Do you have Travel bags put together for your kids?
Travel, while vastly rewarding can still be difficult. Traveling with kids even more so. Over the last several years, my husband and I have had the opportunity to travel a lot with our 3 kids. We have done long car trips to various destinations across the united states as well as traveled to multiple countries overseas.
In all of our travels, one of the keys we have discovered for a more pleasant experience traveling (whether long distances or short day trips) with young kids is having the perfect travel bags prepared for each child.
The Travel Backpack:
When creating a kid’s travel bag the first and most important thing to buy is a quality backpack. You don’t want your kid’s bags to be uncomfortable for them to carry. You also don’t want the bags to break, rip or fall apart while you are on your travel adventure.
You want something that is easy to carry and has plenty of storage space. For younger kids, I recommend getting a smaller 10in Backpack. This will make it easier for your small kid to actually carry themselves. For older kids, you can go a bit larger so 18-20 in backpacks are fine. This allows them to carry more while still making it easy for them to carry.
*Choosing the right sized bag for your child is very important. After all, what happens when the kids can’t carry their packs? You end up doing so. Times that by multiple kids and the picture isn’t pretty.
10" Backpack for Toddlers and Young Kids
This small-sized waterproof sports backpack is perfect for toddlers and young children. You can still pack a lot in it but its size makes it easier for their young bodies to carry. It comes in several color options too which makes it easier to keep track of which travel bag belongs to which child.
Full-Sized Backpack for Older Kids and Youth
This (MAYZERO) full-sized backpack is perfect for your older kids and teens. It is waterproof. It has adjustable straps and lots of storage space. It also comes in a variety of colors to keep track of whose bag is whose.
You might also want to consider writing in a permanent marker your contact info on the front of each kid’s backpack in case the worst should happen and you lose track of your child in a busy place.
Entertainment items to include in your Kids Travel Packs
The most important things to pack in your kid’s travel packs are items for entertainment. Trust me when I tell you that you want to keep your kids happily entertained while traveling.
There are lots of things you can pack to help keep your kids occupied while traveling. I would recommend choosing multiple items for kid’s travel packs so they can switch things up when they get bored.
Coloring Books with Crayons or Pencils
We like to mix electronic entertainment with non-electronic entertainment. One of these that we pack in each bag is a coloring book (or for older kid's activity book) along with crayons or colored pencils. Depending on the age of your kids, this is great for your kids to use while traveling or is better for those downtimes.
Printable Games
My husband and I have created some fun Printable Games for our kids for while we travel. Some are great for while traveling, and others are great for downtimes like at the airport or hotel room. As we make them we will be putting them up here on our site for you to enjoy as well. The ones we have available right now on The Quiet Grove are Guess Who Said it Disney Edition, Pixar Edition & Star Wars Edition. We also have some printable BINGO games, Matching Games and Activity Sheets available.
Physical Books
Yes, we always make sure to have a few ebooks download onto each of our kid's Kindle devices. However, I am a firm believer in having physical books as well. You can get some really cute paperback kids' books that will fit into their travel bags without adding much weight or taking up much room. For your older kids, They can pack whatever chapter book they are currently reading.
Small Toys & Stuffed Animals
We normally let each kid bring a few small toys. They usually each bring their favorite Beanie Boo stuffed animal which they not only play with but sleep with for comfort while traveling. In addition, they each get to choose a few small personal toys. These toys are usually action figures, toy cars or even some legos. I try t make it so the toys are easy to keep track of.
While some may opt to NOT include any electronics in their kid’s travel bags, we have found that they can be very very helpful to keep kids happy and entertained while traveling.
Kindle Fire 7 tablet
Kindles are great electronics for kids while traveling. We originally got our kid's these (Kindle Fire 7 Tablets with 7" display, 16 GB) to use for homeschool, but quickly found out how great they are for traveling too. You can put on each kid's kindle a selection of their favorite movies, games, and books for hours of fun.
We learned that getting a good kid's case to protect the kindles was a must. In the end, we ordered Amazon FreeTime Kid-Proof Cases for our kid's kindles. They have taken quite a kids beating but are still working great. When we got the cases we got different colors to tell whose kindle belongs to whom. Trust me this is important when dealing with kids.
