Weather have you trapped inside?  Try these fun things to keep kids entertained.

Color Experiments

Supplies:  Food coloring, plastic bowls, water

Play with color – have the kids experiment and create the secondary and tertiary colors using drops of food coloring.  Add some Cool Whip for even more color fun!

The Quiet Game

Supplies: Watch with a second hand

Ever hear yourself say, “Can you stop talking for one minute?”  Make it into a game.   Tell everyone to count, in their heads, to sixty and yell out their name when they think a minute has past.  Meanwhile, a timekeeper monitors the clock and makes note of who yells their name closest to the actual minute.  This works best if small prizes are awarded to the winner each round.

The Animal Alphabet Game

This game works for kids of ages but younger ones might need a little assistance with the letters.  Begin the game with the letter A.  The first person thinks of an animal – “ant” for example.  The next player must think of an animal that begins with the last letter of the previous answer (“T”) in the example.  No repeating animals or taking too long, of course.  There are lots of variations but a favorite for traveling is to use names of places and use the road signs along the way to offer prompts.

Create a Taste Test

Supplies: 5-10 different foods or spices, blindfolds, paper, pencils

A popular baby shower game, this can be fun for the entire family!  One person secretly prepares the foods/spices on plates.  Everyone else dons blindfolds and quietly tries to guess the foods and writes down their guesses on the paper provided.  The writing doesn’t need to be neat, as long as you can read it.

Make it Snow

Supplies: Flour, shifter, jelly roll pan or craft try, small animals or legos.

This is a huge hit with toddlers but can be messy so supervision is a must.  Have the child create a city (or jungle) using small plastic animals or buildings.  Fill the sifter with flour and let them make it snow on the town.  Let them play in the “snow” and repeat as often as necessary.

Play with Tissues

Supplies: One box of tissues per child

My husband hates this game and I only use it as a last resort but it works like a charm every time.  Give the kids a box of tissues and let them pull them out one by one.  Yes it is wasteful but sometimes a mom has to do what a mom has to do.

That’s enough of my ideas for now.  What are some of your favorite rainy day or travel games?

Entertaining Kids on the Go · General Travel With Kids

I mentioned in my last post that our painstakingly selected, enormously expensive hotel was right across from the largest park in the city.  And not just any park, one travel guide gushed that this was the best park in Europe – acres of green space, quaint snack bars, clean restroom facilities, soccer fields and the latest in playground equipment.   The park was fabulous – immaculate gardens, beautiful soccer fields & rugby pitches, 24 brand new tennis courts – an adult oasis in the city.  But, to our utter dismay, the playground equipment was from the dark ages and not safe for anyone!  We played tag and racing games but things quickly disintegrated into chaos.  Having learned our lesson, we now pack a few outdoor toys that fit easily into a backpack and are carried everywhere – you never know when the opportunity to play might present itself.  Here are our favorites:

• Foam stunt flyers (I know the balsa wood ones fly better but they are easy to crush)
• Beach ball
• Small flying disk
• Tennis balls
• Mini sidewalk chalk
• Pocket kite
• Flipstick
• Jump rope
• Small cars

What would you add?

No tags

On our first trip to Europe with the kids, we spent hours planning our itinerary – blending adult and kid sites, fun restaurants and even booked a hotel across from the largest park in the city.   At the end of the first day, we trudged back to the hotel room to wind down, take baths and get ready for bed.  Unfortunately, the kids were not content to sit in a chair relaxing before bed and that’s when it hit me – I had packed nothing for them to do in the hotel room.  Tired, fussy kids are not the best at making their own fun and the three channels on TV were not appropriate for the kids, so we quickly pulled out some of the airplane activities and had some quiet time on the floor.  Older and wiser, I now pack some hotel room activities that everyone can enjoy.  Here are some suggestions that work for us:

• Small travel games that pack easily.  Need some suggestions?  Check out the ThinkFun games and the assortment of eco-friendly bamboo travel games on the TravelKiddy site.
• New coloring book or activity book.
• Stickers and doodle pad
• Beach balls  (12 inch work well) or balloons
• Mid-sized cars
• Kaleidoscopes
• Playing cards
• Yo-yo
• Origami
• Magic scratch paper

Engage the kids in quiet activities that allow everyone to relax and unwind.  For older kids, this is a good time to work in a travel journal and revisit the day’s activities with maps and brochures collected along the way.

