6 On The Go Activities

“Are we there yet?!” or “How much longer?”  are phrases that may sound familiar when traveling or running errands with children. It can be challenging to keep kids occupied on the go, but whether you are traveling by plane, spending time in the car, or just out and about in the community, you may find these activities helpful in keeping your child occupied and satisfied. Set aside the tablet, and give your child a break from the screen.  Grab these easy, mess free, fun activities that promote learning!

1. Melissa and Doug- Water Wow Activity Pad. You can buy these individually or in bundles! You can choose from a variety of themes including, numbers, letters, colors, and coloring pages! Many of the coloring pages also include seek and find activities. These are reusable booklets that are great for working on letter, number, and color recognition, as well as fine motor, and visual perceptual skills!

2. Highlights Hidden Picture/Puzzle Books. You can subscribe to Highlights magazines, or buy individual books to take on the go. These may include but are not limited to hidden picture scenes, mazes, and word searches. These are great activities for developing and strengthening visual perceptual skills.

3. Spot It! This is a fun, fast-paced card game played between 2 or more players, and can be played 5 different ways! It comes in a traveling sized tin, and helps improve attention and focus, as well as fine motor and visual perceptual skills.

4. Melissa and Doug Sticker Pads. You can find a variety of sticker pads available that are great fine motor and visual perceptual activities.The Sweet Treats, Make-A-Face and Make-a-Meal sticker pads allow kids to use their imagination to create designs given a template and variety of stickers. The Make-A-Face sticker pack is a great way to work on body awareness. The Seek and Find sticker pads provide different seek and find scenes, where the kids can color the pictures, and match the stickers to the hidden objects in the pictures!

5. Melissa and Doug Origami Animals Craft Activity Set. This is a great fine motor, and visual motor activity to do with the kids while waiting at the doctors, or passing time on a plane. This activity set comes with paper and stickers to make 40 different paper animals!

6. Skillmatics Write and Wipe Activity Pads. These are reusable activity pads that come in different varieties and are great fine motor, visual motor, and visual perceptual activities. Some may include dot to dot activities, mazes, seek and find pages, and various puzzles to solve.

-Marla Griswold, OTR/L