Traveling with Children this Summer?
COMMENTS FOR THIS GIVEAWAY ARE NOW CLOSED.
Thank you to all who shared a travel tip! I was amazed at all the wonderful suggestions our readers shared for traveling with children.
As a result of the large number of entries received both here on Moon Child and on Instagram, we chose TWO winners!
Congratulations to Meredith Baldwin (no relation) who won one of the Travel Baskets for sharing the following tip:
Travel tip: go to the bathroom before you leave 😉
I stapled a bunch of blank pieces of paper cut down to a smaller size for little children and told them to “write stories” by drawing pictures or using stickers and to tell me what was going on in their story. (They couldn’t write yet)
You can play this game: every person takes a turn saying a word or two going around to create a story. My girls LOVED a version of this when we made up quick fairytales-each person getting a turn.
Amanda Gregg @wholenessmom was the Instagram winner of the second Travel Basket.
All Moon Child readers are invited to SAVE 10% off all items our Travel Games and Toys Collection through July 31, 2017 with coupon code: TRAVEL10. Valid only on in-stock items, while supplies last.
Enter Our Summer Giveaway to Win this Basket of Travel Games, Art Supplies, & Crafts!
Last week on Moon Child I shared my “Top Tips for Stress-Free Travel with Kids.”
This week, Bella Luna Toys is delighted to host a giveaway for a basket full of exciting games, art supplies, and crafts that will make traveling with children a lot more enjoyable.
This exciting travel tote includes one of each of the following:
⭐️ String Game from Sarah’s Silks
⭐️ Children’s Card Games Set
⭐️ Travel Bingo Game
⭐️ Bag of Crayon Rocks
⭐️ Box of Stockmar Modeling Beeswax
⭐️ eeBoo Jumbo Double-Sided Colored Pencils
⭐️ Quick-to-Knit Scarf Kit
⭐️ Rainbow Covered Woven Lunch Basket
TO ENTER
Earn one entry for each of the following actions:
- SHARE A TRAVEL TIP: Receive one entry by sharing your own travel tip or leaving a comment in the Comments section below this blog post.
- FOLLOW + LIKE TO WIN: Follow Bella Luna Toys on Instagram and like our Travel Goodies Giveaway photo by double-clicking on it.
- TAG FRIENDS: Receive one additional entry for each friend that you tag in the comments section of our Instagram Travel Goodies Giveaway photo.
Entries must be received by midnight PDT on Saturday, July 22th, 2017. One winner will be selected at random and announced on Sunday, July 23th, 2017. By entering, you confirm that you are 18+ years of age, release Instagram of all responsibility, and agree to Instagram’s terms of use.
Happy Travels and Good Luck!
Enter our giveaway by sharing your own travel tip or leaving a comment below!
210 Comments
When we have to travel with my daughters for a few hours, I bring a bag of special little things that they normally don’t have around, which I give to them one by one as needed, to keep them occupied. When they were around 4 or 5, their favorite travel surprise was a simple box of band-aids, preferably with princesses or unicorns on them – they would slowly peel one, stick it somewhere on them, take another, etc. They ended up covered in band-aids, it would keep them busy for a good half-hour, and it cost only $3 or so! I also bring mini coloring books or I make them myself, a few scratch paper, stickers and a small album, a couple new books, some bubble wrap to pop the bubbles, an eye-spy bottle, modeling beeswax, pipecleaners, and lots of music on my iPhone to sing together, as loud as we can. Last year we listened to a few wonderful stories from Sparkle stories, and we played games like “True or false” (ex.: When I was litttle, I once ate a spider – true or false?”) and “I’m going on a trip, I am packing my suitcase, and I put my (fill blank) in it” – next person has to repeat and add an item, etc. My daughters also look outside the windows, wonder at the world, ask questions, look at the map, tell stories, sing a ton of songs. It would be so boring to put them in front of an iPad with a movie! :0)
Love this! We pack special snacks for our kids when traveling. Snacks they don’t usually get at home. Also, gum it’s a life-saver when traveling with my kids. Crossing my finger for this giveaway!
