Family Travel: How to Vacation with a Toddler 

Image Via: Pinterest

[ad#co-1]

Anticipate Needs When Packing:

Gone are the days of just throwing some clothes into a carry on. Traveling with toddlers is all about packing more than you think you’ll need. Stuff your luggage with 2-3 extra outfits in case of accidents or spills, bring a mix of diapers and pull ups if your child is in the middle of potty training, and prepare a kit of first aid items and medications, just in case. Make sure to pack a separate suitcase full of toys to keep them entertained, any must-have stuffed animals or comfort items, and a plethora of snacks that you know they’ll enjoy. The bottom line is: You’ll have a better time on vacation if your little one is happy. Keep tantrums to a minimum by being prepared to meet their needs on the go.

Image via: MSLiving

Know Your Child:

Being on vacation won’t suddenly change your child into a completely different person. As hiss or her parent, you know them better than anyone else – likes and dislikes, what types of situations will be handled well, and what won’t. Use that knowledge on vacation to set up best-case-scenario situations. If you know that your child cannot function without his daily nap, opt for a beach trip that will allow you to give him that time to recharge rather than risking a meltdown in the middle of a sightseeing tour. If your kid tends to wander in crowds, consider booking an off-season week away rather than worrying about constantly keeping an eye on her amid large numbers of people.

Image Via: Babble

Build Tons of Flex Time Into Your Schedule:

Toddlers are notoriously unpredictable. You never know when they’ll decide they need a nap, only want to be carried, or have to stop for the 1,000^th potty break of the day. And, you don’t want one of those times to be when you are rushing through the airport trying to catch a flight. Do your best to build as much flexible time into your schedule as possible, so that you can go with the flow. Leave with plenty of time to spare, if you need to arrive at a your destination at a particular time. Splurge on purchasing tickets with flex-dates in case your kid has an off day and you can’t imagine dragging him around a crowded attraction. You’ll breathe easier knowing that a potential setback won’t ruin your plans entirely.

Prep Your Toddler Beforehand:

Vacations are rife with new experiences, for no one more so than your toddler. When you sit down and think about all the firsts that will be happening during the course of the trip – flying on an airplane, staying in a hotel, going to a theme park – it’s not surprising that all that fresh stimuli can be overwhelming. Do your best to cut down on any anxious feelings by prepping your toddler for new experiences ahead of time. Talk about what will happen and play up the excitement in your expressions and tone of voice. If possible, pull up pictures online of the places that you will visit and go through them with your child. Do your best to answer any questions they may have and soothe any anxieties.

At the end of the day, remember to take a deep breath and have fun. After all, this is your vacation too. Family travel with little children may be different than anything you have ever experienced before, and it certainly requires more preparation, but it is far from impossible. Take these tips into consideration when planning your vacation and we guarantee you’ll have the trip of a lifetime.

Parents, do you have any essential tips for family travel? Share them with us in the comments below.

For more travel ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

When you’ve got toddlers in the house there’s plenty to worry about. Now that they’re up and moving they can get at a whole new level of objects, and the fact that they’re using every stick of furniture to pull themselves up (and starting to climb) has got you installing safety straps on everything from cabinets and electronics to appliances. But even beyond their penchant for getting themselves into potentially harmful situations, there’s the issue of destruction to deal with, and it seems that they leave a trail of it wherever they go. Between spreading toys from one end of the house to the other, having tantrums at meal time that end with all manner of food on the floor, wall, furniture, and even the ceiling, and throwing anything they can get their hands on, you’re facing a definite challenge when it comes to keeping the house clean and organized. So here are a few tips and tricks to keep up with your small kids when they’re on a rampage.

Image via

[ad#co-1]

For starters, it helps to keep fragile items out of reach.

This is going to be more difficult now that your kids are mobile and keen on climbing, but it’s not impossible. Simply install high shelves to display your family photos, tchotchkes, and anything else that your kids could break if they pulled them down. Then make sure to move any furnishings that your tiny tots could climb in order to reach your valuables. In addition, it’s really helpful to provide your kids with easy-to-reach cubbies and shelving for their own stuff. While it’s possible that they will pull everything out and throw it around the house on a daily basis, you can find a teachable moment amidst the mess.

