Holiday Travel Craft

Pack it !

I grew up in a family that not only loves to travel but made it their business, my son has been on many planes, and loves to play airport . This wasn’t a mama planned activity but  I figured many of you will be packing suitcases over the holidays and this activity can help prepare  for the trip ahead.  Do not fret about having the exact items they will be packing, you aren’t training them, just getting them used to the idea of packing, choosing things to take and the idea of travel.

1. Gather your materials. You will need a piece of construction paper, some plain labels, markers, a catalog or magazine, scissors and glue stick.
2. Start by folding your paper in half and drawing a suitcase ( totally fine if yours is a little wonky- as long as your child can recognize it , you are fine! ).Cut out.
3. Together with your child decide on the different places you should go, write the places on the labels with a dark color. I used large labels so I wrote multiple place names on each.
4. Have your child color the labels with markers.
5. Cut into smaller labels if needed.
6. Add them to the outside of your suitcase.
7. Rip out some ages with items your child would like to pack, have them cut out the items if they can. My son cut at one page while I cut out more items for him choose from. He is able to cut but not navigate around objects yet, so we shared the task.
8. Decide which to pack. Of course my son needs lots of PJs .
9. Add your glue
10. Add your pictures into the inside of your suitcase.
11. Let dry OPEN, if you close it it will glue together.

Books

Rooster’s Off to See the World by Eric Carle was reviewed by my son tonight as ” That’s a really nice book mama.” When I asked him what he liked he said ” The rooster was lonley, I only like trips with you and daddy too.” See Rooster has a grand plan to see the world, only he didn’t really plan it at all. Along the way friends join him but when night falls and they are cold and have no place to stay they all head home, and so does Rooster. I love that my son explained why Rooster went home and that he felt the same way not wanting to venture out to see the world alone… yet. Great book for kids learning to add and subtrack as well, as each page adds animals, then after the night falls each subtracts.

Cars: Rushing! Honking! Zooming! by Patricia Hubbell has a fun retro look and is a whimsical look at all sorts of cars , places they go and who drives them.  Like her book Trucks the drivers in this book aren’t always conventional, or human. My son thinks it’s hilarious that zebras, ducks and other animals are driving cars alongside humans. I love the rhyming text that never feels forced and zooms along with the illustrations.

I Love Planes!by Philemon Sturges ia all about things that fly. This is a great book for young toddlers , the text is limited but effective.  The colors are bright and cheery and even though he usually reads longer more complex books my son still enjoyed this book, and learned about Blimps for the first time.