Spring Break is fast approaching and we are heading to Virginia. My travel companion is my 4 year-old daughter, Maddie, who will be embarking on her 12th and 13th flights. She loves to travel!
She will be armed with her backpack filled with activities and books to help her pass the time (when she gets tired of the people watching and chatting with strangers). The activities are a mix of exciting new things and familiar, comfortable things.
Her backpack will have a play dough busy box, five different busy bags with activities and art supplies, a kids magazine, her journal with stickers, some tiny fruit erasers, a few of her favorite books, and her favorite baby doll Aja.
A Busy Box
The play dough busy box is a 5×7 inch plastic box with a lid from the Dollar Store. It’s got two tiny play dough containers and a Coral Reef set of “Toob” plastic figures. I cut up some straws and pipe cleaners and put them in Ziploc bags. We did a Christmas version of this and it was a big hit on our last flights.
Busy Bags
The busy bags are great because they are small and thin. I attached a loop of ribbon, so that they are easy to grab out of the backpack. These busy bags have a mix of different puzzles and activities. Target’s Dollar Aisle is a great place to find these tiny treasures. I found foam tangram puzzles, sequencing puzzles, number puzzles. I also loaded 2 of the bags with different crafty supplies. Tiny colored pencils (from Michael’s Easter section), stickers a notepad, markers, scotch tape, craft sticks, pretty twine and some washi tape. I figure we might make some really interesting things with all these supplies!
(They can easily be tucked into your purse individually, so you can use them whenever your tiny traveler is feeling like they need something else to do.)
Journal, Magazine, and Paperback Books
We’re bringing new Maddie’s journal (with lined pages). We started one last year and it’s a fun book to look back on her adventures throughout the year. I usually write the date and a few words and she adds her special drawings, scribbles, paintings, and letters. We are also bringing our new National Geographic Little Kids magazine and a few paperback books. The magazine is a new one for us. It’s tiny and should be perfect for reading on the plane.
I hope some of these ideas are useful to you and your tiny travelers this Spring Break!
