Travel necessities for toddler(s)
Family trips are the best, right? The idea of a road trip and spending countless hours of one on one time with your family sounds so blissful, but are road trips really ever blissful? What if I told you they could be? With a little prep work and a few necessity items, I promise the idea of a (mostly) happy road trip is obtainable. Impact-Site-Verification: 1106061184
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We recently took a what should be 6H 35M road trip turned 8 H road trip and I am delighted to report that it was actually more enjoyable than it wasn’t. The trip itself was also fairly relaxing thanks to a few necessary items to make the baby feel more at home with the new, unfamiliar environment. I came more prepared this go around than I had ever felt in the past. Thanks to a little bit of planning and a few inexpensive items, we had wonderful trip.
1.Doodle Tablet.. We have used this prior to this road trip, but any doodle or art loving child will LOVE this tablet. No mess and you don’t have to keep up with a whole pack of crayons/markers. That’s a win in my book. Endless creations that just get cleaned up with a click of a button. Pretty awesome!
2.Scavenger Hunt Card Game.. My daughter LOVES this card game. We have gotten to the point now that we have memorized most of the cards so we don't necessarily always use the cards themselves. But, I am glad I purchased this inexpensive card game originally to give me the awesome idea of a road trip scavenger hunt. It takes up a decent amount of time and is very easy to follow.
3.Hatch Sound Machine.. This sounds machine is a necessity in our house, on the daily. We walk into my son’s room at night and if the sound machine isn’t on yet, he points to it and will cry until I turn it on. It does a wonderful job at drowning out the outside noise, giving off a soft light and has multiple settings for all sorts of preferences. It is also slender and light weight, which makes for easy packing.
4.Nap Mat.. We have carried these around since my daughter was a baby. Having a place to keep your toddler besides the bed, where he or she could roll off and that is not a playard is ideal and allows for less time setting up and more time enjoying each other’s company!
5.Baby Monitor & Travel Stand.. We are HUGE fans of the Nanit baby monitor. I honestly only have good things to say. Being able to download an app and use my phone (or my husband’s) to check on the baby AND getting notifications when he is moving or making noise: priceless. With my daughter, we had the typical baby monitor where you had a monitor piece that came with the camera. You had to charge it, keep up with it, etc. You know the drill with these. I hated that I had to be so close to the camera for the monitor to work. This go around, as long as I have Wifi, I can view the camera. I will sometimes check in while I am at work and the babies and my mom are home. It is seriously amazing. It is a slight investment, but I promise you, it is more than worth it.
6.Portable Potty.. My sister in law gave me this idea and WOW, why have I not thought of this sooner?! I mean toddlers are infamous for having to use the bathroom an insane amount of times, right? We all have been at that stage where we are pushing our toddlers to be potty trained and then quickly figure out that it is actually much less convenient right? Well, keep a portable potty in the back of your car. That way, you don’t have to pull over and stop at every gas station at every exit (right after you just got out to get a candy bar and a drink only to get back in the car and your toddler says, “Mommy, I need to go potty.”)
7.Travel Tray.. We just purchased this for this trip and my daughter absolutely loved her travel tray. She was able to prop up her iPad on the tray and then still color, eat, etc. It was an awesome addition to our regular line up. I love giving her the ability to express her art and uniqueness and this little tray really helped with that and in keeping her from staying on her iPad watching shows the entire time.
I hope this list has given you at least a few ideas that you didn’t already have in mind so that you can, too, enjoy the time with your family during these trying times. Comment below where you and your family will be traveling too! I am always looking for new and fun vacation ideas for the fam!