Pro-tip: Sensory toys: spray bottle, stickers, fan, pocket mirror, special snack and so on. Wrap each presie so so that’s part of the experience and buys time
We were given a car DVD player when my older boys were little. I learned very quickly that it was “robbing Peter to pay Paul”! Helping them depend on their own creativity too a little more time investment upfront, but has really paid off in the long run! We took 6,000 mile trip one summer. The only digital “entertainment” tools we’re these two: An eBook reader and watching our blue dot on Google maps! They caught a lot more countryside than they would have if they’d been glued to digital devices.
Take colored shoe strings, a container of Froot Loops, string Froot Loops on the strings for a portable snack necklace for later in the trip.
What a great collections for these long summer days!
We listen to the radio and CDs and my daughter loves it. Before a trip I will create a playlist and upload it. It keeps my daughter interested for up to five hours. We live in Texas, car travel can e brutal for kids. Crayons, paper, music seem to do the trick, maybe the boring cactus all along the way works like hypnosis.
We always plan travel-only toys that are new and only for traveling.
Our best travel tip: Like many people, we LOVE audiobooks! Last summer we really enjoyed listening to E.B. White read Charlotte’s Web, and this year we’ve listened to him read Trumpet of the Swan. One we hear OVER and OVER and OVER again is Uncle Wiggly’s Storybook (https://www.bellalunatoys.com/collections/audio-books/products/jim-weiss-uncle-wigglys-storybook-cd). Planning to get all of the Jim Weiss collection!
Love the travel ideas. We have yet to play the alphabet game. Could be good for the ride to grams house at the ocean. Thanks.
Such a great giveaway! We always keep healthy snacks by each child as we travel. Keeps everyone happy.
Travel tip for us is a sticker book.
Tip: bring healthy snacks to keep down on costs and sugar 🙂
always bring a carrier and a favorite snack
I totally agree with your travel tips! FOOD and audio stories are my 2 go to traveling tips!
My favorite travel tip is Children’s audio books. The children love them and we choose stories we enjoy too. I get motion sickness in the car, so this helps them get screen free entertainment.
For car trips I let my kids pack their own “car bag”. So whatever toy or books or games that fit in the bag they can take. Also let them pick out favorite snacks to put in the bag too. I started this when they were toddlers. They can eat their snacks when they want. They are also responsible for their car bag. I don’t keep track of it. They have to pack back up when we arrive at our destination. It’s worked for us!
My favorite travel tip is the combination of modeling clay or wax, small items from nature (like pine cones, acorns, stones and wood) and a few small fairy or gnome figures. These provide hours of travel entertainment and are used once we reach our destination too!
“I spy” and singing are still the number one car games in our family. Always snacks and water bottles within easy reach, and for really long trips a doodle pad or paper and crayons at the ready
When flying, breastfeed baby/toddlers during take off and landing and give gum to older children to prevent pain and popping of ears from drastic elevation changes. Happy travels!
My children pack their own suitcase/bag of things (toys, boys, crayons, knitting, bingo, etc) for the car trips. It normally keeps them entertain for a long time. Also we play word games like each one of us naming a capital or state and we go through the alphabet.
We love playing games like eye spy or talking about our favorites like favorite memory, favorite story, favorite thing we did on last vacation.
I love the idea of modeling clay for travel fun. I wonder if my seven-year-old could knit at this point… perhaps!
Books on tape were so much fun for my kids when we traveled, believe it or not they enjoyed the visual break from tv.
While traveling, we take turns telling portions of a story. It’s fun to hear which direction the story takes and how each person adds their unique twists!
1. Snacks
2. Small open ended toy like travel tegu blocks
3. Sing songs
4. Let child run as much as possible before boarding plane. Goal is to be tired and sleep during trip 😉
Sparkle Stories and finger knitting in the car, homemade play dough and playing cards on an airplane!!
Also playing 21 questions with plants and animals…
My best travel trip is to take it slow and keep it simple. With three youngsters, it can be so stressful to go anywhere. When we plan a trip, I keep my expectations low and we take as long as we need at attractions/restaurants/rest stops. Even if we end up not being able to do some things that we planned, not rushing and keeping everyone somewhat happy is our top priority.
Always pack one more outfit than you think you need!
We love to travel with small lap sized cookie sheets for the kids. It keeps things from rolling off and gives them a magnetic surface for more play options.
We travel with a basket of books, drawing pads and crayons in a handled basket so my children can pass them back and forth between car seats. It keep them pretty happy in the car.