Helping kids to clean up after themselves

Keeping a clean house now and in the future hinges on your ability to get your kids on board with cleaning up after themselves, and this is a chore that even young kids can do. Once they’re walking and talking you can get them started picking up their playthings. So while you might be hesitant to give them unfettered access to toys, you can consider confining them to the playroom rather than placing storage all over the house. This should keep the majority of the mess in one area of the house. And then you can have the kids put away their toys each day. Make a game out of it by making up a song, or if you don’t feel that creative just sing “A Spoonful of Sugar” from Mary Poppins – in every job that must be done there is an element of fun, after all!

Image via

Of course, there will still be plenty for you to do when following in the path energetic toddlers, so do yourself a favor and try to squeeze in one major cleaning task each day (like vacuuming, scrubbing the bathroom, or doing laundry) so that you can keep up without having to devote an entire day each week to chores. Armed with plenty of storage solutions and non-toxic green cleaning chemicals you can create a tidy home even with young kids running wild and wreaking havoc. But if you want to save yourself some time and trouble make sure your kids start helping as soon as they’re able.

For more kids’ activities on Stagetecture, click here.

The summer season is one of the most memorable times for kids activities. Although everyday may not be the perfect sunny day that we all hope for. Most likely your child may become bored and a rainy day shouldn’t put a halt to their summer fun. Make their summer fun by painting, playing indoor hie-and-seek games and introduce them to reading activities. This will help your child learn and have fun at the same time!

Image via

[ad#co-1]

Here are some reading activities you can introduce to your kids:

Word Puzzle

This activity is simple yet a fun indoor activity. It develops vocabulary and reading ability of your child. You can customize your own word puzzle to fit the level of intelligence of your child. Simply create a series of boxes and fill each square with a letter. Instruct your kids to encircle words horizontally, vertically and diagonally. Check their answers using a dictionary or encyclopedia.

Word Scrabble

This is definitely a classic vocabulary game for all times. It is fun and exciting game that will certainly enhance your kids’ word reading, spelling and wording. The great thing with this activity is that it can be done simultaneously by four people.

Image via

Text Twist

Text Twist is similar to scrabble. However, all players have the same scrambled letters. Each player should be able to form and write as many words he or she can. The objective of this activity is to be able to form a word that is not written by anyone in the group. The person who has the most number of unique words wins. This will surely pump up the reading and vocabulary skills of your kids.

With these activities, your kids will certainly have fun in learning. An experience that will instill in their minds. These activities help your kids remember what they have learned in a holistic manner. Not to mention the bonding that you provide with your kids that will send them the message of your love and care for them.

For more kids ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

When your little tykes get big enough to crawl, climb, and walk around, you’re going to have to start worrying about a whole new level of dangerous things they can get into, especially in the kitchen.  Just the thought of a toddler rooting through the trash, getting stuck in the fridge, or opening a drawer full of knives is enough to send any parent into panic mode.  Luckily, you’re not the first parent to face these trials and tribulations in the course of child-rearing, so there are plenty of solutions out there for the concerned adult that would like to make the kitchen a safe place for the little ones.  Here are just a few tips to help you do so.

Image via: Smarter

[ad#co-1]

Gates

Baby gates won’t keep your kids out forever, but they’ll work well enough during the stage where anything and everything must be sampled to see if it’s food, or when every door, drawer, and unseen surface that is just within reach (the stovetop, for example) represents an adventure waiting to be discovered.  So until your children are old enough to understand (and heed) you when you warn them that something is dangerous, your best bet to preserve their ongoing health and safety is to keep them far away from the many trouble zones represented in the kitchen.

Height

Your main advantage over your kids, at least when they’re young, is that you have access to overhead spaces that are beyond the grasp of their tiny fingers.  However, you should be aware that some kids are climbers, so although it’s a good idea to put harmful items in the higher cabinets, you may want to secure them against entry, as well.

