Activity Bags for Travel with Kids

These bags could be used both for flights or road-trips, even just for a weekend getaway to give you and your partner a few extra minutes of quiet.

I put these together for my girls for our recent family vacation. This worked especially well for my five-year old and kept her from just using the iPad the entire time we were away. I love tech, don’t get me wrong, but I feel like she’s learning and engaging her brain power a little more when she’s drawing, colouring and creating than when she’s playing video games and watching Max & Ruby NON. STOP.

So here goes. What should you put in your activity bag? Well, it depends on the age of your child of course. I was able to put the same items in all three of my girls’ bags thankfully. This would be suitable for a child aged 4+. (If you have a tot, replace a few items with simple puzzles, fish crackers or cheerios, crayons and more stickers.)

• Pouch (Dollarama)
• Clipboard (Target)
• Pencil Case (Chapters/Indigo)
• Markers (Dollarama)
• Pencil Crayons (Dollarama)
• Sticky notepads (Dollarama)
• Stickers (Chapters/Indigo and Dollarama)
• Tape (Michaels)
• Gum, Lollipops
• Babyganics Hand Sanitizer
• Kleenex pouch
• EOS Lipbalm

I gave my girls the bags the day before travel while we were all packing our carry-ons. This way each of them carried their own activity bag in their backpacks and already knew what was in them so they could pack other items accordingly.

In a separate (surprise) bag, I packed a few games and toys to pull out during the flight for the “I’m Bored!” moments. This bag contained simple inexpensive things I also bought at the Dollar Store (The Dollar Tree in the U.S. has some very cool finds).