The Importance of Toddler Activity Packs

When leaving the house, I think it's really essential to have activity packs for toddlers. Whether it's for car rides, events where they have to be quiet, airplane rides or anything else that takes time, packing a few toys and other activities can really help them stay occupied and help you to stay in control of the situation! I always see parents of toddlers at functions or lectures constantly telling their children to keep quiet when they get fidgety and start whining, but not having anything for them to do. Toddlers aren't adults, they have a lot more energy inside them than us! Having activities that you only take out when you are outside the house will keep them interested and busy.

I rotate the toys in my toddler's activity pack, but here is an example of some of the things I take:

This activity pack includes 3D glasses with stickers, a notebook, crayons, 2 mini books, a mini Etch a Sketch, a few toys, a teether and a lollipop for emergency situations. I make sure to only give him one toy or book at a time or else he'll get bored of everything all too soon!

I am able to pack all of that in a zippered binder pocket. Something else to do is download videos on your smartphone for your toddler and have apps installed that are suitable for their age. That alone keeps them busy for a long time! If we need to be quiet at the place we are going to, another option is keeping a magnetic drawing board. If we don't have to be quiet, I make sure to keep interactive toys. There is an abundance of these out in the market. Here are a couple of my favorite that I make sure to take with me when we go out. I rotate these when we go out:

Snacks are also a MUST have item which I keep every time we go out. It helps keep them busy for a while and less cranky!
I would love to hear what you do to keep your children busy when you go out! It can be a challenge at times :)

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Writing Letters to your Child

My son turned 1 a few days ago. I thought of starting a new tradition in the home of writing letters to him for his milestones. I purchased a Paperblanks pocket-sized notebook from Barnes & Noble. Making sure to resist the urge of buying pretty, flowery prints, I went for this masculine looking journal. I had to keep in mind that he'll be receiving this either on his graduation or wedding day, God willing. I'm sure he wouldn't want to carry something around that had been butterflied up. 

Here's what I got:

I kept the first page empty so I could write a message for him for his big event:

I wrote up the milestone on the left and date on the right, keeping in mind that this is the same format I'll be using in the years to come for all the pages.

 After some emotional dialogues telling him about how much I love him (lol), I continued on to the fun bits. Letting him know what he was like during his first year of life. His personality, his habits, his likes and dislikes.

I added some fun facts:

And a paragraph about his relationship with his family:

I concluded the letter by telling him I will miss his time as an infant a lot but am looking forward to next year with him. Let's see how we use this little journal! It's basically for any milestone of his. I wish I could've started earlier, but you know how hectic life is with newborns!

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