Travel Toys

When I was 9 my dad was transferred from upstate New York to central California. My parents decided to drive across country and camp at KOA sites along the way in our travel trailer. My great Aunt packed a bag of goodies for my sister and me. In the bag was a gift-wrapped game or toy for each day of the trip. Every morning my sister and I got to open a present, and we played with it all day long.

My mom also brought an Encyclopedia of the United States, and whenever we entered a new state, we got to read the chapter for that State. That trip was one of the most memorable adventures of my childhood.

So, from an early age, the importance of great travel toys was instilled in me.

Yesterday I started pulling together travel packs for the boys. The boys don’t know about them, so it will be a complete surprise. It was a lot of fun to pull them together.

For our East Coast trip each boy will have a small children's backpack. Since they are both little, we don’t want too much weight in the pack. In the backpack are crayons and a small pad of construction paper, a recorder (I figure the airplane noise will drone out the sound… otherwise, I’ll put them up high until we land), and a Thomas & Friends airplane (named Jeremy). I’m on the fence on getting them a Cars Mac truck with Lightening McQueen (it might be too big)… it is really cool. I’m also going to let them take 3 to 5 trains or cars. Xander can also easily fit Bear – Caleb doesn’t have a comfort toy.

Packed separately are a bag of balloons, a beach ball, books and a bag of blocks. Mega Blocks has a small bag with small blocks that are safe for age 1 and older – which we love. We took them with us to Russia and Austria, and they provided hours of entertainment.

We will also be traveling with laptops, which we will equip to be personal DVD players. We have a splitter so we can plug three headphones in. Three is important; because I want to make sure that the sound is safe for little ears. I also have one pair of headphones safe for a child, and I will need to buy a second pair in advance of the trip.

I might take glue and play dough as well – although they will be need to be checked, even if you go with a small travel size. When I talked to TSA about it they said no, because they closely resemble bomb-making material. By the way, children’s scissors are legal on the plane. My 4 year old loves to cut things up… but it could get very messy and annoying.