What do you bring to occupy the kids?

I am crusing with a 3 1/2 year old and a 5 year old, both boys. I have packed several dollar store puzzles in sandwich bags, I plan to take my kindle with a couple movies downloaded. Im also bringing glow sticks(not sure why just seemed like a cute idea). And of course coloring books. Anyone have any other good suggestions?

I am crusing with a 3 1/2 year old and a 5 year old, both boys. I have packed several dollar store puzzles in sandwich bags, I plan to take my kindle with a couple movies downloaded. Im also bringing glow sticks(not sure why just seemed like a cute idea). And of course coloring books. Anyone have any other good suggestions?

When we went to Disney last year I brought colorful pipe cleaners for my 4 yea old. he had the time of his life playing with those things on the plane! He asked me to buy some more for our cruise in a few months.

Occupy them when? Waiting to board the ship? On the plane?

My kids have no problems at all being occupied once we are on the ships. We also do not force them to eat dinner in the dining room, so generally, they are never bored.

Once on the ship, the kid's club will keep them occupied a good deal of the time....most kid's LOVE going and doing the activities! The pool (depending on weather) will keep them busy the rest of the time! The glow sticks are great as a nightlite, if you need one!

I was thinking during downtime, waiting to board the ship and at dinner. We were planning on eating in the MDR. I mean we will see as we go. If its too much or an ordeal we will eat at the buffet.

This is our first vacation with the kids other than a few days here and at the shore.

DD is 2 and we plan to eat in the dining room (quite a few family members & friends with us). Here's what I have so far:

- some small books

- coloring books & washable crayons

- the crayola markers that only show up on certain paper & some sets of paper

- garage sale stickers & paper (they easily peel off)

- portable DVD player & DVDs

- iPad with some shows & apps

- magnetic book set

We will probably bring a tote bag with a few things to dinner each night.

I was thinking during downtime, waiting to board the ship and at dinner. We were planning on eating in the MDR. I mean we will see as we go. If its too much or an ordeal we will eat at the buffet.

This is our first vacation with the kids other than a few days here and at the shore.

We plan to bring the iPad and sticker books. We found some small ones so there could be a different one for dinner each night. These things worked well for my niece. I think dinner in the mdr is a bit easier than the buffets, a,though a bit long. Generally the wait staff is fantastic and helps to move things along when they can....

In general, the iPad works for my son, but we will also be bring some DVDs as our room has (should have) a DVD player in it. My wife will probably pick him up some small toys and wrap them, so he can have a few "surprises" from time to time.

Not totally related, but I wanted to mention my favorite feature of Carnival Kids Club (at least in 2010). We had the option to drop our daughter off at the buffet with the Kids Club staff. They fed the kids then brought them back to the club while we ate a quiet calm meal in the MDR or specialty restaurant. Mama's Bliss!

in the old days it was a little box of legos and matchbox cars, that would entertain the my boys forever. My daughter would play for hours with polypockets and dolls. Sadly these days they are iSomething hooked, toys, the only toy they need is an iSomething :confused:

in the old days it was a little box of legos and matchbox cars, that would entertain the my boys forever. My daughter would play for hours with polypockets and dolls. Sadly these days they are iSomething hooked, toys, the only toy they need is an iSomething :confused:

Actually, At home these are the types of things DD plays with. She may look at pictures on the iPad with me or watch a video, but she only has access occasionally. We plan to use to iPad primarily in the dining room if dinner gets too long or when waiting (any longer waits)---Just much more practical.In the cabin she will be playing with he Fisher Price toys we borrow from the toddler area.

Sadly these days they are iSomething hooked, toys, the only toy they need is an iSomething :confused:

And sadly I wonder who bought these iSomething for the kids.

I don't bring much of anything to occupy anymore ( my kids fill thier own backpacks) but when they were younger I would bring things to occupy them on the drive/flights. Our favorites for the youngest ones were stickers and a notebook, chenille sticks, those little packets from Target ($1) that contain a book, crayons etc. They would be nice to have one for each night at the dining room, especially if you could find a big variety.

You can print a "hundred chart" and bring a bag of cheerios, goldfish, M&Ms and practice counting to 100 by placing a cheerio on each square.

For younger kids you could do the same with some printed pictures. Be creative. This would be a good way to snack your way to dinner arrival.

My children are 6,8,10,12,16,17,19,20 now so I pretty much give them a small bag each and some limitations and they handle this on thier own. Some of them have small MP3 players but besides that we don't have any electronic devices. None of them bring activities to dinner though, we've grown beyond that.

