How to Create an Art Travel Kit For Kids

Sometimes traveling with kids can be challenging, particularly when families live in the middle of nowhere. Are car rides to the grocery store lengthy? Does it take longer than the kids have the patience for to get to Grandma’s house? Do you have a flight with a long layover? If yes was answered to any of these questions, an art travel kit is in order. Creativity helps pass the time better.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Child sized backpack or tote bag
• Baggies
• Pencils
• Erasers
• Pencil sharpeners
• Safety scissors
• Scrap paper, magazine clippings, and stickers
• Crayons
• Colored pencils
• Glue sticks
• Activity pad (found at most dollar and discount stores)
• Small coloring book
• Washable markers
• Doodle pad
• Stencils
• Small ruler
• Small notebook
• Short story book

1. 
   Crayons are the most popular medium for children on trips.

   Use the baggies to separate materials out so they don’t get lost in the bag. Use a separate baggy for crayons, markers, pencil supplies, glue sticks and so on. Use a baggy for the scrap paper, magazine clippings and stickers, also.

2. 
   Keep an empty baggy for pencil sharpener shavings if a cap isn't available.

   Add the books (activity pad, small coloring book, notebook and short story book) to the bag first, and then add in the rest of the items. This will prevent page curling and book bending.

3. 
   Bring several sharpened pencils if a pencil sharpener isn't available.

   Encourage children to use the notebooks to create their own stories inspired by the short story books they bring along. Direct them to collage or draw on the top portion of the page, and then write their sentences below.

4. 
   Don't forget to sharpen the points of colored pencils before packing them, as well.

   Use the coloring books and activity pads when the children become tired, but still need something to do. This is particularly important when experiencing long layovers at the airport. They may feel burned out from travel, but still want to keep busy because they’re bored. This activity will fill that void well.

Tips & Warnings

• Add envelopes and empty baggies to the bag for collections (like, at the airport, for example) or other cut up scraps during the trip they may want to keep.
• Add an old catalog or pieces of junk mail they can cut up and use in their art projects.
• Add a clipboard (size appropriate – small ones are available) to use as a work surface.
• Add a miniature magnetic doodle pad for additional activities and it can also double as a work surface.
• Use pencil bags with window inserts, rather than baggies, if preferred.
• Avoid anything wet, like paint and white glue, to avoid messes.
• Avoid adding anything to the bag that will cause heartbreak if it’s lost or ruined during the trip.
• Avoid chalks or any other kind of messy media.

Resources

• Mixed Media Arts