Travel Distractions...er...Games

I have been traveling with my children since they were both only a few months old. They have always done great on airplanes, even amidst long delays, late nights, early mornings, full flights and all of the security inconveniences (Really, I have to take my 2-month-old's shoes off?). However, now that my son is almost 3, I have to admit that I have begun to rely on the power of the almighty DVD player. Sure, I still bring toys, books, markers, snacks, etc...but I can't deny that the DVD player holds some magical power of distraction.

I'm taking the children (solo) to see their grandparents and Tia in Arizona soon. I decided to see if I could find some new ideas for toys, games, and distractions of the non-battery-operated kind. I found these wonderful ideas from Obsessively Stitching's blog

My first project was an I Spy Book. I grouped the kids' toys together and took pictures of them. Some I just piled together,



others I lined up.



Then, I bought some $1 photo albums from the Dollar Tree...



printed off my photos...



and voila! An I Spy book that will hopefully provide some new and exciting entertainment on the airplane.



This project was great because it was almost free! All I spent was $2 for the photo albums, and I printed the pictures right here at home. If I had more time, I'm sure I could find more things to take pictures of to add to the book, but for now I have about 13 different I Spy pictures. Maybe for our next trip!

My second project was an I Spy Bag. I got the idea from Obsessively Stitching's blog, but then I found this tutorial and pretty much followed it. I had never seen these before, but I can see how kids must LOVE them! I didn't have a lot of time to collect small objects, so I actually just went to the Dollar Tree (gotta love that place!) and bought a bunch of little toys and party favors. And I still have a ton of toys leftover to make more bags! I added a few other items from around the house (paper clips, coins, buttons). I made sure to take pictures of everything before I put them in the bag so my children will know what they're looking for.



I cut my fabric in a 10" x 10" square so that the finished project would be 5" x 10".



I cut a 3" x 3" opening in my fabric so that once I folded back the fabric as the tutorial suggests, my "window" is about 3.5" x 3.5". I could not find the Poly Pellets but I found this Vase Filler instead and it works great (they're like little acrylic beads).



As Obsessively Stitching did, I used a plastic bag from a set of sheets (you know the zippered bags that new sheets, blankets, etc... come it) since it's pretty heavy duty plastic.

Then, I sewed my bag, filled it with about half the bag of "beads" and all of the toys. Then I sewed the opening closed and voila! an I Spy Bag that I hope will rival the DVD player in entertainment value.



Although I will still bring the DVD player on our trip, I hope that it will remain packed safely in my carry-on. I am now armed with a whole new arsenal of distractions...I mean games!



If you have any suggestions for kid-tested travel games, I'd love to hear them! Leave me a comment!