Keep kids entertained during holiday travel

With the holidays right around the corner, many families are making plans to travel. Part of planning to travel, involves planning how you will entertain the kids.  No matter, car, plane or train, there will be “downtime” when you need them to be quiet and entertained. While I never underestimate the power of tablets, portable DVD players and Nintendo DSs, I’d like them to not have hours of constant screen time. 

Last summer, we took a five-hour car trip, so I got my creative juices flowing. I typically pack books and gadgets for each of my boys, but I wanted to do something a bit more this time.

The type-A mom in me has already assigned each of the kids a color. John and I have a color too for the family calendar.  I happened to have 2 small tote bags on hand — one in each boys' designated color. This is what started my inspiration for activity bags.

I filled each bag with a clipboard I altered earlier in the summer,and a bunch of supplies I picked up in the $1 spot at Target and Office Depot’s back-to-school sales. I also added a small pack of tissues and a pack of wipes to each bag.

Each of the boys had some blank drawing paper, colored pencils, crayons, stickers, 2 activity/puzzle books, and a wipe-board. In a short amount of time, I had inexpensive and entertaining things to do while we were in the car. These bags were also easy to transport into the hotel for in-room entertainment, and if I keep the supplies stocked, we can use them on any future trips as well.  And unlike our tech gadgets, they never run out of batteries or need to be re-charged.

I'm happy to report that the Activity Bags were a big success, and I keep them stocked throughout the year so we are ready to go on a moment's notice.

Hillary Chybinski is a crafty mom of 2 boys living the American Dream with her husband in the Philly burbs.  This post was adapted from her blog, My Scraps.