The holidays are coming up and families are preparing for long road trips or flights to visit families and friends. So what do you do to entertain the kids for the long trip?
Well it depends on the age.
For Babies: they like access to toys that they can manipulate with their hands to feel and taste. The problem is that they also like to drop them frequently. The Miss Gigi-Mae tether system solves that problem as it can be attached to most car seats, high chairs, strollers, etc. It has four extension hooks that can attach to any item that has a loop or hole. Get babies picture books or link toys like the dingly dangler. Sing songs or play baby lullaby music. They also like finger games like “peek-a-boo” and “this little piggy.” If you have space, blowing bubbles is a great way to entertain babies.
For Toddlers: Travel surprises for milestones on the trip are exciting and can be used to reward good behavior on the trip. If you are traveling by car, you can use it by time, say for each hour or so in the car, they can open one of their surprises or by mileage, when we drive 50 miles they get to pick a surprise. For air travel it could be for boarding the airplane well or for making it through the meal without a fuss or upon landing. The surprises don’t have to be extravagant, a favorite food treat, a puzzle, a small game, or favorite character figurine. They also are old enough to play travel games, like car bingo. You can pick out things by color or by type (i.e. how many gas stations, grocery stores, big trucks). Also having a flat writing surface for coloring or playing their games or even eating a snack can keep them entertained. I prefer the Taby Tray because it is a solid surface and pencils don’t poke through the surface. Having their things in close reach is also important for toddlers. If your carseat doesn’t already have a holder, you can get an attachment like the Side Rider to keep pens and small toys near by or have a larger organizer like the Travel Pal to keep things in order. Games that are good for travel are felt boards or magnetic sets. That way pieces don’t fly all over the place. Hand held toys like figurines or cars are good for travel and easy to put in your bag for trips to restaurants. Also you may want to invest in a portable DVD player to play their favorite shows while on the road. This has saved many hours of sanity in our car and gave the driver (me) the ability to concentrate on the road instead of trying to think of the next song to sing of I Spy game to play.
For Preschoolers: I recommend the same for toddlers. Have a place to spread out their stuff, like with the Taby Tray, but they also can work on workbooks like connect-the-dots, mazes, coloring. They are also old enough for handheld games like the Leapster to keep them busy and learn basic reading and math skills. Drawing and playsets are more interesting to children this age. They are also old enough to look at maps and play more complicated games of car bingo and I Spy. And never forget the sing-a-long. They love the silly songs.
Have fun traveling this season and be safe!
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