Travel Toys and Activities

#1- Crafts

I just realized that I still haven't posted photos of all the bits and pieces we took on our trip with us! Some were mainly for the plane, and some mainly for the hotel.

#2- Squinkies

#3- Activities

A couple of tips: save some "new" things for the way back, bring comfortable headphones for airplane television or iPod's and consider wrapping everything up in wrapping paper for little ones-it can keep them pretty busy!

#4- Thinking

#5- Busy Toys

#1- Crafts: Blackboard and Chalk (in a chalk holder) with eraser, crayons, notebook and stickers galore!
#2- Squinkies: I love these because they're tiny and lots of fun. We put them in a small tin from Michael's to keep them together.
#3- Activities: Jacob's Ladder, Button Snake and a lunch tin filled with puzzle erasers in a home theme.
#4- Thinking: Usborne's 'Things to do on a Journey', key chain measuring tape and tiny package of Megablocks (they were very popular in the hotel!)

 #5- Busy Toys: Wiki Sticks (Daniel's favorite of the trip), Silly bands (second favorite!), play doh (great for the hotel) and a locking diary. I thought the diary would be a huge hit, but the lock was too cheap and didn't work at all. Next time I'd buy a separate lock and key for entertainment.
#6- Things That Go: The roll up mat was pretty good on the airplane's tray table, but we used both of the car toys much more at the hotel. I really liked the little Tonka ramp because it was small and easy to pack, but lots of fun at the hotel.

Back From Vacation!

Well, we're back home from our sunny Florida Vacation and boy was it nice to be in the sun! It's maybe even nicer to come home to more sun!

As per usual, I way over packed in the travel toy department. I think Daniel spent about 20 minutes on the button snake (did he know it took three times that long to make???) and about 7 minutes on the car mat I made him. On the bright side, he loves the quilt I made him! I was pretty sure it would turn out discarded like the Waldorf doll I spent hours making for him, but he's still loving it even now that we're back home.

I Spy Quilt (or: Quilting Madness)

Wow. Quilting is SO hard!

I have so many adorable fabrics, that I love and haven't wanted to part with. I though I could just whip up a simple little quilt (I can hear all you seasoned quilters laughing) for Daniel using lots of prints and keep the fabrics I love forever. The problem is, I'm not very precise and I had no idea what I was doing!

I'm pretty sure none of my squares were the same size. I learned that scissors are a bad tool for quilting. I should have bought a big cutting mat and quilting ruler before I started. I own one now! So I did what any reasonable person would do when that have completely botched a project- call my sewing-savvy Mother in Law! She resurrected it for me and taught me a lot of little tricks on the way.

Now, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, offset lines and all! I think Daniel is going to love it. My plan is to give it to him on the plane to keep him busy and cozy. But we all know how obsessive I am about travel activities....

Playsilk Fun!

Playsilks make dress-up games so entertaining! Daniel was very proud of his long blue hair.

We spent a whole afternoon making everyone into princesses (oh, son....) and dancing at the ball.

Silk Playground has lots of great ideas for putting your playsilks to work, including using one to line an Easter basket (what a great gift!) and for playing peek-a-boo.

So Cute!

Yellow Owl Workshop has done it again! They have some adorable new stamp sets, including this tic tac toe set! So fun!