While Amazon has Kid's Kindles you don't need one. All kindles can be set to a kid's mode to make it safe for your kids to enjoy (without the fear of them ordering things they shouldn't)
Kindle Fire HD 10 Tablet
While the basic Kindle Fire 7 is just fine for toddlers and younger kids, we would recommend investing in a Kindle Fire 10 Tablet (10.1" 1080p full HD display, 32 GB) for your older kids and teens. They have a longer battery life, a better processer, and built-in storage in addition to a bigger screen which makes it easier for your kids to play those games that are so popular like Minecraft and Roblox.
You might also want to invest in Kindle Unlimited which gives your kids access to over a million ebooks (1 account can be used to check out up to 10 ebooks on multiple devices at a time.)
If you are getting this Kindle for your kids for when traveling, then I recommend a durable shock resistant case for it to keep it safe. This is the one we have.
SD Memory Card
One thing we love about the Kindle fire (over the iPad) other than the cost is that the Kind has an sd slot for extra memory. This ("Made for Amazon" SanDisk 32 GB micro SD Memory Card for Fire Tablets and Fire TV) SD card that we got for our kid's Kindles wasn't expensive at all and made it possible to put several educational and fun apps on each of our kid's favorite movies and TV show episodes (we have an extensive digital collection) and of course books.
We like to load up a bunch of great books for our kids to read/have us read to them. This gives our kid's hours of fun when traveling.
Kid's Headphones
When we first got our kid's kindles we didn't think to buy headphones. BIG MISTAKE. Can you imagine the noise that multiple tablets all going at one can make? It's not pretty. Yes, we soon discovered that Headphones are a MUST (especially when cooped up in a small space while traveling.)
I like how these (Mpow CH6S Kids Headphones with Microphone Over Ear, On Ear Headphones for Kids with HD Sound Sharing Function for Children Boys Girls, Volume Limit Safe 85dB,94dB Headset for School, Travel) headphones are adjustable, have volume control features as well as clear quality sound. You can also link headphones together to share sound (like if the kids want to share a device to watch a movie together.
Food and Drink
In addition to packing items for entertainment, I would recommend packing favorite snacks, treats, and something to drink in your kid’s travel pack.
You don’t want to be dealing with hangry or overly thirsty kids while traveling. Often many kid meltdown-s happen when a child is hungry or thirsty. Yes if you are traveling by car you can easily pack snacks for the whole family. However, if you are not traveling in your own vehicle or you are out and about, then it really makes a difference to have a handful of personal snacks and a drink easily accessible for each child so that they can self regulate.
Kid's Non-Spill Water Bottles
Drinks are a MUST when traveling with kids (especially if they are snacking on anything.) Nothing is worse than being stuck in a car in the middle of nowhere or on an airplane and having your kids start whining that they are thirsty.
When looking for a kid's water bottle make sure that it is spillproof, large enough to fit a decent amount of drink in it while not being too big to fit in their drink carriers on their travel pack. Due to not being able to take liquid through security at Airports (when you are traveling by air) just bring an empty water bottle with you that you fill-up AFTER you get through security.
I really like this (Contigo AUTOSEAL Courtney Kids & Tweens Water Bottle, 20 oz.) It doesn't leak, is easy to fill and drink out of, and comes in different colors.
Reusable Storage Bags
If you are going to pack fresh food or cereal we would recommend getting reusable storage bags like this 10 pack BPA Free set. They are see-through making it easy to identify what is inside and they are more durable than regular ziplock. Best of all you can use them over and over again.
Great snacks to pack in these bags would be:
Apple slices, cheese sticks, grapes, raisins, cereal, and trail mix
Nabisco Sweet & Savory Mix Variety Pack
These small individual bags of treats are great snacks to pack in kid's travel packs. Each one is perfectly portioned for a satisfying snack, and they are individually sealed. Even better kids love them. If you look at the store (or amazon) you can find assorted boxes of snacks like these in different varieties.
Other pre-sealed snacks to consider would be fruit leather, fruit snacks, granola bars, and kids health bars (like cliff bars)
While the items listed above are always in my kid’s packs, other items I sometimes also pack depending on space are Small toys/action figures, sunglasses, (and for longer travel like a long drive or plane ride) a portable Rechargeable Battery for the Kindles.
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