Toddler Travel Activity Bin - Lisa's Two Cents

Thanksgiving and the holidays are fast approaching and so is all the TRAVEL associated with this time of the year. We happen to be driving 5+ hours to our holiday destination and while the drive is somewhat manageable, there will be a need to keep the two bigger kiddos occupied during our trip. I’m already foreshadowing our daughter asking “are we there yet” 5 minutes into our drive for hours on end…

This year the kids are big enough where they might not be sleeping as much during the drive, so I decided to pack a “travel activities bin” for them both to look forward to! They have already been asking if they can start playing with some of the toys and I keep hyping up the trip, telling them they have to wait – which is key! These items have to be new and something they are looking forward to!

I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before, but space is tight in our SUV. We have the kids three across in the backseat of my Ford Edge, so this drive will be interesting! Since space will be tight and in an effort to please my husband – I was determined to make this bin super organized, mess free and condensed!

My kids LOVE the Dollar Tree (who am I kidding, I LOVE it too!), so I figured one way to get them hyped up for our Thanksgiving journey would be if I let them pick out some neat toys and coloring supplies to keep them busy on the car ride and even at the house we are staying at for the week.

Here are some of the items we picked out and what I plan to do with them!

First off, I bought this slender bin to store everything in and slide under the seat when not in use (as mentioned above we have limited space in our car right now!). I also purchased clip boards to serve as their table to draw, trace, color, play legos, etc. It will be nice to clip each “activity” onto the board so it is not sliding all over the place!

I found these lego sets, their small yes, but perfect for the car ride and my kids are into legos and stacking things these days. I put the command picture frame strips on the back of each clip board and lego base back so they wouldn’t be sliding all over the place. They simply will “velcro” to each other.

I picked up these containers so the legos would not be all over the place, but I’m sure a plastic sandwich baggie would do the trick too!

These travel bingo games were so cute. I’m not sure if my two-year-old son will know how to do this, but I certainly will be playing my daughter!

Next, we found these pictures that are colored by using the water pen that is included. It is something different and my daughter liked the designs.

I really do NOT like play-doh (sometimes) – especially with my son, it is always a mess around the house, but I caved and bought them these small play-doh containers. It was only $1 for 8 different colors, so I really don’t care what will happen to them and plus they were a little tougher than the name brand play-doh, so the mess will be harder to make (i.e. getting stuck on their car seat fabrics, car interior, carpeting, etc.)

My daughter LOVES to practice writing letters. The dry erase board with every letter will keep her super busy. She is so into copying and tracing things now a days, so this will be a hit.

I also found this Letter coloring book which is also so perfect for her and will keep her busy for a long time! She found the Sunny Day activity pad and was pretty excited about that!

Speaking of letters, I bought this foam letter “puzzle”. We have a similar one at home that is harder, but I envision the pieces getting lost under the seats and such, so this one is nice because the pieces stay put once placed in the appropriate spot!

A note pad for my son to do whatever scribbles he wants…

Lastly, a Disney princess sticker set that my daughter can color. Basically, she will be coloring most of the time, but she is so into that right now, I was trying to purchase things I knew she would love and would pass the time quickly for her.

They each have their own supplies and again I tried to keep things as organized as possible. I am hoping they enjoy what they picked out and that it keeps them busy on our car ride. I’m also really trying to limit screen time, which I know is a great option for long car rides (movies, LeapFrog games, etc.), but I wanted them to actually learn and play physically instead of sabotaging their eyes!