With summer upon us, it means family road trips or plane rides to your vacation spot of choice. It also means keeping your kids occupied for several hours in a confined space.
When we started talking about our family vacation, I knew we needed to get creative with how to keep our 4-year-old son entertained on his first flight. We decided a handful of inexpensive small toys and activities would serve two purposes: make the flight go faster and give him toys to play with once we got to our destination.
It’s All About Presentation
I started picking up items here and there as I was out shopping. My mom made the cutest tags for the gifts and wrapped them in tissue paper. We hid the gifts in his carry-on bag and selected a new one every 30-60 minutes depending on his level of engagement. He loved the gifts and couldn’t wait to get the next one.
Here’s a list of what worked for our family:
Crayola Color Wonder Mess Free Coloring
We selected the mini version. It’s so cute. A little case, three Color Wonder markers and a mini pad of paper. They have a couple of themes.
You can also go for the Color Wonder Mess Free Stow & Go Travel Kit.
Melissa & Doug On the Go Water Wow! Activity Pad
This is genius. You fill the little paint brush with water and paint the pages with no mess. By the time you are finished with the last picture in the flipbook, the first image is dry and you can do it all over again. Tons of themes to select from to either correspond with your trip or your child’s favorite subject. We selected the Under the Sea theme since we were headed for the beach.
Target’s Bullseye’s Playground
Who doesn’t love the $1 section at Target? Am I right? You could probably pick up everything for your trip just in this area of Target alone. Flash cards, coloring pads, stickers. You name it. I found felt busy books with a transportation theme and tiny toy cars.
CozyPhones for the iPad
When all else fails, bust out the iPad. I downloaded some of his favorite shows ahead of time so that we weren’t held hostage by the Wi-Fi connection. His birthday was only a couple weeks before our trip, so we asked for CozyPhones from the family. There are a ton of options on the market in all price ranges for headphones that are made for little ones.