It’s vacation time!!! Yipeee!!! While traveling isn’t that glamorous to begin with, add a few kiddos into the mix and you may need a survival guide! Or, a few cocktails! 😉 While I can’t walk your child up and down the aisle on a flight or hand over snacks every five minutes on your roadtrip, I can offer some ideas to keep your kids busy while traveling.
Here are some activities that will keep your children busy beyond the obvious: Pack snacks. Hope they pass out. Bring the iPad. Bring more snacks. Make pit stops so they can run around. Give them things to do. Did I mention snacks?! Okay, here we go… how to survive summer travel with kids:
Wipe-Clean Books & Cards:
We have a huge selection of wipe-clean books and cards. These include a dry-erase marker and can be used over and over again. Simply wipe them off with a baby wipe or paper towel and begin the activity again… and, again… and, again. The wipe-cleans come in three shapes & sizes: 1) Wipe-Clean Books ($7.99) – There are tons of topics from perfecting writing letters, mazes, vacation activities and even dinosaur activities. These are full-size 9×11 workbooks. 2) Wipe-Clean Cards ($9.99) – There are a few options for these, as well! A few of my favorites include Animal Doodles, Travel Doodles and 100 Things for Little Children to do on a Trip. My best tip for these fun, double-sided cards is to split them into smaller-sized packs, hole-punch them and put them on a key-ring so they don’t end up everywhere! 3) Wipe-Clean Activity Packs ($19.99) – These are my favorite for traveling because each set of 4 mini books fits perfectly into an adorable carrying case to easily transport and are great activities while waiting for dinner at restaurants.
Sticker Books:
Sticker books keep kids busy for hours! They are a sure-thing in my house. One thing that I love about most of our sticker books is that they not only provide the stickers, but also a place to put the stickers. Whether you’re dressing up princesses and fairies or building your own superhero or robot, there are endless options. For the youngest kiddos, I recommend the First Sticker Books. My 2.5 year old’s favorite is First Sticker Book Cars ($6.99). The Sticker Dolly Dressing, Sticker Dressing and Build Your Own are perfect as your children get a little older.
Activity Books:
Other great options are activity books that include puzzles, mazes and brain teasers. One of my favorites is a classic Puzzle Book Pack from Usborne Publishing. Each set is just $9.99 and includes 3 paperback activity books where you go on an adventure using sorting, matching, logic and math. Step-by-Step Drawing ($9.99) is perfect for long car and plane rides since there is space on each page to actually draw. The new Academy activity books ($12.99) are a really fun engaging series for elementary kiddos. Choices include architect, engineer, scientist, vet and astronaut.
Seek & Find:
For the little ones, I always recommend the Very First Book of Things to Spot ($12.99). You need this one in your collection. It is a perfect conversation tool, it helps develop vocabulary and has nice laminated pages that will hold up over time. As they get a little older, check out the 1001 Things to Spot ($9.99). Put them to work. Finding 1001 Things should take some time while traveling. 😉
I hope some of these suggestions will keep your kiddos busy learning and give you some room to breathe (and enjoy) your upcoming summer travel! If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to leave me a comment below!