Traveling with kids

Written By Leigh Ellen

We are firmly in the middle of summer and peak travel season. My family has had trips that have gone wonderfully and we’ve had trips that made me want to pull my hair out. I’d like to say that the key to having a successful vacation or travel with kids is to plan ahead, but I don’t think it’s true. There have been times when I’ve had every snack and activity and song lined up and everything still fell apart. There have been times when I’ve been winging it without so much as a spare diaper or a single granola bar and everything went great. I don’t have a secret. Like adults, kids get grouchy and hungry and tired and sick and restless. We’re not in our regular routines and don’t have our typical comforts, so when the grouchies hit we also don’t have all the supports we might usually have at home. My only suggestion is to pack in plenty of flexibility when possible.

And, if you are the type to plan ahead and feel like that helps, here are some of my favorite ideas to keep your kids entertained in a car or plane. I try to avoid travel games with tiny pieces, because we tend to lose them, the game is unusable, and then everyone is unhappy. And when possible, I try to save something(s) out of sight to pull out when we’re getting bored or restless.

  • Window decals

  • Snacks and drinks (preferably exciting ones they don’t get at home)

  • Etch a sketch or mini etch a sketch

  • Choose your own adventure books

  • Mad Libs

  • AtlasObscura.com for finding oddities and roadside attractions

  • a journal for drawing or writing

  • travel BINGO

  • Melissa and Doug Water Wow booklets

  • Melissa and Doug scratch art (warning: these will leave a little dusty residue behind)

  • Color Wonder markers and paper

  • Magic Ink books

  • Painter’s Tape for decorating, inventing, and fidgeting

  • ABC game where you look for letters of the alphabet in order on road signs

  • a notebook or phone for recording reviews of attractions and restaurants

  • Eye Spy books

  • I Spy sensory bottles or bags

  • Pipe cleaners or wiki sticks

  • Highway Hunt scavenger hunt game

  • Doodle board drawing tablet (kind of like a magnadoodle but smaller and cooler)

  • Paper map to follow along

  • Gum or bottle to help with ear pressure during flight take off and landing

  • World’s Smallest 8 Ball (not an affiliate post)

  • Polaroid or disposable camera

  • Libby app from your local library for kid (and adult) audiobooks

  • Headphones

Leigh Ellen
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