Books on tape, a few paperback books, and a clipboard with paper and some colored pencils (crayons melt!).
With two little ones we usually bring a baby doll and bottle with smal silk, a soft ball, one of the seasonal Gerda Muller books, wooden kazoo and some music or story cds all from Bella Luna Toys!
I always bring a small cookie sheet for each child- they fit perfectly across car seats and are great for snacking, crafting, reading, etc. They make traveling so much easier!
We always bring clipboards with lots of paper and a small pack of pencils, plenty of books, small little animals for them to play with, Sparkle Stories on the mp3, and lots of snacks!
When we travel with our children we have music they will like to listen to, point out interesting things along the drive (cars, bridges, animals, etc), they tell each other stories, plenty of snacks, and plenty of time to stretch at potty breaks 🙂
I do not have an instagram account to enter that way … I like to limit social media but I am really hoping to win! This set is lovely!
We just came back from a trip and I told my 2 boys that they could pick out one toy each at the airport. They were simple little things such as a crab magnet with dangely legs and it kept them busy playing for hours! Also always carrying health snacks to munch on are key and some story books and coloring books.
A favorite was always to take a small bin of ice along, and lightweight cotton gloves. Nothing quite like playing with cooling ice on a hot care trip. Of course now with air conditioning it’s not such a life-saver, but still this provides refreshing fun on a long hot drive.
We make a stop halfway at a park or church playground to get some energy out. It has been the best way to keep everyone from getting stir crazy in a car for too long.
I have a special tote bag that only comes out for long drives so old toys/games/activities are new again – there are some wonderful additions in this giveaway!
While we travel, my kids like to have find-it type books on hand. Highlights magazines and I-spy are two favorites. Paint with water booklets are fun as well. Healthy snacks and bottled water are also a must.
We make a 3 hour road trip to my mom’s house on a regular basis, and I always bring lots of snacks, music that they love, audio books, and some toys: play dough, wiki stix, small wooden figures and peg dolls have all worked well for us. Also we stop half way at a park. The other easy solution is to travel at bedtime, and slip them right into their own beds when we arrive home. I would just love any of the items in this travel giveaway!
We happened to fly a lot with my now 2,5 year old daughter, sometimes spending 6 or more hours on the airplane. I usually take some books, crayons, stickers, beeds, and reserve watching a movie for when she gets really bored. What I noticed though is after some screen time nothing will keep her attention (which is understandable), but modeling with playdough will help bring her back to real life and keep her occupied for quite a while.
Fine motor skill activities are our traveling must. We practice tying and lacing shoes, wooden lacing boards, and also enjoy paper dolls/sticker activities. Etch a sketches (and other “drawer things”) are also staples in the car!
For car-sickness I keep orange EO handy.
Sparkle stories or audio stories in general are helpful but overall it seems even better to not even mention any entertainment other than little toys and looking out the windows. we drove from L.A to Portland (stopping for a couple nights in a little town in between) with our three children (7, 4 and 1) successfully this way. Hopefully it remains that easy as they grow older!
I love this!!! We are travelling from gorgeous Oregon to Missouri at the end of the month with a six year old and a four year old and all these tips are great!!
I have a 4 year old and a 3 year old and one of the things they love to do on long car rides or road trips is to hear Mommy and Daddy tell stories about when we were little and the places and adventures we went on. They especially love it when our story relates to the adventure they are heading to. It is the easiest and most enjoyable thing to do while you are driving to keep your kids happy!
We just returned from a trip to the beach that involved a pretty long ride in the car. I was happy to engage the children in a game of “I Spy” to help pass the time. The youngest is only two, but he was still excited to participate. I also love the Little Dover Activity books that you can find in some state and federal sites, visitor centers and museums. I like to stock up on the books for long car rides and while waiting for our food to arrive in restaurants.
We also entertain the kid’s with short stories and books on CD. They also have fun singing along with some fun, upbeat children’s songs we have. And when they are sleepy we switch to some more soothing music ( :
We do special snacks, healthy but different. Modeling dough!!!! We use eco dough or the organic stuff on Amazon if we are too busy to make our own. A couple tools and the wooden board purchased here to play with it on. HOURS of entertainment! Also new books, coloring books, stickers stickers stickers, favorite music, little wooden peg people with a felted scene to play with them on…. Car trips are no big deal with a little thought out fun.