Have Kids Will Travel

The summer always brings thoughts of vacation and fun, especially when sharing with children. Make your vacation a sweet memory too by being prepared and getting ready for the long journey. Here are a few ideas and toys for the road to help the journey remain as sweet as the destination!

• a small jar of silly putty can go a long way on a plane trip
• a puzzle ball will do double duty, entertaining both very young children and older preschoolers who want to solve the puzzle
• always raid the dollar store, not only for fun little disposable toys, but for interesting candies too that help divert attention
• if you have a young builder pack a bag of junk stuff in a Ziploc. (cut up straws, beads, string, washers and nuts, a toilet paper tube, bottle caps, some scraps of paper ... whatever will fit in and a roll of scotch tape) Then "build" something; a race car, flowers, a necklace
• a crayon roll keeps everything nice and tidy but still at hand for little fingers
• make a fairy wand (or wizard wand for boys) and bring it out to do some magic (change the person in the next seat to a toad, make the sun shine blue, turn the plane to a giant flying duck, make your kid loose his voice or pretend you lost yours)
• kids love to find stuff- I Spy is a popular game with all ages

• wrap a little toy or snack then put it in a small box, wrap the box, warp the box again... you get the idea using 5-6 different paper and layers. When your child is squirrelly say "I have a surprise present for you, you can unwrap each layer only after sitting still for 3 minutes" Unwrap it, then another 3 minutes...granted this may end up "has it been 3 minutes, has it been 3 minutes, has it been 3 minutes" but go with it. This works great for car trips but may cause problems with airport security so leave the wrapped stuff at home when flying.

• Bring 4 or 5 dice. Kids love to match, first roll all ones, then 2s then 3s... After the first time through make it interesting again by timing it the second round of rolls. "How fast can you find all the ones?"

• Classic games like tic tac toe and hangman, 20 questions and checkers are a great way to play while sitting

Really though the key is to keep everything new and hidden until you pull it out during the trip. Milk it for every second it's worth!