It’s hard not to pack everything and the kitchen sink when traveling with your children. The focus of this list is to give parents a high return on their investment in terms of play time and enjoyability. The key to a more relaxing journey with the 21 first century family is having a bag of tricks. It’s good to have an assortment of ideas, so that when things really start to go wrong, you can apply the “kitchen sink” approach and throw it all in there at once and hope you brought something to bring calm in the storm. These are low-impact, clutter conscious and noiseless. Traveling with little people is never easy. The goal is to create a sensory rich, noise-free, portable, kid friendly environment.
For the Ride
- Ear Plugs. First and foremost, pick up a set of ear-plugs for the parents. Ear plugs won’t keep the noise out, but they do create a buffer between a crying child and the centuries old timely response to nurture. This nurture instinct can stress us out to the max. Earplugs function as a sort of executive session, where we can assess and prescribe, rather than be overcome by the chaos.
- Tissue Paper. Pick out 5-10 sets of multi-color tissue paper from the dollar store. Children are drawn to the bright colors and the pliability of the paper, can keep your 2-5 year old busy turning that tissue into little balls of joy for a good long while. Don’t forget to redirect the younger ones who may be tempted to put this into their mouths. As an alternative, a newspaper or magazine can do the job just as well, and little hands stay busy.
- Rainstick. Rainsticks come from Native American Heritage. It is a large stick, hand-filled with little pebbles that works like an hour glass and sounds like the rain. The very sound, releases calm into the environment. For plane rides, I recommend the hour glass from your monopoly play set, or other game. Kids tend to be fascinated by watching the sand drain through the hour glass. This little toy, can keep your 2-7 year old simply mesmerized, time after time.
- Blocks.This is a favorite from my family to yours, the Melissa & Doug Deluxe 10-Piece Alphabet nesting and stacking blocks. You get the best of both worlds with these blocks. The blocks are multidimensional with colorful bright patterns on all sides of the block. The blocks can be nested into the largest block, or stacked up to about 3-4 feet high. It’s a great travel toy because its not too heavy or bulky to carry and your child will have a lot of fun stacking these blocks to the top. The recommended age is 1 to 5 years old.
- Teething Necklace. The Chew Brick Tool Teething Necklace is a must for young teethers or children who constantly need to chew something. These colorful squishables look like Lego Blocks. Safe to chew, they are designed to reduce the effects of ADHD/ADD and Autism. The teether works great for infants too. The recommended age is 1 to 8 years old.
- Fidget Toy. The calm focused fidget toy comes in a multi-colored pack and is a good fit for kids 5 and up. It has such a strange texture and weightless quality, that it is quite mesmerizing to the touch, and shakes and rattles, noiselessly.
- Nesting Dolls. My Little Pony/Spiderman set of 6 nesting dolls. They are kid friendly, come apart fairly easily and a great fit for your child age 3-12. Nesting dolls, a Russian Hallmark, are colorful, 3-D, open and close easily, and the larger shape holds the smaller shape on down the line. Tons of playtime.
For the Hotel Room
- Bubble Wrap. Hotel rooms offer quite a bit of danger for your young explorer. Having a bulk package of bubble wrap and a sturdy white guard tape can make your hotel room childproof in minutes. You can easily bubble wrap hard corners on the hotel nightstands, the feet of the hotel table and the hard corners of the walls. It’s hard to anticipate how your child might get hurt in a new environment, and a little child proofing can go a long way.
- Nap Set. Most hotel beds are super high and very risky for children. Sometimes the safest solution is simply bringing along a cute all- inclusive nap set with a yoga mat. The nap set comes with its own memory foam pad, blanket, and an inclusive pillow. The yoga mat gives the added comfort of a mattress, without being one. This portable bed allows your child to sleep or play comfortably.
- Comfort Item. Last, but not least, let your child bring a little bit of home with them. Bring that one comfort item that will give them a sense of security. Most children take 3 days to get used to a new environment. Traveling can be stressful for a child. Having a little piece of home close by helps him/her feel secure and comfortable with the new environment. This comfort item can help with transitions during the day and bedtime. The best comfort item ever is your pet. Most hotels are very pet friendly, and as long as your pet(s) is potty-trained, and does well in a crate while you’re away, it may help your child tremendously to have the family pet along.Journey well friends, this list will make the journey smoother
