Tips and Tricks for Travel with a Toddler

I'm not fond of car travel and my two year old is even less fond of car travel.  Unfortunately, we spend a fair amount of time in the car because many of the people we love live an hour away or more.  A few weekends ago I was looking down the barrel of a four hour car trip solo with my kiddo.  I'm not going to lie, the thought of being in the car with an active child for 4 straight hours made me a little anxious.  So I tried to think about what I would tell one of my early intervention families if they were planning such a trip.  BINGO- as soon as I framed it this way, I had a zillion ideas for what to put in a busy box to keep her occupied.  I made her this Busy Box:

 



Here is what I brought:

• books- mostly paperback because they fit in the box better and are lighter.  I brought books that were brand new (from the library) or that I pulled out of my stash in toy closet (yes, I have an entire toy closet.  More on that another day).
• small doll and box of band aids. As long as your child has the fine motor skills to play with stickers and s/he knows what a band aid is, this activity will keep a kid busy for at least 20 minutes.  I recommend hitting the dollar store for these.  This works with stuffed toys and large action figures, too, if your child isn't so into dolls. You could also bring a toothbrush for the doll.  Most of the kiddos I see for early intervention LOVE brushing other people/toy's teeth.
• train beads.  Another find from my toy closet, but you can also use penne pasta or cheerios and a string.  Just make sure that whatever you bring for beading isn't a choking hazard. 
• Max and Ruby paper dolls.  I printed these from the nick jr. website, covered them with clear contact paper and added a few strips of velcro so the clothes would stay on if she held them up.  I wouldn't print print too many of the outfits.  Too many choices leads to all the choices in a pile on the floor.
• Action figures/toy cars.  Again, I raided my toy closet but you can get little disney characters or rescue vehicle cars from the dollar store.
• Reusable coloring pages.  These are just printed coloring sheets of a few characters my daughter likes put inside of clear binder sheet protectors.  If you color them using dry erase markers, the ink wipes right off with a wash cloth.  I also included a blank page and page with my daughter's name written on it. 

I had a an unused photo box that was collecting dust so I used that to hold everything.  You could just as easily use a large plastic food container or cloth shopping bag or tote bag.  If you are planning to take this on airplane, a bag would likely fit under the seat better than a box. I kept the box on the front seat and handed her one thing at time to play with.  Of course, I also packed lots of her favorite snacks and water bottles.  I also made sure that she had lots of time to run around before we got into the car.  Overall, the trip went pretty well.  The busy box entertained her for about 2 hours and then she napped the rest of the way.  I did have lots of band aid wrappers to pick off of the floor when got home, though!