Pack a travel activity bag: pre-school edition
Entertaining a pre-schooler on a trip can be challenging. They are curious experimenters, always on the move, and (if your pre-schoolers are anything like Big and Lil S) perpetually demanding for someone to “play with them”. With long flights, car rides, dining out, and all that hotel down-time, it can be difficult to keep a pre-schooler occupied when traveling.
This is a great age to travel with other families. Getting to play with their friends can make those boring bits of the trip way more fun. It’s amazing how a grassy field or a hotel bed to bounce on can be the best thing in the world if you have someone to play with. This is also the age where they start actually enjoying their siblings. With that in mind, it’s important to include family games and activities that kids can do or play together.
Kids this age are also getting more creative. Art and building kits are a huge hit with these kiddos.
General tips on packing activities for pre-schoolers
Get your pre-schooler their own travel backpack
In our article on travel activity bags for toddlers, we recommended *against* giving a toddler their own travel bag (you will ultimately be the one carrying it). However, pre-schoolers are getting to the age where they are possessive little demons about their own stuff. Having them pick out and carry their own bag can make the entire travel experience way more fun. It also gives them a little bit of accountability and independence over their things.
We recommend a sturdy, child-sized backpack for the best versatility. Ride on luggages, roller bags, or even scooter suitcases may be fun for airports and travel days, but won’t be as convenient for say, car rides or restaurants. Ours use their tennis backpacks, which are comfortable, lightweight, and have multiple compartments.
My favourite _____ “from home”
Armed with their new travel backpack, your pre-schooler will likely want to stuff it with everything they own at home. *Especially* their most precious toys and their favourite stuffies. (Again, possessive little hoarders.)
To this, we usually say “no” – not in the least because Big S’s favourite stuffy is a giant Siberian tiger. Their home toys are not always the most versatile, but we find that no matter how much they protest that they just have to have it, they usually get bored of it quite quickly on the road. Furthermore, there is a very real chance of your kiddo losing their favourite toy on the road.
Instead, we usually let the kids pick and choose some of their own activities (eg. colouring books, fidget toys). We leave some as a surprise, to make it extra exciting for the kids.
Our top recommended travel activities for pre-schoolers
1. Pencil case with colouring supplies
This is the number one must-pack for this age. We fill a pencil case with colouring supplies and stickers, and the kids can colour for hours! We still recommend crayons, especially the triangular ones that won’t roll off tables and airplane trays. However, Big and Lil S at this age were obsessed with using markers. We love the little washable Crayola ones (Pip-Squeaks). We recommend a hard-shell pencil case. It takes up a little more space, but the kids don’t have to dump everything out to find their favourite colour.
Drawing and colouring is great for keeping kids occupied at restaurants. It’s a relatively quiet activity and can keep the kids busy all meal.
2. Sketchbook
A small, blank sketchbook is *the best* open-ended art supply. We’ve had trips where the kids didn’t even touch their activity books, because all they were using was their sketchbook to draw and play games. Big S likes playing hangman and tic-tac-toe in his books. Lil S’s sketchbook from our trip to Iceland was full of drawings of waterfalls, and is one of my favourite “souvenirs” from the trip.
3. Colouring pages (or books)
At this age, we preferred to print out colouring pages as opposed to buying colouring books. The kids had very strong and varied interests and were very particular about what they wanted to colour. We could print out a variety of the kids’ favourite characters and themes.
We kept the pages in a duo-tang/portfolio, which is probably a little messier than a book, but more fun for the kids. Their organizational skills might be a little subpar, but sorting through the pages was a fun activity of its own.
4. Activity books
Big and Lil S preferred open-ended creativity at this age, but an activity book or two can be a good way to engage littles when they start complaining that there’s “nothing to do” (we’ve all been there!) Mazes, connect the dots, colour-by-number, and find-the-differences were big hits at this age.
5. Something your preschooler can build with
Some kids this age are really starting to get into lego. A small box (tin box, pencil case) of lego can lead to all sorts of creative building. Make sure to include a “base” – we’ve even seen some parents glue the base directly onto the inside of the box/lid.
Other building sets that are good for travel at this age are Tegu magnetic blocks, Plus Plus, or Squigz.
6. Small action figures/dolls/figurines for pretend play
This can be any character your kids are into. Superhero action figures, small dolls, dinosaurs, animals like Calico Critters. It’s amazing how fast kids can turn a hotel room, bus stop, or airport seats into an entirely different world.
7. Fidget toy
We always like to include a fidget toy – something mindless the kids can use when they’re feeling restless. Big and Lil S were never really into Pop-its, but we’ve used different fidgets with knobs and dials. Silly Putty is a good option too.
8. Card games
Big and Lil S were really starting to get into card games at this age. Uno was a huge hit. Spot It is another favourite. Even a regular deck of cards for playing Old Maid or Go Fish can be fun.
“Eye Found It” type games can be great too – they have endless configurations and kids can play on their own or with each other.
9. Handheld game
We don’t usually like to haul around something that needs batteries, but small games like Bop-It or Simon can be really fun for young kids. It’s just interactive enough to keep them entertained, and they can either play by themselves or with each other.
10. iPad/tablet
Big and Lil S don’t typically have a ton of screen time at home, but we are pretty liberal with devices when traveling. We download a ton of music and audiobooks for the road. The kids don’t usually reach for shows or games at first, but when they’ve made their rounds of all their other activities, it’s a great way to get through that final hour of driving, or when the adults are taking extra long at dinner.
Make sure to pack a sturdy pair of headphones. We prefer wired sets for kids, as it’s one less thing we have to worry about charging. We usually bring along a small speaker as well (ours is also waterproof), which we can blast in the car, or at the pool.
