5 Tips for Traveling with Young Children

As the weather becomes warmer, most families start making travel and vacation plans. Vacationing with young children can be challenging - they're bored, tired and don't like the mode of transportation to the vacation spot whether its a car, bus, train or plane. Here are some tips that have helped our family:

1. For long car rides, we pick up young kid friendly books on tape. I don't have to worry about my kids having too much screen time, it entertains them and helps with their listening skills. Some of our favorite books on tape have been:

• Marc Brown's Arthur Chapter Books 
• The Mercy Watson Books 
• Ramona Books

2. Whether you are traveling in a car, bus, train or airplane, it's always helpful to have snacks and water on hand for kids. It's hard to travel when you're thirsty and hungry. I like things that don't get too messy traveling like:

• Applesauce Pouches
• Goldfish Crackers
• Bananas
• Grapes (if your kids are old enough to eat them or preslice them) 
• Pre-sliced and peeled Cucumbers 
• Pre-sliced Peppers

It's also great to have empty water bottles that you can refill easily as needed.


3. We also like to have travel friendly toys like:

• Magnetic drawing board
• Mr. Potato head
• Dinosaurs
• Melissa and Doug "On-the-Go" Activities

I love the Melissa and Doug "On the Go" Activities. My son loves them too. He enjoys doing them even when we're not traveling. They are also fairly inexpensive. Our favorite Melissa and Doug "On the Go" product is the Water Wow! books that aren't messy and are easy to use anywhere. He has three of them and we use them a lot. You can keep the "water pens" empty while you're going through security at the airport and fill them up again at a water fountain. They don't seem to leak and the pad dries quickly. We also like their color reveal books.

4. We also like to bring thin-paperback books for kids. The paperback books are easier to pack than board books. My kids like to listen to the stories on an airplane or flip through the pictures when they're on a road trip. We usually have a few Curious George books and some other fun books to read.

5. When our kids are restless traveling in the car, we sometimes sing fun kids songs. They like fun songs with actions: "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," "Old MacDonald had a Farm" and "The Wheels on the Bus."

What are some of your fun tips?


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