Those little $1 pouches from Target are great! We try to keep 1 in the diaper bag when at home---just in case we unexpectedly end up somewhere that DD gets antsy & has to stay put. For those that haven't seen them---they have a miniature coloring book, 4 crayons and a set of stickers. I've also seen them at Walmart, Michaels & a few other places (I always seem to be tossing them in my cart).

When my kids were young, iPads weren't around. We had the LeapFrog and the Nintendo Gameboy. The portable DVD player was kinda bulky.

We used to bring Wikki Stix with us.

They are like pipe cleaners, but made with string and a tacky wax. It used to keep them occupied in the MDR. We also did the crayons and paper... but the Wikki Stix did a decent job. Eventually, the Nintendo DS and the iPod Touch became excellent electronic babysitters... but we're running into the problem that every parent has with technology... the kids have to get out more.

:(

http://www.wikkistix.com/what_are_wikkistix.php

What do you usually take to occupy a 1 year old? :o

I let my daughter fill up one small rolling kid suitcase with "toys" and toddler necessities (such as her sleeping blanket)

However I have found half is never used

Color/Sticker books with a couple crayons

Portable DVD player (with disney movies)

Glow Sticks (always)

Usually a doll and a couple dollar store toys (plastic horse, dinosaurs, etc)

A couple snacks and her water bottle for the plane

2-3 small golden books to read

I used the DVD player a lot at dinner. We had late dining - she would eat early from buffet, etc and then go to dinner and chill in her stroller along side the table (or at the table) with her movie and preordered special a bowl of strawberries and blueberries. She was 18 months at the time and it was great. I enjoyed my dinner.. she enjoyed movies and berries.

The movies (with headphones) were also great when we went to bed - if she was trying to stay up and fight sleep and I wanted to watch something or ust sleep.. she would watch it until she crashed -

i think pipe cleaners may go into the mix now!

however - you know your child and what keeps them occupied... bring that! whatever makes 2 hour dinners go by easier or what do you use on a long car ride? take that?

The "hundred chart" is a new one to me. Great idea!

For DD when she was very young we'd bring the small party sized playdough tub. We had a keychain version of Barrel of monkeys, some of the better happy meal type toys, a small magnetic drawing board, some homemade finger puppets, magnetic "paper" dolls, the true tiny very few parts polly pockets, some wicky sticks, etc. Also some Dover Publications small (4x6ish) booklets with mazes, matching games, stickers, coloring for all ages including preschool (then usually a $1.00 a piece now, typically between $1.50 to 2.99 each) -- all that would go into a big bag and then we would swap stuff out to a smaller bag that would go into the diaper bag. Not always the same stuff. We'd also look for "multi taskers" the barrel of monkeys was good for counting, for squishing into the playdough to make impressions, to hook together, to play with the PP or finger puppets, etc. They were all the types of activities that DD liked.

Each morning over breakfast we'd create a list of "stuff to look for" (a visual scavenger hunt list) -- some would be pretty generic (man with orange hat, lady with a purse that had purple flowers on it), others port specific (statue of a lion with wings in Venice) and DD would have to look for the stuff throughout the day. Checking items off as she spotted them. I'd write the words and draw a crude picture of each item. Then she'd get a "prize" (Gellatto, a Kinder Egg, etc) when she had checked everything off. This kept her interested in the stuff around her. We'd also pick a foriegn flag (generally US or Canada) or something else (basket ball hoop) to count.

many people mentioned bringing ipads. I don't have an ipad but do have an android tablet. I thought that you couldn't get wifi (without paying an arm and a leg) so how were you able to use them on the ship? I also have a kindle but it is just an ereader, not internet capable. Am I missing something?

We download a few videos, and have several games/apps that our sone loves to play, like bowling, bugs and bubbles, mickeys road rally. No WiFi needed, just a full battery

We are downloading some episodes of Disney shows she likes & I'm working on getting some apps for her too. Once they are downloaded no wifi is needed. I'll actually be putting iPad on airplane mode (same as my phone)

Thanks! Just downloaded a bunch of apps and will see which ones the kids really like!

I've seen lots of stuff for onboard, but I thought I'd mention beach toys...a simple bucket and shovel doesn't take up much room, and can be left behind if needed afterwards, I usually pick up a new one at the dollar store for each, and since there seem to be so many kids without beach toys, they become a magnet for friends to play with. :)