Planning a holiday road trip this year? Heading out on a plane with your little ones? I received an e-mail (Hi Hannah!) asking what kinds of activities we bring to keep the kiddos busy while traveling. Here’s some of our favorites:
- pipe cleaners and beads
- new music and/or audio books (from iTunes or the library)
- clipboards
- plain paper
- coloring book pages (I usually rip out a bunch of pages from different books or print pages from the internet)
- colored pencils
- stickers (my girls love the colored dots from the office supply store)
- Color Wonder books and markers
- magnet board or small cookie sheet + letter/number magnets
- books, especially character ones, flap books, and I Spy books
- small animals or characters
- Wikki Stix
- sets of picture cards or flash cards
- foil (for making sculptures)
- lacing cards
- yarn + cereal for stringing (such as fruit loops)
- Magnadoodle
- vinyl sticker play scenes
- finger puppets
- car bingo (make your own with things your kids will see/recognize)
- Leapster
I usually put a bin of activities in the back seat between the girls. I also keep a few surprise things up front to dole out as needed. Sometimes on the ride home we decorate postcards or draw/write about our favorite things from the trip and make a trip journal.
I’m sure all you moms + dads have even more traveling tricks up your sleeves! What keeps your kids busy on the road?
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Thanks so much! This is just what I was looking for. These ideas are great.
Oh my! This is soooo what I needed! Thank you so much for sharing and for being so creative! We live in Wisconsin and our parents live in Oklahoma and So. Illinois. So we have a TON of driving planned for this Christmas with our 18 mos. old son. Some of these ideas will be perfect for keeping him busy. I’m so relieved to have some options! Thanks again!
Wow, this list is so great, thank you! I especially love the cookie sheet as magnetic board idea, I never would have thought of that!
Portable felt board – cover the lid of a shoebox with felt. Store the felt pieces inside the shoebox.
Tin moneybox for a posting game – We use plastic ‘necklace links’, which are just the right size and make a nice sound when they are posted. If the child is old enough, you could use coins. This is a real favorite in my family and appeals to a wide age range (18mths to 4.5yrs for us).
We’ve played “Find the Color Game”. We pick a color for as long as you can stand it, then change the color when the last color has been exausted. At first they start big, but they start to see little things, like flowers and small signs. I spy for everyone at the same time
We just took our two-year-old on a plane trip last month. Cheerios necklaces were a HUGE time-eater. I made these in advance (the plane was NOT the place for this activity, plus my son’s fine motor skills are not developed enough yet for this to work for very long). Eating the Cheerios off the necklace takes plenty of time, which is awesome, because you are getting quiet time and your little one is getting a snack. Wins all around!
He also got a big kick out of a cheapo calculator (50 cents at back-to-school time) — it was a cell phone, a remote, and computer to him!
In the car, we like the travel Magnadoodle. That holds his interest for a decent length of time. No mess, and the “pen” is attached to the drawing board.
On our last long intercontinental trip, I packed a small bag with little 99cent type toys (small doll, book, animal, etch-a-sketch, snacks, etc.) for my 1-year-old to discover. She loved it, but it didn’t last the full time!
I’ve heard an idea I’d like to try next time – actually gift-wrapping each of the things and doling them out one per hour.
What a great list!
I make sure I have snacks on hand for my toddler in the front seat that I can pass back to him. If he won’t fall asleep in the car then it’s about the only thing that works at this point!
Amy,
I hope you don’t mind but I passed this link along to a publication called Tropical Family Travel. They were looking for inputs for a traveling with kids article they’re doing. I told them if they were interested in your post to contact you through your email address listed above.
Great ideas,
Stacy
http://www.kidsstuffworld.com
I made a little folding felt road mat for my son to use with his matchbox cars while travelling. If I pack additional felt shapes, the mat doubles as a flannelgraph and it’s also sturdy enough to use as a little lap desk for coloring, etc. At not-quite-two his favorite part was putting the cars in the pockets, but now that he is a few months older, he uses it to drive his cars on, complete with sound effects. I made a few to sell, found here: http://hyenacart.com/anklebiters
good note that makes a good check list for travel. thanks
http://spabeachresorts.blogspot.com/