8 Tips for Traveling with Toddlers that don’t involve a phone or ipad

A short journey

We are so exited to be visiting Big Island this week. It’s been almost 2 years since I’ve left the island and I have some serious rock fever. It’s just a slightly bigger rock, but it’ll to do for now. Since so many of you travel, I thought I would make this Keiki Monday about keeping everyone sane and happy while traveling with toddlers.

8 Tips for Happy Traveling with Toddlers that don’t involve a phone or ipad

Although our flight isn’t particularly long, we will want to go out to dinner and keep them distracted in the hotel room, so they don’t destroy it. Micah is a bit of a seasoned traveler, so I put together a list of some of our more successful ideas.

1.  Get sticky. I’m a huge fan of sticker activity books like “My big book of stickers”. Older kids can do the activities, while younger ones can just play with the stickers. You can find them at Ross occasionally or online. The books are a little big though, so for short trips you can find a variety of mini sticker books at Ben Franklin or online.  For the under one crowd, you don’t even need stickers. Painter’s tape does the trick!

2.  Get personal. The kids love to look at family pictures so I make lots of prints for them to play with. For a travel version, I print favorite photos as Moo Minicards, punch a hole in them, and add them to a key ring.

3.  Made by Joel. If you’re not familiar with Made by Joel, you should definitely check out his website. He’s a stay-at-home-dad genius and his website is full of fun toys and art projects for you to make with your kids. His mini city is particularly awesome for traveling.

4.  Get Artsy. Mila has loved to color since she was 11 months old. I mean loves, loves, loves to color. To keep her happy on the go I made a travel art kit like this.  Mine has the essentials – pencils, markers, paper, stickers, scissors, and more.

5.  Happy Ears. Music often soothes the savage beast but so do audiobooks. Micah started to listen to them when he was about 2.5. He would be captivated and want to listen to them again and again.

6.  Playsilks are magical. They’re just simple pieces of silk that weigh nothing, pack into tiny places and transform your kids into superheroes. Any activity is infinitely more interesting if you’re a superhero. Works for peek-a-boo too if you’re in a pinch.

7.  Light up my life. Tiny flashlights work great with the playsilks. Also great if you want to make a fort with your hotel sheets.

8.  Tiny animals. A Toob is a tube of tiny animals or people. We’ve bought many, many Toobs over the years.

Are you traveling with your family to Hawaii?

Sign up for Little Bird Post below to learn about off-the-beaten path family adventures while you’re here.