Teeny Tot Learning While Traveling

by Tiffany K.
(Bella Vista, AR)

I thought I would share little activities I plan on doing with M while we are away from home next week. I am certain M likes routine because when its naptime, snacktime, mealtime or playtime she lets me know and while she can't tell time, her little instinct is pretty much dead on every time! I love that because I myself am a long time lover of Mr.Routine ;)

Here are the activities we will be doing:

Hotel Room Counting: What hotel room does NOT have framed artwork? If you are staying in an older hotel then you probably do not have the "modern" artwork above your bed and desk. In our case, we have ducks and geese flying towards water. M and I count the ducks then count the geese several times. She LOVES it for some odd reason!

BIG Window: We are on the 2nd story and it just so happens we are right off the highway and a ton of truckers are parked not too far away. We have been going over big and small. This is probably M's favorite hotel game. I love hearing her SCREAM "big truck" and "wittle truck."

Hide-N-Seek: I am doing this with lots of objects, but last night started hiding her ABC flashcards (one at a time).

Doodle Pad: M's doodle pad makes for a great chalkboard ;) We draw our shapes and letters on it. I even let M give it a shot and yesterday she ALMOST drew a perfect triangle!

Coloring Box & Colors: We bought a small box of crayons (8 count) and dumped them on the bed. As M put on in the box we would YELL the color, she got in on this and surprisingly started getting them right so I started giving her choices like... Give Mama the yellow and she would pick the yellow out of the box. So smart! We also count the crayons when we roll them off the bed and onto the floor, also very fun for a little toddler who likes a mess!

Telephone: We use our cell phones all the time and our buttons are so small so I never thought of this before! M had a fascination with the hotel phone so I unplugged the phone and the cord for the actual piece you put to your ear and let her play with the base. We count and press each number together this lasts a few times then she is ready to make calls, haha! So I let her free play!

Watercolors: I needed a paint brush yesterday so I bought an inexpensive watercolor set. M loves this and I let her play with it dry because we have already open watercolors at home. She pretends to get paint on the paint brush and paint different objects around the room. As she "dips" her brush in the paint we say the color!

Activities to Keep Busy:

Bubble Bath: M always gets a 10 minute bath at home. I have so much to do that that is how much time I allow so I can get things done, but we have all the time in the world at the hotel so yesterday M had a 40 minute bubble bath! I gave her cups and containers to fill up and play with.

Playdough, Paint with Water, Coloring Books: I sit M at the hotel desk and she has at it, keeps her busy for about an hour or so.

Flashcards: We of course, use them as intended for the original purpose, but it is also a lot of fun to throw them one by one on the floor and let the little one roll around on them. If they are anything like my little one, she would go around picking them up just to do it all over again.

Things we haven't done yet:

Alphabet Letters for the mini fridge

Shaving Cream fun at the hotel desk

Make a Tent with the hotel chairs and desk

Band-aid Fun: Buying a box of band-aids to give M and as stubborn as she is, it will take forever for her to get the packets open and get them stuck to something :)