Fun Things To Do With Your Kids When Traveling

One’s love for travel doesn't have to end or be suppressed just because you already have kids. In fact, traveling is more fun with kids. The happiness that you feel as a parent traveling from one place to another will be multiplied once you see your children feeling so elated about the things they discover and learn along the way. If you’re looking to travel with your kids, plan it well in advance to ensure that it is going to be a memorable trip for you and the whole family.

Alas, traveling is not all fun and excitement. In reality, you can also find yourself getting stuck in traffic when visiting a famous tourist spot. You may also experience delayed flights where you will have to sit in the airport for hours and do nothing. Unfortunately, times like these could spell disaster for your kids. From being excited and energetic children, they could easily turn out to be irritated and anxious kids when things don’t go as planned. This is why it is important for parents to prepare some activities in advance so that kids won’t keep asking “Are we almost there?”.

The activities that kids can enjoy when traveling may depend on what your destination has to offer. Sightseeing and visiting theme parks can be a few of the most common activities. If you plan to go outside the United States, make sure that you do your homework first and see to it that your chosen destination has a plethora of things and places for your kids to enjoy. If you will be traveling just within the United States, visiting Las Vegas would be a wonderful option. The Marvel Avengers Station or the Wildlife Habitat are among the most exciting attractions that await your children.  

However, when planning where to stay for several nights it is a must that parents carefully choose the kind of hotel to stay in. It is also important that you choose from one of the top kid friendly hotels in Las Vegas so you will never have to worry about the hotel staff complaining about your kids’ noise. If you choose a kid-friendly hotel chances are the rooms will be soundproof and you will not find yourself feeling anxious that other hotel guests will complain about hearing “chaos” coming from your room. But, before you even reach your hotel room and your ultimate travel destination, keep in mind that the kids are bound to get bored once they realize that it would take several hours before they can finally see those tourist attractions you promised them.

So, to prevent boredom and crankiness from killing the joy of traveling, here are some activities that you and your kids may choose to engage when traveling.

Pack plenty of balloons.

Letting your child play with balloons is one perfect way to entertain them during downtime and when they are inside the hotel room. Choose the kind of balloons in which the kids can easily turn into animals like the ones that clowns make during party celebrations. Bring a small balloon pump to spare your kids from painful jaws from having to blow their balloons out using their own air. When the balloon pump is ready, they can easily fill the hotel room with it. The best thing about this is that children of different ages can play with it. You will be glad to find them laughing their hearts out and enjoying every minute inside the four-walled hotel room as they blow one balloon after another, not realizing that you’re already frantically looking for plan B since the restaurant in your itinerary is closed for renovation.  

Let your teenager write a travel journal.

If your kids are old enough to write, encourage them to write a travel journal. They can write those interesting places and things they see while on the road or during your stopover to certain tourist spots. It does not have to be an all-text journal. To make the process more interesting for kids, you can also tell them to draw those things that they see while on the road, in a bus or while they’re on board a plane. To motivate your kids even more, tell them to use colored ballpens, colored pens and stickers so that each page will look colorful and attractive. There is no limit to how many words they would like to write or how many images they would like to draw on their journal. However, parents have to be prepared for extra journal notebooks so that kids will be given another journal book once they ran out of pages to write or draw on. It would also be better if you surprise them with colorful stickers that they can stick on the cover pages of their journal notebooks. Give these stickers only when you’re already in the middle of the road and the kids start to feel bored.

Let your preschoolers play traveler’s alphabet.

Little children who have memorized the alphabet can play this game. Parents can start the sentence and let the children finish it. For example, you can start the game by saying “I’m going to travel to Alaska”. Other family members would say “What will you do in Alaska?”. Then one child should respond by saying “I will visit the city of Anchorage”. The rule is - the name of the place must start with the next letter in the Alphabet so that the letters A-Z will be used all throughout the game. The answer to the question “What will you do in...?” must also start with the same letter with that of the other person's first sentence. The first one to give an appropriate answer will be given a reward.

Filling the artbins.

Purchase artbins for each of your little ones and then let them decide what they want to put inside each of its compartments. They may choose to have M&M’s, tiny muffins, small cookies stickers, jelly ace, fruitties, etc. Parents can also use the artbins as a container to put their rewards for good behavior while on the road. Parents can also reserve some stickers and let the kids use these to decorate their artbins during delayed flights, or when any unexpected delay occurs while traveling. So, instead of the kids being antsy once they know they’re stuck in traffic they become excited knowing that they are going to receive another batch of goodies from their parents to fill their artbins.

