Entertaining: Plane, Train, or Automobile

Happy Travelling Baby
Newborn:
For a really young baby I really only bring three things. Since they can, at most, barely hold their head up and grasp things, I like things with high contrast especially (art cards and rattle). The Indestructibles are great for drooly teething babes and have nice pictures.

Indestructibles, Wee Gallery Art Cards, Lamaze Panda Rattle

Infant:
Keep diapers changed frequently, baby well fed and know what magic song stops your baby from crying and if it has an extended version. We would play One Love on repeat and a relatively high volume when he was crying, but knew that it would NOT put him to sleep. He loved it too much to stop listening.

Little E's favourite song for AT LEAST the first year of his life.

Stay tuned for next week's post about packing for baby. I will list out the toys above (and more!) that I pack for infants and I'll explain how I pack extra diaper bag books for the way home.

As much as I tried to stop him from chewing on books, when he was at peak teething, it was almost impossible, and he gravitated to the little books, so we sacrificed a few.

Happy Travelling Toddler
I am going to list out my favourite ideas for entertaining toddler E, since that required way more work than travelling with infant E. To start, I still bring a similar number and size of board books in the diaper bag as shown above. Toddlers can read and play with each book longer and talk about each page more.

Putting toys in and out of bags and small containers can be as much of a game as playing with the toy itself. Throw in a small ziploc bag or two. Use a container from snacks once they're eaten :)

Iwako Erasers (Japanese Erasers)

Iwako erasers are tiny little rubber toys that separate into little pieces. I assume they erase pencil. I give Little E only a couple at a time. Occasionally I let him line them all up and then put them back in the bag (that they came in). These are definitely toys that should be used with supervision, lots of little pieces and the texture seems appealing for chewing.

Window Clings

I let Little E have one sheet on the travel to destination, and the second on the way home. Can also play with them on the windows at your destination.

They are easily ripped, so again, supervision is required if you want them intact.

I like to store them in their original bag. There's a strip of adhesive at the bottom of the bag that I fold back on itself so the window cling sheets can slide in and out easily.

Tub of Animals

Little E loves lining up the animals. We also sort them by size and colour. Practice their sounds.

Pipe Cleaners (Chenille Sticks)

Pipe cleaners are really fun and can be used in many ways. Twisting them, stringing things on them, poking them through holes (in spice containers or colanders), sorting them by colour etc.

Interconnecting Toys

I bought these 2 versions of interconnecting toys at the dollar store. We stack and pull them apart. We also sort them by colour and count them.

I store the animals, pipe cleaners and interconnecting toys in the same ziploc. Pull out only a few toys at a time to maximize the time played with each.

Felt Quiet Books

My mom created this Very Hungry Caterpillar quiet book. Quiet books are great because they help develop fine motor skills and hand and eye coordination as well as stimulate senses with bright colours and different textures.

Melissa & Doug Sticker Pads

I took the pad apart, so that Little E only uses one scene and associated stickers at a time. He can play with this for a long time, moving things around the scene. He also hands me each sticker when he is done and I put it back on the sheet. This makes clean up be part of the activity, we don't lose stickers and he learns that he has to put things away before moving on to the next activity.

Crayola Mess-Free Touch Lights or Magna-doodle

Both of these are great no-mess drawing tools. We really enjoy both! You can also play with your child, have him copy or trace your drawings.

Screen Time
I am more than willing to let Little E watch some Daniel Tiger or Paw Patrol when we're on the road, especially when we are delayed at the airport or even worse, on the airplane. Any screen time rules you might have, be flexible with them while travelling :) You may need to have child-friendly headphones.

Things I'll Try in the Future:
Post-it Tags

Saw this idea and thought it would be fun for a one year old. Just pull out tags and stick them to things :) It's good to work on their pincer grip and hand eye coordination. And at this age they can't take them all out in 5 seconds. For older toddlers, you could use them for colour naming practice or counting. Could also play with regular Post-it Notes.

Velcro on Popsicle Sticks

This tutorial includes free printable pages with shapes for toddlers to create.

Magnetic Boards

My mom has this magnetic book, that's small and light.

Koosh Balls

How fun are these!?! And they wouldn't roll away as much or be quite as dangerous a projectile as other balls.

How to Store Toys While En Route
On a plane or train, we use a diaper bag or toddler backpack. Plus a thing or two in a carry-on if it's big or we're worried about it getting folded.

In a car we usually use a bucket without a lid so I can easily pass things to Little E who is rear-facing in his carseat.

Shoe organizers from the dollar store can also be used on the backs of seats to store toys and other things you'll need access to on long road trips (hats, sun screen, diapers, wipes).

Projectiles in a Car
Remember that in a crash, all items that are not secured become projectiles. It is better to choose soft items during car travel and to put toys away when they're not being used to minimize potential projectiles.

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