Being Travel Savvy when traveling with kids

Living in a concrete jungle awakens the nomad in all of us at regular intervals, coaxing us to move to the mountains or the beaches. If you have small children in the house, of course, thinking of what to carry and what to leave behind does become a chore. Therefore we have put together a list of things to carry that will leave you smiling, not grimacing.

For small babies (six months to one year):

• Any object that’s bright and new
• Rattles of all sorts
• Music-makers
• A few pieces of mega-blocks
• Magnetic stick-together blocks
• Toys of interesting shapes
• Pop-up toys

For older babies and toddlers (one year to three years):

• Bubbles (to use in the airport, during flight changes)
• Sets of things to put into containers
• Things that fit into other things
• Board books
• Simple speaking toys: baby pushes button, toy speaks (not too loud)
• Small wind-up toys

For pre-schoolers (four to five years):

• Stickers and activity books, crayons, felt pens
• Finger puppets
• Costume jewellery
• Books
• Post-it notes, scotch tape
• Paper punch, stapler (–careful)
• Inexpensive sets of plastic figures (Batman, dolls, animals, astronauts…)
• Magnetic letters
• Wind-up toy cars, engines etc.
• A walkman with poems and music tapes
• Tattoos that press on wet hands and clothes

For older children (six years and above):

• Real books
• Comics (still the same, still popular)
• Blank sheets of paper
• Regular deck of cards
• Travel-size Monopoly, Snakes ‘n’ Ladders
• Small Lego sets
• Hand-held toys with the sound turned off
• Mastermind: a great game for age seven and up
• A walkman and audiotapes