Take-Along Activity Kit To Keep In The Car

In my daughter’s six years, we’ve travelled a lot. Like A LOT a lot. Having spent several years living overseas, we got very used to doing the 36-hour journey between the Middle East and Canada with a munchkin in tow, and on top of that, we’ve done a lot of travelling just for fun too. Heck, one year we even took our then two-year-old on a 42-hour (42-hour!) road trip to visit each of our family members for Christmas — whew!

What I’ve learned along the way is that when it comes to adventuring with kids, you don’t need a whole ton of stuff so long as you’re prepared with a small kit of key items to keep them happily occupied when needed. Things that that’ll give you a good bang for your buck, so to speak.

In the past, I’ve put together portable travel tins, a portable activity binder for road trips, and a portable Lego kit, and I recently put together this simple take-along activity kit that will be perfect for weekend getaways, ferry rides and any extra car time.

In fact, our plan is to just keep it in the car so we’ll always have it handy when needed. The fun thing about this little take-along kit is that it’s totally customizable. Include items that you know your child will really get a lot of use out of and swap out others that won’t get as much play time — what goes in it is up to you!

What You'll Need:

• a small notebook
• stickers
• a pen and pencil
• small markers (crayons would be great too)
• silly putty
• a card game
• a couple of small books
• magnets (which are awesome if your kit is metal)
• small building toys
• containers for small parts (baggies would also work)
• a lunchbox (a lunch bag would be great too)

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How It's Made:

After gathering up our activity items, putting our take-along kit together was really, really easy. First off, we put our small parts into containers and bags, and secured our deck of cards with an elastic band.

After that, it was just a matter of figuring out how it all fit into our lunchbox best. When it comes to portable kits like this one, I think it’s a balance of using the space you have really well, but not stuffing the container so full that getting everything back in is an impossible task for your child.

As you’re filling your kit, feel free to take out an item or two if there’s not enough space, or add something in if there’s space to spare.

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Pull it out whenever your little one could use some fun and watch them play happily until it’s time to go. Enjoy!