About Explocationers

Hi, I’m Els. Was a teacher, now a travelling mum.

Explocationers started on the road. As a teacher, I had a general sense of what young children are working on developmentally, but in those first travelling months my attention was elsewhere: where will we sleep tonight, which route shall we take, what do we want to see? I wanted to keep following my daughter’s development, and I missed a tool I could turn to quickly — something clear and concise, woven into daily life. A guide with the developmental themes for this age, and how to spot them in behaviour, in what a child says, in how they play.

That guide didn’t exist in the form I was looking for. So I made it.

How I got here

I taught for twelve years, in classrooms that couldn’t have been more different. Mixed-age primary classes at a village school. Later, special needs education in the city, working with early years children with speech and language needs.

During my studies, I interned in South Africa. Between two jobs, I spent a year and a half travelling alone through Australia and Asia, and taught in the outback. A few years later, my husband and I took a campervan trip from Norway to Greece and back. After my last teaching job, we finally took the plunge — quit our jobs, sold the house, and went travelling with our daughter. She was one.

We left in August 2024: first from Norway down to Morocco, then we shipped the campervan to North America and drove through Canada, up to Alaska, and back through the US. By now she’s lived in a campervan longer than in a house. We’re back in Europe now, travelling more slowly, so there’s more room for learning and discovery.

What the guide is and isn’t

An observation tool for you as a parent. Not a checklist, not a test, not worksheets for your child. It shows what a child of this age may begin to discover — no minimum, no standard. Grounded in early years educational frameworks, with developmental theory in the background. For each area of development, you’ll find observation prompts with key indicators, and playful, non-prescriptive ideas to use along the way.

You take an observer’s role, not an assessor’s.

At the back, you’ll find a readiness portfolio: a look back at the development your child has gone through. Useful for spotting which next goals your child is ready for, or as a handover for school if your child is returning after time away travelling.

For whom

For parents who see their child growing up outside the school system, or who want to support their child alongside school: worldschool families, home educators, travelling families, and anyone who wants guidance without slipping into pressure or comparison.

The name Explocationers blends explore, location, education and learners. The children are the Explocationers — learning and discovering wherever they happen to be.

Feel free to have a look around → our development guide