEMENT
Thai Movement Activities
Thai Folk Dance
Thai Music
SCIENCE + MATH
Cooking activity, Thailand animals
Featured Thai Food: Thai Recipes for Kids
- Som Tam – spicy green papaya salad is very popular in Thailand.
- Thailand features a number of curries. Red curry is especially popular, but there is also panang curry, green curry, and several others. They are often served with rice, a staple in Thai cuisine and its most exported crop.
- Noodles are also very popular, both thin and thick. Here’s a recipe to try pad kee mao!
- Mango sticky rice is a common and delicious dessert!
Animals in Thailand
About 1/10th of all animal species and also 1/10th of all bird species live in Thailand. Thailand has more birds than Europe and America combined!
Elephants are very common in Thailand, but they have a history of being abused and treated very poorly. Some sanctuaries are beginning to take much better care of them, so it’s important to support those that care for the elephants appropriately. While there are over 5,000 elephants in Thailand today, there used to be over 100,000.
VIDEO + FURTHER LEARNING & DISCUSSION FOR THAILAND VIRTUAL TOUR
Kid Videos About Thailand
Plan a Trip to Thailand with Kids!
After having all this fun, consider planning a virtual or real trip. What sites or cities would you visit? What food would you eat? Here’s a one day Bangkok itinerary with kids.
Thailand for Kids Discussion Questions
- If you put all the things you cared about in your name, what would it be? How long would it be?
- Thailand became a place of refuge for people from other lands, especially Cambodians escaping the Khmer Rouge. What would it be like being so close to other countries with people seeking refuge?
- Having never been colonized by Europeans, Thailand has been able to especially maintain some strong aspects of its culture. What are some of those cultural strengths?
- What are some common ingredients in Thai meals?
- Elephants were historically abused by humans in power. Why do you think this is? What were the advantages, and what are some things you and tourists can do to help prevent continuing abuse?
Thanks for Taking a Virtual Visit to Thailand With Us!
We’ve loved putting together this resource to virtually visit Thailand. We’d love to hear if you do any of these activities for a homeschooling Thailand unit, or if you visit in person!
We hope to inspire curiosity and connection through exploring and learning, and we hope this guide helps you and your families. Please share any activities you do with us over on our Instagram. And we’d be delighted if you passed this Thailand for kids virtual tour and homeschooling resource along to others, as well!
MORE POSTS
IF YOU LIKED THIS POST ABOUT THAILAND ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS, YOU MIGHT LIKE THESE POSTS TOO:
- Global Service Advent: India Activities & Service Ideas
- One Day Bangkok Itinerary with Kids
- 10 Surprisingly Affordable Family Holiday Destinations
NOT READY FOR A THAILAND HOMESCHOOLING UNIT QUITE YET? PIN THIS POST FOR LATER!
