Travelling with Children

 

Last year in one of my posts I wrote that I would share some of the purchases I had made for our driving holiday.  It was such a rush leading up to our departure I just ran out of time. So this post will cover some of the activities that worked for us. Our twins were 18 months at the time of travel.


Mini Doodle Pro -  A mere 15cm by 11cm these are the perfect size for little hands. These have been super handy for the car, doctors waiting room and at home. Art without the mess.

Schleich Figures - You can read about schleich figures on two other Montessori blogs here and here. I purchased our animals knowing we would use them for language development and imaginative play.

Quiet books - I purchased two quiet books for A & G.  There is a different activity on each page, for example, buttoning a flower, zip up a vest, tell the time, tie a bow, snap on some shapes, pick apples from a tree, count the wheels on a train, tie a shoe lace, buckle up a backpack, learn traffic light colours, fabric textures, learn about emotions, and finally there is a Velcro puzzle. Our quiet books have a carry handle and zips up to keep all the piece contained when not in use. I purchased our quite books from Classicbaby.

I will admit to dithering when deciding to purchasing these. They have been very useful. Currently we use them for quiet time. G likes the pick the apples from the tree. I can often hear her saying, "apple, a- pple, APPLE!" She also likes the traffic light page, she likes to say, "STOP!" A likes the buckle the backpack, she likes anything with buckles, buttons and switches.

Puppets - I brought a series of hand puppets from Ikea,  a chicken, lion, lamb, cow, pig, monkey and elephant. They were a huge hit in the car. I use the puppets for story, song or nursery rhyme time. The pig is used for "this little piggy when to market...." the chicken sings, chicken talk, from a CD we have titled "Playschool, lets play together.". Combined all the animals feature in a spectacular performance of Old MacDonald.

What I like about each of these items is how useable they are long after the car journey has ended.

I hope you have found this post helpful