20 Tips for Traveling with Kids

J is quite the traveler for his age.  He’s been on several plane rides and lots of long (like 10-16 hour) road trips.  All in all he’s traveled to 8 different states (some more than once) in his first 2 years.  We’re heading out again next week for another 10 hour road trip and I have been thinking of everything that needs to be done and how to make the drive easier on all of us.

I feel like I have a pretty good handle on how to travel with a kid, but I thought I’d ask some of my friends over at the Kid Blogger Network for some of their advice too.  There was some really cool ideas given, so I thought I’d share them all with you too!  So, here is a list of our best tips for traveling with kids.

Flying

• Use a backpack as a carry on rather than a rolling suitcase or purse. It leaves both your hands free to juggle kids as you walk through the airport. – The Golden Gleam
• Let your child explore the airport by walking around before boarding the plane to try to burn off energy. My daughter loves playing with reusable sticker books on the plane. – The Golden Gleam
• Most large airports have a kids play area in the terminal.  I always seek them out during long lay overs – Dirt and Boogers
• We get through security faster by wearing slip on shoes.  We also put all our keys, phones, watches, loose change, or anything metal in a carryon bag before you get to security.  – Dirt and Boogers

Road Trips

• A lot of times we try to travel through the night when the kids are sleeping (they happen to sleep great in the car!). – PlayDrMom
• I try to look for fun places to stop on the trip and get a new music cd from the library to listen to. JDaniel4’s Mom
• Individually package healthy snacks for the trip. That way it’s easy to just hand the kids a snack instead of stopping for junk food! Also, audio books have been a life saver on long car trips. JDaniel4’s Mom
• Planning out the places where you can stop to use the washroom and walk around is important. – Kitchen Counter Chronicles
• I set my car up for a 20hour round trip. I had a nappy station in the back of my wagon! It was so cool and incredibly useful! The twins were 4 months and Chook was 21 months. – Triple T Mum
• I have a small separate bag  (a backpack) for when I stop to eat or get gas.  I put in diapers, wipes, and anything we need for lunch (like sippy cups, forks, placemats), hand sanitizer, and tissues.  That way I have everything I’ll need for stops without digging through a bunch of bags.  – Dirt and Boogers

To Keep Them Entertained

• I make up lots of separate busy bags with different little age appropriate activities, a snack, stickers, the odd small toy etc. so that I can pull a new one out as they start to get bored. They love discovering what is in each bag as it comes out so keeps them busy for quite some time. – Learn with Play @ Home
• When traveling on long car trips, I wrapped up small age-appropriate toys that would keep each child busy (like new crayons, Color Wonder Markers, AquaDoodle, books, stickers, etc).  I also try to bring along some new music to listen to and a new movie or two to help keep us entertain.  – PlayDrMom
• We do long car trips occasionally and we’ve done busy bags (with a few new things thrown in they haven’t seen). Snack bags are a huge hit. Our kids are older so they get to manage their own snacking, when the bag is gone they are out lol. Auto Bingo is a BIG hit. You can still buy it on amazon, I think, or you can make your own 🙂 – Plain Vanilla Mom
• If we’re in the car, it’s all about books for my toddler and silly songs (no Cd, we just sing them). He also likes when I recite a book-where the wild things are and Hungry caterpillar are the favs. – The Good Long Road
• I usually go to the dollar store and pick up some new crayons, paper pads, and little toys to give to him on the way. {not all at once, though…} – Crayon and Freckles
• Pack activities, but don’t bring them out by default. Some of my best trips have been the ones where the kids entertained themselves! Wow Water Doodle books are my favorite travel toy for the under-five set. – Mama Smiles
• J’s favorite toy in the car is Color Wonder Markers and Paper.  They are great because he can color without leaving marks all over the car. He also really likes it when I pack puppets and put on a puppet show. – Dirt and Boogers.
• When we take long road trips it is all about car bingo and scavenger hunts. Searching for a water tower can really pass the time. Also, I am a huge fan of books on cd. -Kitchen Counter Chronicles

Packing

• I pack J’s clothes in plastic zipper bags, one outfit per bag.  It’s easy to just grab an outfit instead of having to pick one out everyday.  Plus, your child will always match! – Dirt and Boogers
• I make a packing  list and put it in plastic sheet protectors.  I mark off things that have been packed with a dry erase marker.  Then I erase list and use it again when packing to come back home.  This helps me remember to pack everything I took with us.  – Dirt and Boogers