How to Keep a Two Year Old Busy on a Long Flight?

I ask the question, but really, is there a right answer?  I found out the hard way that there is no right answer. Although my two year old was relatively good on the very long journey, it was still very hard to keep him occupied.  I prepared the following toys/activities, among others, but the first one was my favourite and of course his too.

I bought a bag of pompoms from the dollar store and put them in a yogurt container.  My friend had the wonderful idea of using a clear cover so he can see inside the container.  On the bottom of the container, which was supposed to be the top for this activity we pierced a hole.  He would empty the pompoms and take time putting each one back in through the hole.  At times he would give up and just open the lid and put them all back into the container in one shot. Regardless, it kept him busy and this was key.  The great part about the pompoms is that they didn't roll so they were easy to clean up and if we lost one or two, we didn't care.  I think this would keep older kids busy as well.  He still plays this activity - a total hit in our home!

I cut up faces, eyes, noses, ears and accessories in various felt colours.  I put them all in a bag with a glue stick and when my son was well rested on the flight, we spent some time placing the items in the right place and making funny looking character.  This required a lot of concentration so it didn't keep him busy very long, but it was fun while it lasted.

I also bought him a few new cars and a small mat from the dollar store on which he would roll the cars.  He really enjoyed this. The great part is about this activity and the others I have in this post is they were light weight and didn't take up much room.

This was another great find.  It is a box with fish and other water creatures with magnets on them and a fishing rod.  I found this at Giant Tiger.  It took him a little bit to figure out how to hold the rod stable enough to "catch" the fish, but not too long.  This activity kept him busy for a while as well and when he would "catch" one he would get so excited.  I also gave this toy as a gift to a few friends' kids.

He also received the Travel Doodle as a travel gift which was great as well. Easy to pack, mess free (which is so important on a flight) and fun.

Via Toys R Us

To keep him busy, we also played with stickers, had snacks and watched his favourite shows and movies on our tablet.  On other trips we have taken since, which were shorter, we found that all we needed was the tablet.  Now I have to think of new interesting activities for our long journey back home!!  Any ideas?!?

Keep them busy!!

I thought I'd share two new activities I tried with my son over the week-end. I'm trying to find things we can do in the house when the weather's not so great or when we just need to cool down from being out in the sun. This week-end we tried creating our own ice/water world and paint in a Ziplock bag. The first was a great success and my son even requested it again the past few days..whereas the second was a big old FAIL. You win some, you lose some :).

Ice play photo via Pre-school play

Ice play photo via Pre-school play

Ziplock painting via Bargain Hoot

I just started following these blogs and I really like the Pre-school play one. It's full of great ideas.

Here are a couple pics of our experiment. I apologize for the poor photo quality...Momma's phone's been dropped one too many times. I'm hoping for a brand new Iphone5 in the coming weeks and will definitely have better photos then!

Water/Ice improvised play a success in our home!

Ziplock painting not very successful in our home :(

Ziplock painting not very successful in our home :(

It's amazing what can keep our little one's busy. Keep in mind my son will be 3 years old next month so these activities are definitely aimed at toddlers. I think he would have enjoyed the paint in Ziplock bag activity about a year ago but now that he's used to real painting he just could not understand why I would not let him open the Ziplock and let him paint with a paint brush :)...

For the water/ice play I did not have some of the items she had so I just used what we did have: Plastic frogs and turtles (today we added his small Megablocks plastic animals), rocks I had left over from a flower arrangement, fake boulders from his train set, ice cubes and a little food colouring in the water. Throw it all in a large pyrex and you're good to go! Icebergs, rock mountains and animals all come alive!

Friday Fabulous Find: Scholar's Choice

In my neighbourhood there is a store called “Scholar’s Choice”.  I have lived in the area for 4 years and I pass the store almost every day and never visited.  At first I thought it was a store for school teachers, educators, etc. but then I heard it sold toys to anyone.  So yesterday, I needed to kill some time as my son was taking a quick nap in the car (of course, I left him with my husband) and decided to take a peak in the store to see what this place is all about (for those of you who are very familiar with this store, this probably sounds silly and maybe a little ignorant on my part – too brain washed to just go to Toys R Us for toys).  As soon as I entered and saw all the educational and craft like toys and activities, I was so excited!  I immediately starting thinking of all the kids I know that are on my Christmas list.  It was like a great discovery...I even saw craft kits I would like to buy for myself.  The best part is that Scholar’s Choice has a website, a member's savings card and gift wrapping on site. 

Here are a few of my favourites.

Thinking I would like this for my 10 month old son.  He loves music and banging on things!

Via Scholar's Choice

I purchased this hair band making kit for one of my girlfriend’s daughter’s for her fifth birthday; I would love to try the kit myself.

Via Scholar's Choice

I know there are a lot of DIY projects you can do with your children, but not many mother’s have the time to come up with ideas or have the DIY in them, so I think craft kits like the following one by Alex is great for toddlers.

Via Scholar's Choice

This one I will definitely get for my 18 month old nephew who loves to look at pictures of animals, so this should be fun for him and very stimulating.

Via Scholar's Choice

I definitely recommend this store and I am happy I finally took a peak!

Hello Monday! Children's Easel on the go

This weekend my son (who is not even a year old!) had two birthday parties, both for a two year old.  Both kids have big families so I knew they would receive a ton of gifts.  For that reason I found it challenging trying to find a great and unique gift, especially because I was very last minute in my search (ooops!).  So I asked a few friends of mine to send me a list of gifts they love for their own kids, and one of my friends said she loves the Portable easel set at DesSerres.

Via DeSerres

She said she leaves the set in her car sometimes, this way her girls always have an activity wherever they go.  Because the set comes in a suitcase, it is easy to lug around and easy to store in a car.  So I made my way to  DeSerres and made the purchase.   It was my first time in the store and on their website, and I fell in love!  I am sure I will be writing more about how great this store is for arts and crafts for all ages.

The gift was a hit!  Both mother's said the kids had nothing like it and both mother's were happy that the easel can be used also with the kids' older siblings. Success!