Travel Bags for Young Kids

This post would be better for an April or a May post, but seeing as the holidays are coming up quick and a lot of people travel during the holidays, I figure this would be an appropriate post at this time. I will re-post it again just before summer too. Every single summer we make a 13 hr trip to visit my husband's parents. That is a looooong trip especially with 3 kids under the age of 7. AND what should be a 13 hr trip ends up being about a 15 hr trip with all the bathroom breaks and such. This year I decided to put together some fun travel bags. I did some fun things for them on trips before, but this year I actually made them each their own "travel bag". These are some of the things I put in the bags to give you ideas:

1. First of all I made them a little bag and wrote their names with "puffy paint" and a picture of something they love. It is just a simple little bag with a tie string at the top to close it, and I just used left over fabric I had to make them. Or you can just a backpack or a fabric shopping bag.

2. I went to a site called Mom's Minivan. It has tons of travel games that you can print up for free. Games like "bingo", the "license plate game", and scavenger hunts to name a few. I picked a few of these out that fit the ages of my kids and printed them out. They have a word version, or a picture version for younger kids. After I printed and colored them, I laminated them and put velcro on each square.

You can't see the velcro on the top picture 'cause I chose the velcro side that was clear so the kids could see through it and see the object they were looking for. The bottom picture I used the fuzzy size of the velcro which isn't see through but it didn't need to be since the objects they were suppose to look for were off to the side of each box. Then I made "markers" for each game.

I put a teeny piece of velcro on the back on sequins for the scavenger hunt game. For Bingo I just cut up a bunch of squares out of colored paper and laminated them then put velcro on the back of them. An alternative to this if you laminate your own pictures is to just use a dry erase marker to mark the squares. I don't trust my kids in the back seat with a dry erase marker, so I chose the sequins. :)
3. I made a "weaving" craft for them to keep them busy. I bought a little pack of the plastic stars you see below for like $1.50 then just tied the yarn on so they didn't lose it. Since I also don't trust my little ones with needles (and I couldn't find a plastic needle that was small enough to fit through the holes) I just put scotch tape on the end of the yarn to help feed it through the holes and prevent it from fraying.

You can also make a sewing card by punching holes in thin cardboard (maybe the back of an old notebook) or foam sheets and attaching string or a shoelace.
4. I bought them each two cheap new toys. A $1 matchbox toy (my kids loooove those. Glad they're so cheap) and another toy they could play with in the car that was on clearance.

5. Last year around Christmastime there was a great coupon for Hasbro toys. It didn't say you couldn't use it on travel games, but since they're cheaper and I'm sure the coupon was MEANT for the regular sized toys, I got them each a Hasbro travel game for $2. Sweet.

6. I, of course, put a notebook and pencil in the bag.
7. At Dollar Tree they have a bunch of "Activity Books" for $1. So I got one for my older son.
8. Do you remember the "Where's Waldo" books? We LOVED those as a kids. I checked out 3 of those books at the local library just for he trip. Free entertainment.
9. I also checked out a book on Origami and put some paper in their bags for folding.
10. I put a few snacks (snacks that they are not used to eating) and treats like suckers in the bag so they can snack at will without me having to reach into the cooler for snacks all the time.
11. Add a water bottle for each kid.
12. If you have room you can use an old box top or a small metal cooking sheet as a writing surface. It will also keep the pencil (or crayons if you bring those too) from rolling off onto the floor.

Then just relax and make the trip fun! If the car gets dirty, it gets dirty. If you make a long trip without the kids trashing the car, then you are AMAZING. So don't worry too much. You can thoroughly clean out the car after the vacation is over. You can play card games, or paper rock scissors, bring music your kids will like, bring a portable DVD player and surprise them with a brand new movie (borrow one from a friend, check one out from the library, or plan ahead and buy a new one when it goes on sale).

Other ideas:
1. stickers
2. stencils
3. Make your own magnetic checker board
4. pipe cleaners
5. Colorforms
6. puppets
7. new books checked out from the library
8. metal cookie sheet with letter magnets

 
9. paper dolls
10. action figures
11. Scotch tape
12. Portable electronic games
13. If you are crafty you could make a darling crayon holder like this:

Good luck making your travel bags! And remember that they don't need to be entertained the entire time. There will be times they take naps or just look out the window and let their minds wander. These just make the trip a little easier and enjoyable. Even traveling can make fun memories for kids. :) Oh yes, and don't forget to bring plastic grocery bags for trash, looots of extra snacks, and baby wipes for messes!