Nate gave the popsicle stick to his Mom. “A bookmark!” she said, and put it right in her book. “Maybe Grandma would like a bookmark, too?” Nate got busy. His mother smiled and looked at her watch, surprised to find half an hour had passed. “Okay!” she thought to herself, “Only four more to go!”<\/em><\/p>\nFor children, getting there is just as important as being there. It’s quite possible that the biggest obstacle to traveling with young children is our adult perception of the journey as the tedious process of getting to the “real” destination. Instead, think of the journey as an opportunity to enjoy your children. Pack a travel kit to engage children with developmentally appropriate activities tailored to their personal interests and don’t forget to pack realistic expectations in your carry-on. The likely result is a more relaxed journey for the whole family and vacation fun that starts from the moment you step out the door.<\/p>\n
Travel Kit Ideas for Children 3 to 6<\/p>\n
For the youngest child, the destination may be no more than an abstract future idea whereas the child must immediately function in the here-and-now of the journey. Bring along variations of familiar activities that appeal to the child’s tendencies toward motor and sensory development, and provide opportunities to acquire language for new things in the environment.<\/p>\n
Choose variations of those closures your child has mastered to pack kit contents in. Can he open: a drawstring bag, a hinged box, a zipper bag, a box with a lid that lifts off, an envelope with a string clasp…? Using the zipper closure as an example, include zipper bags of different sizes and materials, and with different kinds of zippers (nylon, metal). If a hinged box is within reach, include cardboard, wooden, tin, and plastic boxes with lids that hinge open, some with simple latches and some without.<\/p>\n
Motor Activities: Lacing & Sorting<\/b>
\nLacing and threading are satisfying and relatively compact activities. Shoelaces or yarn (with the ends taped) can serve as laces. Bring lightweight o-shaped cereal or macaroni to string. Bead stringing sets and lacing cards are ideal, too.<\/p>\n
Sorting shapes will exercise children’s fine motor control and visual discrimination. A lightweight sorting activity for travel might include different kinds of pasta or dried beans, beads with different shapes or colors, or small geometric shapes. Bring a deep tray to contain small items (and expect to lose a few of them!) and a dish with compartments for sorting into.<\/p>\n
Sensory Activities: Mystery Bag Variations<\/b>
\nAn opaque bag with pairs of fabric squares that children can identify by touch alone is a simple variation on the classroom “Mystery Bag” activities. “Where before he had to touch,” wrote Montessori, in order to match the pairs, “he must now feel the stuffs…the degree of fineness or coarseness…” Household sewing baskets and fabric outlet stores are good sources for fabrics with different textures. You might include burlap, cotton, wool, satin, velvet, and fake fur, to name a few. Cut the fabric into the same shape and size so only the material is different.<\/p>\n
Language Activities: Give Them Words!<\/b>
\nAny sorting activity can also be a rich language opportunity. Give the child the spoken “labels” (the words that name the characteristics) as he sorts. For color-sorting: “Those are red. These are blue.” For shape-sorting, circle, triangle, etc.<\/p>\n
Picture cards (with word labels) that can be sorted and matched are lightweight and portable. If you have time, make up cards that name things in the travel environment. Simply cut out images from magazines or travel brochures, glue them to cards, and write the words legibly underneath the images. Subjects for an airplane trip might include airport, counter, airplane, suitcase, pilot, flight attendant, window, sky, clouds, city (from above!)… For train travel, make cards for station, conductor, tracks, platform, ticket, etc.<\/p>\n
To satisfy the thirst for language, bring books to read aloud and vocabulary cards; children will be fascinated with stories about children traveling and books or cards with photos of vehicles that will help them make sense of the travel environment. A drawing book already set up with space on top for drawing and space below for writing is a great mutual travel activity (you can write the words that match your child’s pictures).<\/p>\n
Travel Kit Ideas for Children 6 to 9<\/p>\n
Travel kits for this age are very different than those for younger children! With their deeper understanding of geography and time, children 6-9 are quite interested in the destination. The break from routine suggests adventure! “Are we there yet?” is their eager refrain.<\/p>\n
At this “going outward” time of life, children are full of curiosity about other people and places. The journey is a perfect time to help your child get oriented to the destination. Tailor activities to your child’s unique interest and abilities, while making connections with some aspect of the destination when possible.<\/p>\n
Time<\/strong>: Children who have mastered reading a clock revel in timekeeping and are proud to make a useful contribution. For road travel, pack a good atlas or map the child can write on (a write-on, wipe-off map is ideal), pens or pencils, and a watch. For train or plane travel, add a timetable and a route map. Show the route and how to mark time points on the map. (“Here we are. Here is Charleston. The timetable shows we should be in Charleston at 2:00.”). Children can record actual times and keep you posted on your progress.<\/p>\nMathematics<\/strong>: Older children with strong multiplication and division skills rise to the challenge of calculating real-world numbers. Working with figures like travel speed, distance, and gallons of gas, children can estimate arrival times, track gas costs, work out miles-per-gallon (or per-hour), determine how fast the car must go to arrive at a certain time, and so on. Provide a notebook, pencils, calculator, and a mental list of calculating questions to ask!<\/p>\nCultural History<\/strong>: Make a historical connection by bringing along a book on historic vehicles and pondering aloud how long it might have taken by wagon, on a steam train, or on foot. Compare to modern travel. If the destination has a clear cultural heritage, find a related craft suitable for lap work. For example, the Navajo are famous for weaving rugs, so a visit to Arizona might include a small ball of yarn, a craft needle, and a cardboard loom the child can use to weave a “mug rug.” You might also pick up a related craft when you arrive at your destination, to offer on the way home.<\/p>\nPuzzles<\/strong>: Tangrams (the Chinese puzzle toy) are perfect for travel, with only 7 pieces to keep track of and an infinite number of puzzles\/solutions. Portable and\/or magnetized geometric art and design tile sets are readily available and often allow open-ended creative play, as well as the challenge of solving a puzzle. Puzzle booklets with word-find puzzles, mazes, crosswords, etc., are popular, too; “themed” puzzle booklets related to the destination may even be available.<\/p>\nGeography<\/strong>: Keep track of states or countries you travel through (or over!) on a political map. Add a topographical map if travel will take you past visible land forms in daylight. The child can record elevation (from roadside markers) and identify features shown on the map. Flying? Identify land forms as you fly over. A book or card material about land forms will allow children to follow up when their interest is piqued.<\/p>\nArt<\/strong>: Children welcome any opportunity for creative self-expression. Rather than a project-oriented kit that can be used just once, collect and pack materials that can be reused or recombined in different ways. For example, stickers that can be lifted and re-applied, pipe cleaners that can be bent into their own shapes or used to connect two fluffy pom poms. Pack a pair of scissors, glue stick, tape, a stapler, and drawing tools, along with other art supplies. A box with a hinged lid that slants to form a work surface (a lap desk or a clipboard box) can make managing art supplies easier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1914 Maria Montessori wrote a succinct guide to her discoveries,\u00a0Dr. Montessori’s Own Handbook. According to Nancy Rambusch’s introduction, Montessori aimed to deliver “a practical message of Montessori to the American home,” offering parents the means for understanding and applying basic Montessori themes in the home. Of course, Montessori could hardly have foreseen the coming …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}