Ideas for 3 yo "keep busy in line and restaurants" activity bag

[idreamdisney]

Hi...I'm wanting to keep a secret stash of stuff in my bag...things to keep my son entertained while waiting in lines and waiting for tables at restaurants. He'll turn 3 on our trip. Any ideas?

 

[tjmw2727]

We never needed anything in line because they move along and there is usually lots to look and and people to talk with.

For parade waiting I brought little toys and snacks to munch on. Go to the Disney store and get the light up toys and such for less than 1/2 the price the vendor carts at Disney will sell them for. Stickers are also lots of fun to play with and share and I spy type games.

For restaurants we had little coloring books, sticker books and more quiet things. Travel magnadoodle and travel color wonder would also be ideal.

TJ

 

[Princess Roo]

I agree with PP that you need less at Disney than on more "typical" outings. We often save snacks for waiting times, too.

We love the travel aquadoodle PP suggested
Crayons and paper (they provide these at some TS restaurants)
2 or 3 matchbox cars if he understands not to send them flying
Mini tub of Playdoh
Small books - especially the ones where they are supposed to find hidden items
Pipecleaners to make shapes

Another of DS2's favorite activities is to look through pictures taken on the digital camera that day

 

[karliebug]

I second the pipe cleaners. They are quiet and you can make all kinds of animals and people out of them.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

I second the mini tub of PlayDoh! We only pull it out in the event nothing else is keeping our son occupied. (Many trips we never use it at all.) But that's our secret weapon. He can't resist it.

 

[ehrn]

this is hard to explain but if you have a straw in a paper wrapper--if you push the wrapper very tightly to the bottom of the straw and take it off the straw--it will be all scrunched up, then you wet the little scrunched areas and it moves like a worm! my son loves it...it's a few minutes of distraction anyway...

 

[Tiffany_MommyOf3]

Pal Mickey!! lol

i do like the pipe cleaner suggestion.. i would have never thought of that lol..

We brought the handheld electronic games.. my kids dont understand how to play them yet lol.. but they had fun pretending.. also, they were so excited in lines that they really didnt want to do much but look around lol

 

[vanillasoftserve]

Maybe a small squishy ball to squeeze.. but I agree with the pp, you won't need that much to keep them busy. They may just be happy looking around at everything

 

[jkearson]

My DS6 and DD3 just got a set of Wikki Stix yesterday. I've never heard of them before, but the saleslady at a teacher store gave them to us. They are like pipe cleaners, but better. They are pieces of yarn coated with wax, like a candlewick. Unlike pipecleaners, they do not have sharp endsd and are easy to straighten back out. My kids have already spent hours playing with them. They are able to bend them into shapes, letters, and all kinds of objects. My DS6 has had his sister enthralled as he made glasses, rings, watches, and a crown for her. We quickly decided that these would come with us on our trip to WDW in Sept. The phone number from the packaging is 1-800-869-4554. I don't have enough posts to give the web address, but it is very easy to figure out using the name of the product.

 

[myAAbatteries&aTD]

Bubbles are always a big hit and they keep everyone else entertained, too. If you can, find the ones that don't pop right away and the kids can catch them and see how long it takes for them to finally "melt" (or how many they can catch at a time).

I also pack little boxes of nerds or smarties that only come out when we've been in line for a little while and the kids have to eat them one at a time.... this can take a while! Mine don't get candy very often, so to them it's a real treat...

I like the mini-playdough and wikkistik ideas - definitely going to add those to our goody bag!

 

[RedAlfalfa]

Not really ideas to help waiting in line- but we eat out ALOT (I don't like cooking) so I keep a bag of tricks for restaurants.
Playdoh is ALWAYS a must for my bag. My DD (4) loves it and my DS (21 months) loves to eat it.

I found travel colorforms at TRU a few months ago (Thomas the Train & Diego- but I think they had others).
Any of those travel Magnet sets- DD has the princess ones where you dress Belle. My DS has a Mr Potato Head set (doesn't really play w/ it too much yet- but it keeps him from wanting his sisters...well some of the time)
I stock up at the Target dollar section when they have those Lisa Frank velvet coloring things on clearance, or really any of the mini art things.

