Travel tips and toys

Traveling with a toddler and a baby is not something we do often because it is a bit of a challenge. But we can't stay at home until they grow up, so now and then we are brave enough to face a trip, not too far though. This past long weekend we travelled about 300 km to visit family and I came prepared! 

These are some of the toys or "busy bags"as it is often called, that I packed to keep Lella(3years) busy.

- Discovery bottles: one with beans and different small items like buttons, scrapbooking objects, mini toys etc, one with water and glycerine and glitter and shiny items, one with lentils and mini erasers. The idea with these bottles is for her to look at, turn it around and "find" all the objects. #counting skills,#language skills

- Felt animals Lacing: These are great for those ever important #fine motor skills, lacing the same ones together (#matching), we played it was puppets (#imagination)

- Pom-poms: #sorting according to colour and size, packing a worm and other shapes

- Pipe cleaners: we bent the pipe cleaners into different shapes, #shape recognition (Mommy did that, Lella does not have that skill yet, she had to name the shape and unbend it again, #fine motor skills) Bigger kids can make their own creations

- Stick puppets: we used these wooden forks, spoons and ice cream sticks and felt tip pens to draw our puppets. Just had to keep an eye on L when using the pens, she still likes drawing on herself and everything else! (caught her the other day drawing on baby brothers hands, she said she is giving him stamps! oh was I glad it was only his hands!)

- Felt story board: this one is The 3 little bears and Goldilocks (she loves this story) It came with a board, but we use a big piece of felt and just roll it up, easier to pack away)

- We use a recycled, clean pizza box to keep the busy bags in. It is flat and fits nicely under the drivers seat.

- And then of course inside her travel tray(the one that the lid opens up) I always keep a few reading books, sticker book, and colouring book, paper and pencils (pencils are the safest at this stage)

She also had her two favourite dolls and her handbag with a few items play with. It kept her busy for a while, on her own. Later we played a guessing game with the handbag, where she had to feel inside for an item and first guess what is was before she takes it out to see if she was right. She enjoyed this game alot.

A few other things we always do: look for animals along the way, listening to favourite music, singing along, or reading along, depending on the cd. She is not really interested in watching dvds, so the dvd player stayed at home, although the Ipad was there on standby.

I packed lots of snacks as well, ( for everyone), and a few toys for baby, although trying to pull of his socks kept him very entertained;)

Lellas potty training toilet chair always travels with, cause if needs be, we stop and she uses it alongside the road. Actually very funny, because she enjoys just sitting there enjoying the "view"!

We do stop often though, so traveling time is at least 30 minutes longer than when it was just the two of us.

Its also a bit of a challenge with breastfeeding baby, because then mom has to get to the back and Lella to the front of the car so I can nurse him. He did not sleep while driving this time, too curious I think. And then Sister also wants to sit back, with mom and brother, so it got a bit crowded, but it kept them happy for a while.

All in all it was not too bad, maybe because it was not too far, or maybe all the "entertainment" helped?

Try some for yourselves!