Parenthood changes so many things and one of them is travelling. It is never easy to travel with children, no matter their age, or whether you have one child or more. The flip side is that parenting makes us very creative problem solvers. Here I share with you my top 10 ideas that will make travel fun for you and your child.
Of course, the I-pad way is the easiest way but easy is rarely healthy or productive. I am totally the Anti-Ipad mom, whether travelling or not. It angers me when I see children watching their travel DVDs the moment they are picked up from SCHOOL! So Pretend the I-pad / DVD player does not exist and even if it does, it is the last thing to be picked up.
I could segregate my article in 3 ways but lot of the content overlaps so you will find these three themes throughout this article:
- Road vs. air travel
- Things they can do independently vs. ones where you must be involved
- Age wise
- Games that require something to play vs. those that require just you and child talking
Honestly, below age 2, most of them sleep a lot longer during travels and doctors can suggest some harmless medicine if it is very important to have your child sleeping during the travel.
IDEA 1: Age 1.5 – 10 years
Independent
Starting age 1, kids love to scribble and later, color. Rarely have I known a child who resents this activity. You cannot argue that girls love it more because I have done over 10 weeks of camps with kids and boys are just as much into this if they are given the opportunity. Coloring lets kids express their creativity without any boundaries. You can also have a notepad and pencil colors / pencil for kids to write on.
Interactive
My daughter loves playing Tic-Tac-Toe (X and 0) and dots.
IDEA 2: Age 2 – 10 years
Stickers are a magical way to thrill a child. You need some plain paper or a coloring book and sticker sheets. You can either draw pictures or borders for them to direct where the stickers must go OR you can let them use the stickers randomly.
IDEA 3: Age 1.5 – 10 years
Travel games and activity books are fun and easy to carry in the hand bag. I personally love the travelling piano if you have private transport and don’t mind the noise. It is available in USA, online as well. Some games they can use independently and some require either 2 similar aged child
ren or an adult to play with.