Listen to audiobooks.

Audiobooks  can easily provide entertainment for the entire family while traveling. The good news is that there are tons of engaging audiobooks that you can purchase online. You can try listening to a kiddie audiobook or if you have older kids, you may also ask them to listen to Harry Potter or other audiobooks with the same genre. If the story is engaging and interesting, your kids will tend to behave well during your trip. It’s because they focus more on listening to the audiobook. And if you’re good at choosing the most interesting audiobook story, you’ll find quiet kids eager to know what will happen next. For this reason, audiobooks are a must!

Bring strings of treats

Giving your child a bag of cookies or any sweet treats may only cause more mess inside the car, especially when they still do not know how to prevent their food from spilling. This is when the game of making strings of treats will prove to be very helpful. Prepare some strings where children can use to tie their Cheerios, chocolate knots and other treats which they could munch on while traveling. Parents will be surprised to know that the use of these strings will encourage kids to become careful while eating or they will damage the necklace or bracelet of treats and cause spillage.

Create a musical band.

A musical band would be perfect for families who are into music. Tell your kids to bring their musical instrument toys as you travel. Then during lean hours on the road, parents should encourage the kids to sing a song and then play their instruments while waiting to arrive at their destination. There are also plenty of affordable musical instrument toys that parents can purchase in stores or online. So, prepare the tambourine for your little girl, xylophone for your little boy and drums and guitars for your teenage kids. Do not forget to bring a portable microphone as well so anyone can sing along while inside the car or visiting a quiet park.

Create conversation cards.

This activity would be perfect for teenagers and for children who are already old enough to comprehend “Would you rather..?” questions. Just make sure to keep the questions funny to elicit humor. This way, your travel time will not only be fun. It can also be a brain-stimulating activity for everyone. One good example of a conversation card would be “Would you rather eat a box of donuts or a box of pizza?” Note that the kids can only choose one option and give sufficient explanation as each question will always be followed by the word “Why?”. This keeps their brain busy and prevent them from feeling cranky. Make sure that the questions should be according to your child’s level.

Eat delicious treats.

Let your kids enjoy a good snack while you are on a road trip or in flights. This is a great way to have them entertained while travelling. Everyone enjoys a yummy treat during a long journey, regardless of whether you’re an adult, a child, a seasoned or just a budding traveler. There are many delicious and healthy snacks you can provide your kids such as granola bars and fruits. You can play a game with them and whoever wins will get their favorite snack. It is also good if you will ask them what they wanted to have as their travel snacks, days prior to your scheduled trip.

Prepare your child’s playlist.

Hearing your favorite music while traveling is indeed one of the best ways to make those hours pass by without letting in boredom and anxiety. What OSTs do your kids love? Are there particular music artists that your teenage girl or boy love? Prepare a playlist for these artists so that they can just sing along while traveling. The music does not necessarily have to be played on a loudspeaker. They may choose to play it using their headsets. Make sure the playlist is also pre downloaded into the iPod or smartphone so you don't have to look for  areas with wi-fi connectivity before you can let your kids listen to it.

Have time for map exploration.

Give your kids a map and a list of places and landmarks that they should find. You may also give them clues like the name of the state or city where a specific tourist attraction can be found. This will not only keep your kids busy but it will also help increase their knowledge about geography and get to know more about the places that you travel. Make it more exciting by giving rewards to the first one who can find the specific place or spot on the map. You may also download some printable maps online, the kind that kids can color using crayons or colored pens. For every place written from your list, they may choose to color it with their favorite color as soon as they found it. It is important that each child be assigned to only one color. The child with the most number of colored places on the map will serve as the winner.

Guessing time with facts and trivia.

This game can be played in areas where there is a stable internet connection. Let your kids use their tablets or smartphones. Then, cite a specific fact or trivia for them to answer. The child who will be the first one to give you the correct answer wins. If there aren’t any wifi connectivity you can still play this game but make sure to give out clues. For example, you may say “The answer starts with the letter___”. Of course, do not forget to reward them for quick thinking.

Traveling offers a plethora of wonderful experiences that one cannot have inside a four-walled classroom. The more you travel as a family, the stronger you family bond could become. The more you travel, the more knowledge your kids will also gain. Never get tired of learning and never get tired of traveling, even if it would mean taking several kids with you.

This is a contribution from one of our contributing writers.