Keeping children occupied while travelling

Keeping children occupied while travelling, what activities to do with your children when travelling by plane or car. This is the main question we get most often from parents. That’s why we’ve prepared a mini-guide for you on how to keep your children occupied while travelling. These activities are designed for children aged 1.5 to 4 years. This activity guide will not only help you to keep your children occupied while travelling, but also to develop their manual dexterity, coordination and thinking skills.

Keeping children occupied while travelling – we have prepared this guide for you together with Banana Panda. This is a brand of amazing educational puzzles, games and books that we guarantee your children and you will be interested in.

Keeping children occupied while travelling with “Banana Panda” games, puzzles and books

Keeping children occupied while travelling – is the main reason many parents are afraid or hesitant to go an a trip. But there’s no need to worry, because we know just what to keep your children occupied when travelling. In this article, we will share our recommendations.

We received our first “Banana Panda” puzzle as a gift and we liked it so much that we became interested in the brand. And we were really impressed by it. All “Banana Panda” products are made from robust, harmless materials. We are always in favour of sustainability and it’s really nice that the puzzles haven’t worn out, haven’t broken and will probably last a long time. And then we can pass it on to others. It is also very important to us that children’s toys are not only physically safe, but also made of safe materials – not only for the child, but also for the environment.

When you choose Banana Panda for your children, you can rest assured that they will be playing with puzzles of the highest quality and safety.

Children, and parents too, will be impressed by the quality of the illustrations and the design of the drawings and pictures. The “Banana Panda” range is very extensive. And the prices are really friendly. In this article, we will share our selections from “Banana Panda” to help you keep your children occupied during your travels.

With the discount code KELIONESSUVAIKAIS you will get a 20% discount on the entire “Banana Panda” range.

Activities to do with your children when travelling

How to keep 1-2 year olds occupied when travelling

Our top recommendation and choice is On-the-Go puzzles and memory cards. These are extremely compact and practical puzzles and cards that won’t take up much space in your suitcase or travel bag. We particularly like this puzzle. Even though this puzzle is small and compact, there are plenty of ways to keep your child occupied with it.

You can use this puzzle as described in the instructions. Place the pieces of the puzzle in front of your child and encourage them to put them together correctly. This will develop children’s hand-eye coordination. These puzzles are also great for learning new words. Place the card in front of the child and say what it is and encourage the child to repeat.

Activities to do with your children when travelling

Activities to do with your children when travelling

Another game that has been very successful for us in improving manual dexterity and coordination is the jigsaw puzzle hide-and-seek. Take some foil with you on your trip and wrap the inner parts in it. Then give the foil packets to your child and let them unpack what’s inside. It’s a really fun and very rewarding activity. It will take a little more time for younger children, less for older ones, but it will be great fun.

Another use of the inside of these cards that we really like is sticking them together. Take double-sided tape with you on your trip, and choose one that sticks easily. Stick one side to the inside back of the puzzle and stick it to the window or seat of the plane or car and let the children stick it down. It will be really fun. That’s one puzzle, and so many ways to use it.

How to keep 2-3 year olds occupied when travelling

Children of this age are a real challenge for parents when travelling. They usually want more and more varied activities. That’s why a variety of games can be of great help. There are endless ways to use these games. Bingo can also be a great first lesson in geography to learn the names of animals. And memory games can be played in many different ways. We really like this memory game with vehicles.

Lay out all the cards face up in front of your child and ask them to find two that are the same. Or turn them all over and ask them to find pairs as well. Another great game to play with these cards, especially for travelling, is Guess. Describe to your child what kind of car you see on the card and let them guess what kind of vehicle it is. Or describe who is sitting inside the car and let the child guess. These cards are also great fun for learning to count.

How to occupy children aged 3 and over

“Banana Panda” books

Keeping children aged 3 years and older occupied during a trip really requires a lot of effort from parents and activities to keep the little ones’ attention. That’s why the following books have been very useful for us since the age of three. We like them for many reasons. They are very handy – they are small, accordion-shaped, with sturdier paper. They are very easy to put on a small table on an airplane or on your lap in a car seat. All the books have engaging activities, are colourful and bright. They are perfect for developing dexterity and precision, learning number shapes and letters. And the price of the books is very friendly – just five euros.

Usually the books are A4 and do not fit in small children’s backpacks. Because of that they have to be folded or put in parents’ backpacks. These books are small and will fit perfectly in a child’s backpack. We recommend that you buy several of these for your trip and you will never have any questions about how to keep your children occupied during your travels.

“Banana Panda” activity kits

Another favourite of ours from “Banana Panda” is the activity kits. These are very travel-friendly cards that don’t take up a lot of space. Because they are bound in a small book. Each card comes with a specific task. The fun part is  the cards are reusable. Once the task is done, wipe it clean and the child can do it again. The tasks are varied and non-monotonous – tracing lines, connecting dots, drawing missing elements, recreating shapes. I always keep these cards in my handbag. They are always useful when I need to keep the children busy during trips. Not only when going further away, but also when waiting at the doctor’s office, in the shop or at a guest house. These cards are very useful for us when we are travelling and learning English words. We have learnt numbers, names of animals and vehicles in English.

“Banana Panda” activity book for travel

Keeping children occupied while travelling

Our practical tips

As you’ve probably already guessed, there’s one game or puzzle and many uses. But our most important tip is to play along with your child, before you know it, you’ll have reached your destination. And “Banana Panda” will help you reach your destination in a fun way.

Before your trip, we put the puzzles or games in Ikea zip bags so that the boxes don’t take up too much space.
We also always recommend that parents buy a new game or puzzle for their child before the trip, if their budget allows. It will create more interest, capture the attention and keep the child engaged for longer, for both younger and older children. Or, if you don’t want to spend money on new toys before your trip, or don’t have the means to do so, hide the travel toy for a few weeks before the trip. The child will have forgotten it and it will be as good as new again.

With the discount code KELIONESSUVAIKAIS you will get a 20% discount on the entire “Banana Panda” range.

For full information on preparing for a trip with children, see the article “Tips for preparing for a trip with children”.

The article “Keeping children occupied while travelling” is an original article prepared by “Travel4kids®”. Copying and use without permission is strictly prohibited.

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