My Birthday At The Airport & Travelling With Toddlers Montessori Style (Part1)

We had planned a long 4 day weekend in Adelaide and were flying out early on my birthday.
Everything was organised and packed including lots of activities & books for Faye (more on that later)
we woke Faye up at 5am (poor thing) and made it to the airport….

To find out our flight had been cancelled and we would spend the day in the airport.

Happy Birthday to me, hey?

After many plans and discussions what we could do and where we should go, it in the end seemed easiest and best to just stay at the airport and wait. And wait some more and then wait again.

There are worst things though, at least we all had the day off together and plenty of time to play.

We also took the shuttle bus to other terminals, found some delicious Acai bowls and yummy drinks and mainly just chased after Faye, who was delighted to find such a big new playground. Climbing over seats and running along the gates, watching the planes getting ready, luggage being loaded and also meeting new people along the way, there was no time to get bored.

We also had so many little activities and toys packed things packed for her that made waiting a breeze.
We landed safely back in Sydney and while we have more trips and tips and coming this is it for now:

OUR TRAVEL TIPS

Faye turned 21 months young on this trip, is a high-energy toddler that loves to run, ride scooters and climb.
Yet, she is an ace little traveler, here is what worked well for us.

Snacks & Water
This one is obvious, yet essential.
Obviously no one wants to travel with a hangry toddler, so it really pays off to have lots of (not so messy) little snacks packed.
We took organic corn thins (like rice cakes but made from corn) . little “healthy” organic kids crisps (which she usually never eats so the novelty factor with the little noisy bag was a hit too), an apple, a banana…
We have regular bento boxes like these and small stainless steel food containers by Ever Eco, which are awesome for travel and every day snacks.
And of course her water bottle. It’s good to have lots of small snack portions and are easy to eat on the go.

Toys
She played with her handmade organic cotton farm animals and play mat
(via the beautiful Growing Kind Store)
The cutest and most practical play set. The carry bag doubles as a play mat, and its very lightweight and compact, she loved carrying it around on the little handle and opening and closing the zip. Storing the animals away seemed to delight her just as much as actually playing with them. The farm animals might be sold out but there is a Dinosaurs version and also other similar toys available.
We also packed one small wooden car and the small rainbow stacker.

We also love this Nature Scavenger Hunt Discs, for something fun to do with her outdoors on the trip. It’s so compact and lightweight and beautiful. We will sure use it in many different ways in the years to come.
You could also make your own cards, if you feel creative.

She brought her fave stuffed animal “Bunny” with her on the trip, for cuddles. Although she isn’t too attached to any stuffed animal or doll at this point, something familiar.

Our Airbnb accommodation also provided a few books and toys which Faye loved. Most were beautiful wooden toys, with the exception of a plastic fairy house, which Faye really liked, because: Novelty Factor!
So it’s always worth booking child friendly accomodation, they might provide you with some essentials, like highchairs, extra books, toys, bed…

No screens
Faye is under two and I don’t like the idea of any screentime for her.
She has never on the phone or iPad or TV. (except when we Video Call her Oma from overseas)
Instead she was taking photos with our “real” camera and Dave gave her a little intro class.
I was joking that her wooden Oekaki House Magnadoodle is a pre-historic iPad.
More about this below:

Art On The Go
At home she loves to paint and draw at the moment so the Aquadoodle Travel Bag was a big hit.
So lightweight and again mess free, yet she was able to draw. Just google it, they sell them everywhere.
We got ours at the local toy store.
The Magnadoodle is a another great one for car trips, flights or on the go.
There are many different makes. This one is very pretty!
It’s like a prehistoric iPad, you know. And it leaves the possibilities open.
(its recommended for ages 3+as there are small parts. Please supervise closely if your child is still mouthing)
I also brought lots of Dot stickers and plain cardboard cards to stick them on.
They are always a winner.

Sticker Books
I brought a large EYELIKE sticker book with animals.
It was fun to look at and name animals and she loved peeling them off.

Books
I only brought paperbacks that were thin and light and one board book.

We bought the Usborne Going On A Plane Sticker book for our flight to Hawaii when Faye was only just one.
I highly recommend it. I think it will last her for many more trips. Its very Montessori friendly as completely realistic and tells the story off a family going on a plane on holidays. It explains all the details of the airport so well. “Again, Again” was the request we got from Faye and had read it over and over. She didn’t touch the stickers in this one yet, which is awesome and hopefully she will use them when she is older on our big trip to Europe next year.

Airplane Flight by Susanna Leonard Hill.
Is a lift the flap book which we also bought for Hawaii and it’s still going strong.
It has a catchy rhyme that makes it fun to read and I love that it also shows diversity
( a female co-pilot, people of all colours etc)

The Little Airplane was a new addition and Faye does like this one too.

Diary Of a Wombat paperback, nice and thin and travel friendly. We also when to a conservation park in Adelaide where we saw some real Wombats, so this one was themed very well.

Making Mindful Magic another treasure from Growing Kind. Faye liked looking at the beautiful illustrations and it was a nice reminder and invitation to all of us to slow down and be mindful.

Little Yoga by Rebecca Whitford
Or “Yoga Baby” how Faye calls this one.
A current favourite, which is a short Yoga sequence for toddlers. Faye did a few downwards facing dogs in the airport and wanted to do the book every night before bed too.

Time For Bed by Mem Fox
Faye’s first goodnight story. Simple but beautiful.

Potty/Nappies
Wohoooooo! We are out of nappies. I will have to do a post on it asap and fill you in.
The week before a trip might have been funky timing, but to be honest, Faye was ready and it didn’t seems right to keep her in nappies, if she was ready to let go of them. Also summer is a great time and on a trip we actually all have time too. And the perfect time will never come. So we embraced it.

With a Potette Plus, travel potty in my handbag and spare undies (we use cotton training undies which have a little bit of padding) we actually went really well. As soon as Faye says: Pee! We all jump to get the potty into the next half private corner, help her pull her pants down and in the potty it all goes.
She wasn’t faced by going at the airport at all. We try to ask and remind her and go a bathroom together but sometimes we just have to be quick and follow up on the announcement. When she says pee, there is no time to be wasted at this stage ;) Also: We still use nappies at night time and of course, she doesn’t always remember to tell us…there are a few wet clothes here and there.

We brought a handful of eco-disposable nappies for night time and some car naps, as we didn’t want to risk wetting the rented car seat or bed in our holiday rental.

Travel Pram
During our last trip Faye was still little enough for our sling, which made it very easy.
These days she needs to walk and run around everywhere herself.
For naps on the go or if we don’t have enough arms/hands free we brought our Mountain Buggy Nano, which
is super lightweight and fits in the overhead locker on the plane.
Faye napped in it and it came in handy on our way home when we landed extremely late and had a long journey with luggage back to the car. We didn’t use it at our destination as Faye just walks everywhere.

I heard before to have a new activity for every hour of travel. Which can add up to a lot, but I think if you are creative you can use few things many ways and there are always things you can do with the environment.
I hope this was helpful! We are having 2 more trips coming up in the next two months, so we will make use of our travel toys and acitivities a lot!
Happy travels!