Spend the dinner hour discussing plans for the next day but don’t dwell on them during bedtime.  The last thing you want to do is get everyone too excited to sleep!

Happy travels!

europe with kids · toys for travel · traveling with kids

Tips & Tricks for Surviving Family Trips to Grown-Up Destinations

1.  Set ground rules and expectations for behavior – including consequences for misbehaving.  Universal rules include no running, no shouting, and no wandering off.   My kids respond well to a reward system so we give them a small gift shop budget.  If they behave, they can spend $5 – $10 on a book or puzzle in the gift shop.  Bad behavior reduces or, in some cases, eliminates this privilege.

2. Set a time limit.  You may want to spend 8 hours in The Vatican, but chances are that your kids will only last 4.  Set a realistic time limit for the visit and then plan ahead so you don’t miss any “must see” exhibits.

3.  Look down.  The floors in historical churches, cathedrals and museums are often covered with beautiful, intricate designs that kids love.  My favorite example is the Sistine Chapel.  The walls and ceiling are covered with beautiful masterpieces that held my kids’ interest for exactly 60 seconds.  Luckily, they noticed the fantastic geometric designs on the floor and spent the next hour finding shapes and patterns throughout the entire chapel.

4.  Plan a scavenger hunt.  This is a fun way to engage kids and can be as simple or complex as you want.  In art museums, color hunts are fun.  As you enter a gallery, take note of the theme and ask the kids to find something of a certain color (find blue flowers, for example).  In a church or cathedral have a search for angels, crosses and/or count the pews.   Take small notebooks and crayons and have them draw pictures of things they see along the way or write down interesting facts.  On our next trip, we are creating journals for the girls and will include scavenger hunts and activities for them to complete at each destination.  Entertainment, memories and learning all in one!

5.  Include some kid-friendly fun along the way.  After a long morning at a museum, spend a few hours in a local park.  If the museum has a snack bar, take a break during the tour for a fun snack.   If you have time, squeeze in a trip to the local zoo or aquarium in the middle of the trip or as a reward for good behavior.

6.  Engage kids in the planning process.  While the museum might not have a hands-on discovery room, there is sure to be something of interest.   Let them pick at least one thing to see or do at the museum and try to do it late in the visit.

Happy travels.

europe with kids · traveling with kids

With spring travel upon us, unruly kids on airplanes has become a frequent topic in the media and blogging world.  “Who is to blame?” has been a popular headline this year – with heated commentary on both sides.    I  think that unprepared parents are to blame for most unruly kids on planes (and in restaurants).

Let me start by defining “unruly”.   The most appropriate word to describe these kids is turbulent.  They are the ones screaming at the top of their lungs, kicking the seats, refusing to buckle, and running up and down the aisles while mom and/or dad do nothing.   The majority of kids on flights are well behaved but it is the unruly ones that get the media attention.

I fly frequently with my four children and can assure you that no flight is perfect.   At least one person cries at least once during the trip.  We play with the tray table or make more noise than an adult passenger but we also have more fun.    I see many parents actively engaged with their children on planes – playing with them, walking the aisles, or consoling hurting ears.  Unfortunately, it takes only one or two unruly kids to ruin a flight.  And these kids all have one thing in common – BOREDOM!  Their parents either brought nothing for them to do or are unwilling to join them in an activity.

If you are reading this, chances are you are not one of these parents.  So, what do you do when the kids around you are misbehaving, which, inevitably, has a negative impact on your kids?

1. Pack a few extra items.  My daughters have gone so far as to share their things with bored kids on long flights so now I pack an extra coloring/activity book, four pack of crayons and small toy.  It gets shared with someone on almost every trip we take.
2. Continually remind your kids of expected behavior and reward them verbally (and with treats) for their good behavior.
3. Distract, distract, distract!  Play word games, sing songs, play with finger puppets, color pictures together.
4. Relax.  Your kids will feed off of your mood and stress level.  If you stay calm, they are more likely to as well.

Happy Travels.

Flying with Kids · traveling with kids