Latches

While you can certainly keep some hazardous items out of reach in the kitchen, it behooves you to put latches on all doors and drawers (including the fridge), and there are a couple of reasons.  First of all, you can’t possibly store everything out of reach (unless you are okay with the idea of foregoing half of the usable storage space in your kitchen).  This means that potentially hazardous items (cleaning solvents, sharp utensils, and heavy pots and pans, for example) could be on the lower level.  And where would you put the trash?  Since you’ll have to store some items within easy reach of your children, simply secure them with child-proof latches.

Image via: Hello Baby Direct

Locks

Kids are like little velociraptors, constantly testing the defenses.  So eventually they’re going to figure out how even sophisticated latching systems release.  You’d hope by this point they’d be smart enough not to drink the dish soap or pull an iron skillet down on their heads, but since you can’t really be sure of that, you may want to switch to locks on the doors, at least for cabinets that contain the most potentially hazardous items.

Alarms

Okay, so this might seem like overkill, but if your kids are persistent, some kind of closed-circuit alarm system could be necessary to ensure that they’re not breaking and entering in your kitchen cabinets.  If you’re really paranoid (say you have older kids that get left home alone on occasion, and you’re worried about the well-stocked liquor cabinet) you can even get an alarm system that alerts your smart phone when it goes off.  It doesn’t take a specialist in loss control management to know that kids are going to try to get into things they’re not supposed to when your back is turned, so you need to protect them from themselves by any and all means available.

For more kitchen & bath ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Celebrate Halloween at your children’s day nursery with these fun ideas for pre-school kids and toddlers.

Image via: The Party Dress

Crazy costumes

Young children love dressing up, so ask them to come in Halloween costumes for the day. For busy parents, there are a range of affordable costumes in the shops and supermarkets at the moment.  Little boys will love dressing up as mummies, skeletons, wizards or ghosts while little girls can enjoy masquerading as witches, naughty fairies or black cats.

For more creative parents, costumes can easily be made using old sheets and cardboard boxes and are a great way to get kids crafty. To make it even more special, invest in some face paints or help the children make spooky masks out of cardboard and poster paints.

Make the most out of the costumes by holding a Halloween parade around the neighbourhood and holding a competition for the best outfit. And don’t forget to dress up yourself. The children will love to see the staff joining in!

Funny faces

With some adult supervision (of course) enjoy the traditional carving of Halloween pumpkins for the children to take home to use as lanterns. Allow the children to create their own designs and then carve them out for them. This is a great way of also introducing them to some learning about safety around knives and candles.

For something safer and a bit different, try making pumpkin faces out of oranges. It’s easy to do using craft materials such as googly eyes, pipe cleaner and foam shapes. Afterwards the kids can enjoy eating their spooky Halloween creations. Oranges are also a great alternative to the usual sugary treats around at this time of year.

Image via: At Home with Kim Vallee

Terrifying treats

Baking is part of the fun of Halloween. Push out the boat and make a haunted gingerbread house for them to share or for something a bit easier make gingerbread biscuits and cut them into the shapes of ghosts, pumpkins and witches hats. Buy some coloured icing so that the children can decorate them. Wash the biscuits down with limeade served out of a cauldron and renamed Witch’s Broth.

Spooky stories

Use the occasion to tell spooky stories and then ask the children to draw the characters or scenes from the book. There are some beautifully illustrated books available with witches and wizards which children will love.

Ghoulish games

Traditional games such as bobbing for apples never go out of fashion and the kids will love getting splashed as they try to reach for their apples without their hands. Or theme some word and number games around Halloween including basic letter games – identifying  ‘G is for Ghost’ for example, or counting the number of pumpkins.

A Halloween-themed treasure hunt is a great way of getting children outside kicking through the leaves and getting muddy. Just remember their wellies!

Of course some younger children can be easily scared by Halloween, so keep everything you do light and cheerful with friendly ghosts and smiling pumpkins.  Make sure you take a camera to capture the moment and create long-lasting memories of their day.

Rachel is a business blogger currently on the lookout for nurseries for sale.

For more Halloween ideas on Stagetecture, click here.