I also just found Crayola to Go paint pad & paints at Walmart for $3. I haven't tried them yet though.
I am planning on picking up a small wipe-off board and markers- figure that would be good for Tic-Tac-Toe, Hangman (when DD gets older) or just coloring. Something about a marker board makes it more fun and exciting than paper and crayons.

 

[Barbers2005]

Whenever we go on vacation dh and I stop at Walmart first and pick up 5-6 little toys so we can surprise dd5 with them when she starts getting restless. In the past we've gotten dinosaurs, ponies, bags of plastic bugs, squishy koosh type balls, rubber snakes and spiders, glow sticks. Dd loves to get animal toys and have them interact with the environment (dinos eat the plants, ponys run on the railings, bugs crawl on the table). The best part is that Walmart has a lot of these toys for less than a dollar, so we don't mind if they get lost/ forgotten somewhere.

 

[tinkandpan]

I just wanted to chime in and second the wikki sticks. We also love surprise ink books and the aqua pages.

 

[carissanboys]

This isn't something to put IN the bag, but I find that when our boys begin getting restless we start playing "I Spy". It's easy to do and takes up no space . You can do the typical "I spy something green", or change it up a bit. "I spy something that is orange, round, and you can eat it." Our boys all love to play it and it helps to pass the time and keep them from fighting with one another

We've also been known to play the alphabet game (pick a topic such as animals and go around the group with each person having to think of an animal that starts with the next letter of the alphabet). It would be trickier to play with a newly 3 year old, but you could just skip the alphabet part and take turns naming different animals.

 

[Barbers2005]

It would be trickier to play with a newly 3 year old, but you could just skip the alphabet part and take turns naming different animals.

Dd5 loves the alphabet game...that is a very handy trick for little ones. Another game she likes to play is "animal sounds." Everyone takes turns thinking of an animal and then you pick someone who has to make that animal's sound (or make the sound and dd has to guess the animal). We still play this game, but with harder animals. Dh likes to trick dd by giving her animals that don't make any sounds (turtles, giraffes, butterflies) but she started catching on. We also play "guess that animal" by describing or acting like a particular animal and having dd guess it, then let her act one out.

 

[powellrj]

Bubbles are always a big hit and they keep everyone else entertained, too. If you can, find the ones that don't pop right away and the kids can catch them and see how long it takes for them to finally "melt" (or how many they can catch at a time).

PLease don't bring bubbles. Many people have allergies and they also can stain the clothing of those around you. There have been posts from people with allergies that had a bubble land on their bodies and then have to deal with skin problems the rest of the trip.

 

[Astro Orbiter]

Our "Dinner Bag" that we've taken out forever contains: A travel size magnetic fishing game, surprise ink books, Walmart-version wikki stix, one of those question/answer things - I can't think of what they're called - 3 questions on the first card, answers on the next card, come in a square box about 2x2x6?

I'm also a new fan of post-its in various sizes and colors. Color, cut, and stick to anything. We decorated our entire row on the airplane our last trip. (There are entire books on how to play with post-its!)

We're not big TS people but have more problems with waiting at CS places, so generally one sits with DD while the other waits in line.

Deb

Deb

 

[dcforbreakfast]

If you have young boys, my favorite is baseball cards. I just stick a big deck of them in one of the pockets of my purse and pull them out whenever we're waiting at a restaurant or he's looking bored somewhere.

My five year old loves it. And since he doesn't see them all the time, they're always "new." He plays games with them and likes to read them too. Then again, he also plays football with sugar packets, he has a good imagination.

Great tips everyone! I'm doing a search for Wikki Sticks now!

 

[PJinNYC]

We had bubbles, glow bracelets, stickers, playdoh, and a coloring book and a few other things that were all in the Parkpak we got. I think that the things you are looking for are in the Goodypaks though. You might want to check it out. They are at www.goodypak.com. I can tell you that we really loved the one we ordered for our DD. She is 4.

 

[bzzymom]

I take travel sized magna doodle and DS made up a game which he loves to play. He draws a picture of a disney attraction or character and we have to guess what it is (without looking at it) It is a simple guessing game but he loves it.