Have Toddler, Will Travel

We have taken Little Roo on two vacations in the last six months..one when she was 13 months on an all-expense paid trip (by my husband’s company) to Vegas

Here she is dancing to the fountains at the Bellagio

and the other, from which we just returned, a trip to FL to visit my husband’s family.  A lot has changed in the past six months—Roo was still nursing on that trip to Vegas, she was crawling at the time (actually took her first steps in the airport on the way home!), she took two naps a day, and was very content sitting in her mama’s lap.  Fast forward to our trip to FL—no longer an option to nurse during take-off, she is running around, napping once a day, wanting to stay busy with activities, asserting her independence,  and is very interested in communicating wants and needs. In typical fashion, I worried and over prepared for certain parts of the trip, but had not anticipated the few hiccups we encountered.  I was super excited to collect and make little travel activities for her, which she did enjoy the ones that I could actually manage to wrangle out of the bottom of the backpack ;)  We thought that a layover would be a good chance for us all to stretch our legs and have a meal…Little Roo did not understand that she needed to hold a hand in the busy Atlanta airport, so walking around became impossible, and the timing was off for meals (we had brought breakfast and eaten on the first flight) so we weren’t even hungry.  When our flight was delayed another 30 minutes, we all started to lose a little patience.   Luckily it wasn’t long before we were boarding again and Roo was happy to sit and play with the window shade next to our seat for awhile.

Here are the items I packed, their inspirations, and how well they worked! Addison's Travel Activities

Finger Puppets: I have had these for years (in my classroom), she loves them at home, didn’t make it out on the trip.

Color Wheel Matching: Home-made, modeled after Engaging Toddler Activities, she wasn't interested in the color matching or the clothespins.

Crayons and Coloring Book: We love Crayola Twistables because I don’t worry as much about her putting them in her mouth or breaking them, I printed the Brown Bear coloring pages from http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/index.html, coloring is an activity she enjoys both home and away…for a few minutes at a time!

Mini-Backpack: Borrowed from a friend, I thought Roo would like to pull the zippers and find the toys (she loves opening the different pockets in our diaper bag/backpack!)…she wasn’t very interested in the backpack itself.  She adores pressing the buttons on my old cell phone; the Koosh ball, which was always a hit with my students, did not go over well..I think it was a sensory thing!  We soon forgot about the little backpack and lint roller (another idea from a friend).

Family Pictures: I used Photoshop to put the names of the family members we would be visiting. On the way there she wanted to find herself in the pictures, but on the way back and since we have been home, she has enjoyed looking at the other family members, pointing to them and hearing their names.  I need to make these pictures of everyone in our family!

Paint With Water Book and Q-tips: Came across this when I was looking for an airplane board book and thought we’d give it a try…it didn’t make it out on the plane and she really didn’t get into it once we were home.

Stickers: Any scrap booking stickers that I am not going to use, go to Roo..we didn’t play with them on the plane.  She is still trying to grasp the concept of sticking them on paper and then they won't come off...maybe she needs a sticker book!

Stacking Cups: These were a gift that she received for her first Christmas and they are always a popular toy!   We usually keep them in the diaper bag and pull them out at restaurants or waiting rooms.  We pulled down the tray table and she nested them for awhile, until she started thinking it was funny to throw them off!

Matching Game: I printed this Brown, Bear Brown Bear “heads and tails” game from http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/index.html.  I made two copies, laminated them, and added Velcro so she could make matches (I think finding the heads and tails without matching would be a little too tricky for her).  I wasn’t sure if she would be able to complete the puzzles herself, but figured she would at least enjoy pulling off the Velcro pieces.  She probably spent more time playing with this than any other thing we packed!  She was able to complete the puzzles…and liked pulling the pieces off!!

Gel Clings: A friend suggested this, but we still haven’t opened them!

Pop-Poms and Cup: I had my husband drill holes in the lid to a small plastic container.  (I have seen this on many blogs).  Roo really enjoyed pushing the pom-poms through the holes. I wish I had brought another container to store the pom-poms in.

Golf Whiffle Balls: I bought these because she loves the ones that they have at our local Childnren’s Museum (plus they are light!)  at the last minute I stuck an empty toilet paper roll in the bag…she liked pushing the balls through the tunnel….and only one rolled away!

Brown Bear Book and Felt Pieces: I ordered the felt pieces from a teacher friend…Little Roo likes the story and the animals, and it coordinated with some of the other activities.  The felt pieces were a little tricky to manage on the plane.

Pipe Cleaners and Beads: We had this set of chunky beads in the basement and I knew the only way she would be able to manage them would be on pipe cleaners…she did like this activity, but still needs a little help.

Other activities that she enjoyed: watching the workers load/unload the luggage, pulling the window screen up and down, browsing the magazines & safety info, looking at pictures of dogs in SkyMall, playing peek-a-boo with the people sitting behind us, sharing snacks (She tried Goldfish crackers for the first time!), and singing songs with motions.  We found that the ERGO carrier was a must have for walking around the airports.

Roo is an easy-going little girl, who makes a great traveler….my husband is already looking at booking a cruise in the next couple months!!

Enjoying some swinging time in the Florida sunshine!