Raising a Curious Traveler: What We Read and Listened to Before Visiting Greece With Our Kid
Looking to get your kids excited about a trip to Greece? These books, podcasts, and activities helped our 7-year-old connect with mythology, history, and the joy of exploring ruins — and made our trip more meaningful for all of us
Curious eyes, ancient stones, and the olive tree said to be Athena’s gift to the city.
Our son is too young to have learned about Greek mythology in school, but we wanted him to share our excitement in seeing all the places where the Greek gods supposedly lived.
After stories about the minotaur and Athena springing from the head of Zeus, and he couldn’t wait to go. These are the stories and media that made all the difference — plus one we wanted to love but didn’t.
Books and Podcasts That Got Our Kid Excited About Greece
📖 Percy Jackson and the Olympians
This was the first book series my son and I read fully together, just the two of us. We finishedThe Lightning Thief (Book 1) right before we left and devoured Sea of Monsters (Book 2) while traveling. Now deep into book three, he can’t get enough — and neither can I.
The series gave him a playful, emotionally resonant way to connect with the gods and legends we encountered in temples and on museum walls. It also gave us something shared: inside jokes, favorite characters, and a chance to talk through the original myths and the modern spin brought to us in a way only Percy Jackson can.
🔹 This book series is recommended for ages 9-12, but we found it to be just right for our son. There are some difficult themes (e.g., loss, parental abandonment), but we thought these were handled in a way that made it accessible for a side conversation as we read.
📖 D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths
A classic for a reason. The illustrations are dreamy and the stories struck a good balance between myth and meaning. We used it as a read-aloud before bed in the weeks leading up to our trip, and it gave us a foundational sense of who’s who — from Athena to Hermes. It was a good complement to Percy Jackson, providing the foundation for the original myths.
🔹 Recommended for ages 8–12. Nice bite-sized chunks of individual myths.
🎧 Greeking Out (Nat Geo Kids Podcast and Book)
We started listening to Greeking Out on a long road trip before our flight — and by the time we landed in Greece, my son was fully in mythology mode.
We listened to every remaining episode in Greece itself, any time we were in the car. The storytelling is fast, funny, and smart, with just the right mix of educational and silly. The oracle of Wifi was everyone’s favorite—and it was so cool to then visit the home of the real oracle at Delphi. ➡️ Read more about our visit to Delphi here
We bought the companion book, and it was also a big hit!
🔹 Best for ages 8–12. Perfect road trip content or background while coloring/playing. Greek myths involve quite a lot of violence, but Nat Geo Kids handles this really well and gave us a nice opportunity to talk about the not great choices the gods (and humans) in the stories often made.
What Didn’t Work For Us
📖 Treasury of Greek Mythology (Nat Geo)
The artwork in this was stunning. But the text? Not so much.
It was dense, formal, and hard to follow aloud. Our son lost interest quickly, and honestly, so did we. We shelved it after a few tries.
💡 If your kid is on the younger side, stick to stories that are written to be read aloud, not studied.
Not just old stones. This is the throne room of Knossos — where a certain half-man, half-bull once lived (at least in the stories).
Final Thoughts
We didn’t try to teach our son everything about ancient Greece. But by sharing stories — in the car, at bedtime, curled up together — we gave him a starting point to get excited.
By the time we were walking through ruins, he wasn’t just seeing columns and statues. He was spotting gods and heroes he already knew. At the Palace of Knossos, he proudly told our guide everything there was to know about the Minotaur and Theseus — his voice quiet but certain.
That moment stuck with me: not because he got it “right,” but because he felt curious, connected, and just brave enough to share what he knew. And that made all the difference.