Is it time for a vacation ? A road trip to somewhere fun? Hotels, Grandma’s or maybe a beach house? Either way packing is never fun but it can be easier with this great travel sized craft supply box. This travel craft box is small but a great travel solution for kids. It holds all he fun you need and can be packed easily into a suitcase or into your car this summer. I packed a similar one for my week in Washington DC, it was just me and three kids under 4 for most of the day , no TV , no car so these basics were our life savers!
- Gather your materials. You will need:
- A container. I like this medium sized Ziploc container
It’s cheap, it’s just the right size and if something happens to it, like it gets left at the Holiday Inn, no biggie.
- Next I have an old stained but thick place mat. The benefit of using a cloth one is that the fabric absorbs paint, markers etc.. and it’s less messy as long as you don’t care if it gets rather colorful.
- Next add markers and crayons
I just put in the colors my son always uses, space is at a premium so these pip-squeaks markers
are perfect!
- Paint- water colors are great , throw in an extra brush. Use the plastic cups in your hotel room for the water container.
- Add Play-Doh and some popsicle sticks for making sculptures, and cutting the Play-Doh
.
- Scissors and glue. You will want scissors that are sharp enough for an adult to use but small enough for a kid.
- If there is extra room – glitter glue, stickers or pipe cleaners are great options.
- For the paper I added a handful of construction paper colors and lots of plain white paper .
- Put them in a file folder and this fits great in the front zipper of suitcases or even your carry-on. Or in a car in the pockets behind the driver or passenger seats.
Now you can take your craft supplies with you for those moments of downtime no matter where adventure takes you.
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Laura says
I love the use of a placemat! Of course! I always struggle with how to handle the mess of crafting on the go — great solution.
.-= Laura´s last blog ..The Battle for the Broccoli =-.
welcome to our wonderland says
i always pack some crafts and such to take with us you never know when your going to need to pull them out and they always get used! target dollar spot is also a great place for some little craft kits.
.-= welcome to our wonderland´s last blog ..Butterfly Alphabet by Kjell B Sandved =-.
Scentedsweetpea says
Loving this idea, we always pack arty things when we go away to keep the kiddies amused 🙂
.-= Scentedsweetpea´s last blog ..Love sick …… =-.
Paula says
Great idea! We’re headed to the lake in August. I will be taking your idea 🙂
.-= Paula´s last blog ..On the train =-.
Katie says
I love this. I had not thought of the place mat idea. Thanks for that!
sharla says
Two things I often pack are small googly eyes and string. The eyes are fun for found rocks and sticks and I grab a box of cereal from the continental bfast at the hotel and we make a necklace for a hike or a long car ride.
.-= sharla´s last blog ..Remembering Buddy =-.
admin says
Great additions!
Wendy says
Great idea! We will be traveling in a week and I have airplane activities, but love this idea for downtime in the hotel room.
Dawn says
The other things we have in ours are tape – clear and colored, and a magnifying glass, which although not craft related makes all sorts of fun. My kids examine their skin, paper, fingernails, insects, their shoes, each other and whatever else they think of and they think of lots of things to take a closer look at!
JDaniel4's Mom says
I have selected this post as one of my great posts of week. Here is a link to my great posts piece: http://www.jdaniel4smom.com/2010/06/great-posts-i-came-across-this-week_19.html
Maile says
I recently went on a trip which took 2 1/2 days in the car. I had a box full of stuff. My favorite was a cookie sheet that was magnetic, I put magnets on the back of $1 store puzzles and the loved it. My baby 16 months old at the time had a square baking pan and chunky magnets, oh the fun they had with those magnets. You could do whatever you wanted too!
Paula says
Up until recently, I kept a binder ready for whenever we would be out of the house. The binder had internal pockets for holding all kinds of paper. Our markers, crayons, glue, scissors were held in a large pencil case with a clear window on the front. This pencil case was always stocked with a full set of markers – sometimes specialty ones – smelly, glittery… This binder provided hours of fun on trips, but also helped with completing homework when my children were older, as they always had paper and pencil handy to work on assignments while we were away from home.
My other travel necessities when the kids were young were a bottle of “gazillion bubbles” and a utility ball. Many roadside reststops became the kids’ playground as they ran around chasing bubbles or playing a game of pick up soccer.