When brainstorming activities and toys to include, we consulted childcare providers, occupational therapists, early childhood educators, special education experts, and of course - moms and dads!
Our focus is on toys and activities that are engaging, inspire independent play, are easy to travel with, and have longevity. Each kit has items that were inspired by our own children's play, but were also recommended by the experts we consulted with.
We recommend giving your child one item at a time and let them explore it!
In All Kits:
- Activity Jar (not in 5-7) - This is perfect for practical fine motor skills, from baby to preschooler. For babies, we suggest you holding the q-tips and passing them and allowing them to hold the jar themselves (the lid itself becomes a puzzle!). Preschoolers can practice twisting open and closing the jar, deciding which side q-tips and pom poms can fit in, and then starting all over again independently. It's an activity that grows with your kids!
- Washi tape - We included a roll of washi tape in every kit because washi tape doesn't leave a sticky residue, but also because it is SO flexible. You can use it while you're traveling to cover outlets, tape back curtains or garbage backs for blacking out windows, and for all sorts of games on the plane or in the hotel room. One of our favorites is a "rescue" game - use the washi tape to tape animals, egg puzzles, cars, or anything else from our kits to a table or seat back, and have your child "rescue" them by pulling off the tape.
Baby Kits
- Pull toy - This is perfect for babies to explore sound via both the centre rattle and the sound that the different pulls make. It helps develop both fine and gross motor with the different difficulties of pulls, and the silicone is perfect for mouthing babies to explore different textures! There are some additional pop-it buttons for more sensory play.
- Suction spinners - Stick on plane or car windows, and even use them in the tub at your hotel or rental property. When they're done with the spinning, give one to your baby to use the pop-it part!
- Nesting/stacking cups - Perfect for stacking on a tray table or in the hotel, but also an amazing addition to a bath or at the beach. We love these for scooping sand or building sandcastles, pouring water, and building (and smashing) towers!
- Snack flower - We've found that snacks that encourage pincer grasp are KEY on an airplane. It takes time, but it's also wildly enjoyable for babies. Instead of just putting snacks in a bowl or on the table, we repurposed a pillbox into a snack petal. Babies love opening the compartments (they might need some assistance if they are younger!) and discovering the snacks inside. Anything from goldfish to yogurt melts to Cheerios and raisins fit inside!
- Wiggly worm - An easy sensory toy that wiggles and makes sounds when your baby shakes it. It's simple, but a fun distraction when you need it.
- Egg puzzles - Another product chosen for fine motor skill development, these puzzles are large and easy for babies to fit in their hands. You can give your baby one to pull apart and squish together, or set out a few separated puzzles to practice color and shape matching with older babies!
- Busy Bee Book - This high contrast soft book has it all - peekaboo flaps, a story to read and follow, and many different textures and sounds. Our favorite part? The mirror to help babies explore and interact (we all know babies love giving smooches to the other baby in the mirror!)
- Play Scarf - For tickles and sensory stimulation, or hiding objects underneath for babies to find. There are so many opportunities with play scarves!
Toddler Kit
- Animal Lacing Activity - Designed to help develop hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, these cute animals can be strung along the included lacing set and also used in a game of "animal rescue"! You can also have your child use the included tweezers to pick up the animals and put them into a cup on your tray table, back into the bag, or even on the string for an extra challenge!
- Build-a-Car and Road Tape - Toddlers love to build and explore how things works. This car has 6 pieces to put together & take apart and is perfect for those squishy hands.
- Set of Matching Nuts & Bolts - These large nuts & bolts are both color and shape-matching, and are a great way for toddlers to develop the skill of twisting things on & off. The shapes are a great size for fitting in toddler hands.
- Big Plus Plus - These building blocks can be put together in many different ways to make 2D and 3D shapes. As toddlers grow and learn, they will be able to build more complex shapes!
- Busy Book - These books have multiple pages to build fine motor skills, including zippers, buttons, removing shapes & objects, velcro, and flaps.
Preschooler Kit
- Travel Sticker Book - A book containing hundreds of reusable travel-themed stickers and activity pages. This should last you for a lot of trips, and is fun to do independently or together! We recommend either peeling the stickers off in a corner or peeling off the excess sticky parts, leaving just the stickers on the page as this makes it easier for younger children to peel off the stickers on their own.
- Magnetic Puzzle Set - With three puzzles in one box, these are amazing for travel. The pages and pieces are magnetic, making it *more* difficult to lose them, and have a faded picture to help your child to put the puzzle together. Some younger toddlers might need a bit of help to put all the pieces together. You can fit this across two airplane tray tables to help them!
- Bendy Wax Sticks - One of our favorite items in these kits, these sticks are SO versatile. You can build all sorts of things on a tray table, window, or floor, but they are also perfect to use on the dry erase pages. Have your child bend a stick on top of a letter or shape, and then use a dry erase marker to trace or follow along the stick for a unique way to learn how to write and draw! Build homes for the wooden animals, make a city or bridges with the road tape - the options are endless!
- Dry Erase Activities - A curated set of travel-themed activity pages designed to help with pencil skills, counting, matching, and more. You can have your child trace the pages with their fingers, use a dry erase marker, or even use the wax sticks!
- Animal Lacing Activity - Designed to help develop hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, these cute animals can be strung along the included lacing set and also used in a game of "animal rescue"! You can also have your child use the included tweezers to pick up the animals and put them into a cup on your tray table, back into the bag, or even on the string for an extra challenge!
- Road Tape & Cars - The road tape is also a washi tape, making it easy to remove. This tape can be laid across a tray table, or on a table or the floor at your destination. The included cars are "pull back" for extra fun in the hotel!
- Crazy Flip Card Game - This game can be played with a friend, parent, or even independently. Every card has one item that matches with EVERY other card in the deck. You can challenge your child to flip two cards and find the matching items on their own, or you can play against them and flip at the same time and see who can spot the matching items first!
- Silly Tongs - A fun addition for picking up snacks, pom poms, or animals and helping develop fine motor skills.
Please follow our Instagram page @mimu.and.me for more ideas for how to use all of the items in the kits!