TV Free Trips with Children

Do you have snacks? Pajamas? Blankies? Toothbrushes? Cash? Full tank of gas? Clean underwear? Time to hit the road for the holidays! Traveling can be stressful whether by car, train, or plane. Here are some favorite My Toy Garden tips to make travel time so much fun you might actully forget to turn on the DVD player in the car which I'm sure you only use on long trips anyway right? Enjoy and please pop over to our Facebook page with other great ideas that might help another fellow traveler!

1. Magnets are the best! We carry magnetic playsets that are perfect for travel. They feature a background scene for pirates, paper dolls, forest friends and more. The pieces stimulate the imagination for hours of on the go pretend play. My favorite is one with the tails of various cars and license plates to match for each one found along the way! Great geography lesson as well! Do you have magnetic pieces but not on the go board for them? Grab a pizza or cake pan and voila! Now you do!

2. Felt boards are another option much like magnetic boards that work great. We carry sets with rescue heros, horse back riding, Cinderella, a vet's office and other fun themes. Grab the handle and off you go!

3. Wrap small gifts and snacks to be unwrapped at various points of a long trip. Every 30 minutes or X number of miles, the child gets to open a little goodie that will entertain them for the next leg of the adventure. My Toy Garden has lots of goodies that will work great!

4. Map It! For an older child, print of a map showing point A to point B and let them highlight the trip as they pass by towns. Talk about fractions..we're 1/4 of the way there!

5. Create! Arts and Crafts are great for travel! Our Stephen Joseph art portfolios hold a pad of paper, crayons and pencils perfect for out and about art inspiration. Several other projects like the Thread It one pictured below would keep the brain busy and growing and free of a zombie induced TV coma. We also carry dot to dot books from 1 to 10 and ones for adults featuring up to 1400 dots in one puzzle! So addicting!

6. Write About It! On the way home capture the memories of the trip in a souvenior book. You'll love our 3 Bitty Books featuring a blank hard cover and blank pages ready to record the tales of this year's holidays. 3 books for $9.99 makes them a fun thank you to send to your host!

7. Beam Me Up! If traveling at night, bring along a small flashlight...key word there..small. :-) Kids love flashlights and they come in so handy when you need to pee in the middle of the night in a strange house!

8. Music soothes the savage beast is more than just an old saying. Just Sat. night, I calmed Nicholas down on the ride home from downtown by singing Christmas songs. "More sing Rudolph pweese!" Throw a CD in and put on your own car concert. We once also passed over an hour of a trip making up a song using words we read out the window. Hilarious! Our Tell Tale game would be great for that!

9. Emergency kit of post its, roll of tape, pipe cleaners, a deck of cards, a hunk of aluminum foil, a few books they've never seen, finger puppers and a pirate eye patch or other dress up items. When at your wit's end, before hitting the power button on the DVD player, hand your child one of the items and peace will soon follow.

What else do you do? Pop over to our My Toy Garden facebook page and help others! Click here for the My Toy Garden Facebook page.

Toys the Play with Children or Children that Play with Toys?

Which of the above categories do you find most of the toys in your house or on your holiday shopping list? Are they electronic ones that flash, beep and tell your child what button to push? Are they ones that foster creativity, problem solving and self expression?

As the grown ups in this world, we have the great joy and great responsibility to help guide our younger adventurers on a path of learning that can be programmed or packed with possibilities.

See Janet's Top 5 Toy Selection Suggestions to help you this busy shopping season!

Have another to add? Please share either in an email to me or on our Facebook page. Not a fan on Facebook yet? Over 400 fans in our first two months have been having a great time with sneak peeks, inside scoop and more! Come join the fun!

Janet's Top 5 Toy Selection Suggestions:

1. Durability - A toy should last and last and last. Look for items that can be passed down to younger siblings or to friends. When you buy an inexpensive toy that breaks in a few days, you teach your child that things are disposable and easily replaceable. When you invest in a toy that will last and last, you teach them to value quality. Not to mention the money it saves you in the long run.

2. Open Ended - A toy that can grow with your child is worth a ton! Finding a simple open ended toy that can be used in one way at 2 years old and another at 3 years old and yet another way at 4 years old fosters creativity. It also saves you money and eliminates clutter in your house. Why buy 5 toys that do 1 thing each when you can buy 1 toy that does 5 things?

3. Obvious Completion - Sometimes children need just the opposite of open ended toys. They need ones that have an obvious end to them. Click the last piece into place of a puzzle. Complete the last step of a craft project. Play a board game to the end. Starting, doing and finishing something builds confidence and gives a sense of pride worthy of a high five or a pat on the back! Perseverence is a great gift to give a child.

4. Requires Interaction - A toy that requires a child to move, ponder, have a conversation with another human being scores extra points! Great toys are ones that promote exercise and/or conversations with others. Our children look to us as role models on how to connect with others. Toys can open doors to lots of healthy relationship opportunities.

5. Be Fun! They are toys after all!