FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2011
Busy Bags for Travel
Vintage Jack
Today I start planning for the most important part of any journey with children, busy bags. If I haven't mentioned it, we are taking a red eye when we fly out to the East Coast in two weeks. I hope that this will mean that my kids are so tired that they will be sleeping. From past experience with this crew, I have learned to plan for the worst and celebrate anything better. Don't let Jack's picture above fool you, it was taken in our kitchen while eating a giant bowl of fruit.
Busy bags and snack bags have a lot in common. Specifically, many of the same rules apply:
- Nothing too messy
- Activities should be independent
- Items should be compact
- Nothing breakable
and the addition of:
Nothing that is known to cause major arguments among the children.
With that in mind, I am off to create customized bags for all three. For my 8 1/2 and 7 year old, packing their Nintendo DS could take care of the entertainment should it need it to. Still, I don't want them to get burnt out. I may need to save that card for later on in the trip or the return flight. My older 2 are close enough in age that I will pack similar item for them. Such as...
2 new paperback books (to be purchased from used book store)
personalized music playlist
headphones for in flight entertainment
deck of cards
pre-printed puzzles and pictures
small bag of markers (washable)
1 pencil, 1 pen
empty note pad
Mad Libs
home made "make your own" travel bingo set
For my 3 year old, I will pack up:
a collection of thin books and magazines such as National Geographic Kids
play dough
match box cars
Leapster
headphones
personalized music playlist
Bendaroos
1 compact Kindermusik activity game
washable markers
empty coloring pages
stickers
I will also tuck in a few new books, and more matchbox cars into the luggage for the return flight home. I have been researching sewing reusable the travel bags. If that doesn't work out, zip locks should work just fine. Pictures to come next week.
What items have successfully occupied your children during travel?
Tacoma's Summer reading club for birth through 5th grade
One World, Many Stories.
For the last couple of weeks while Summer plays hooky and Liam naps, Jack (7) and Amelia (8), spend hours lounging around and melting into the pages of their books . For the past few years, they have signed on to the fantastic Summer reading program put on by the Tacoma Public Library. While I enviously mopped the floors around them, I began to think about why they are so excited about this years program, “One World, Many Stories”.
So, why did my two bookworms sign up? Mostly for the prizes. As much as they love reading, they would easily toss their books to the side to spend the afternoon playing on a NEW LAPTOP. In reality, I would not let them play computer games all afternoon. But, it is all part of the fantasy. A big escape. This is why they love to read, for the escape.
Maybe, like me, you have done your best to expose your children to literature. As infants, I labeled pictures and colors and asked them to do the same (and then answered my own question as they were …babies). As toddlers, I asked them to repeat words and talk about the stories. Now, as I have two independent readers, I quiz them on comprehension. Then I secretly worry if they are reading at an appropriate level for their skill. I am proud to have immersed all 3 kids to literature. I am not so proud that I have come pretty close to crushing their love of books in the name of education. I just missed the land mine.
So, over the next few months, as we travel back and forth to the library with stacks of books and sloppily filled in book logs, I will take a new approach. Here is what I will, and will not do:
- I will not choose books for my children or steer their choices.
- I will travel to new libraries and request books with them online.
- I will look in their eyes and listen when they tell me (in painful length) about the hilarity of Captain Underpants.
- Sometimes, I will read, and re-read books about trucks and cars with Liam.
- Sometimes, I will devour a book along side them. I will not read to or listen to them. I deserve the escape, just as they do.
You can learn more about the Tacoma summer reading program and sign up online here: www.tpl.lib.wa.us/Page.aspx?nid=276
Have you signed up with your children? How about yourself? What are you reading in your house?
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