Holiday Travels: Products to Entertain the Kids

Keeping kids entertained on short or long journeys can be a challenge. As families prepare to embark on holiday travels, Tropical Family Travel has reviewed several products that are perfect to take along on travel adventures or to have children open on Christmas day at a holiday location.

These travel products are perfect in size for the back seat or even on board an airplane, but more importantly, they will help entertain the child and hopefully contribute toward an enjoyable trip.

A portable DVD is a necessity for any journey, and this season Mattel has released two DVD’s that girls will love. One is Barbie® Diamond Castle and the other is Barbie Christmas Carol. Both movies are entertaining and capture even our three-year-old’s attention. Diamond Castle delights kids with its music and the true depiction of friendship. Christmas Carol is a delight as Barbie turns a classic into a fantasy for girls and ensures that holiday spirit spreads. Get ready for your girls to sing as they watch both Barbie adventures as the music is contagious.

The perfect take-along toys to accompany the Barbie DVDs are, of course, Barbies. Sure to delight and amaze is the spectacular 2008 Holiday™ Barbie®, a festive keepsake for girls of any age, featuring a shimmering white satin and silvery gown, a tulle bodice and gorgeous full tiers of crinkled silvery lamé. To coordinate with Diamond Castle, both Barbie® and Teresa® dolls feature a glittery fashion transformation that turns their humble skirts into ornate ball gowns with the touch of a button. The dolls also sing songs from the movie, and when Barbie® and Teresa® dolls hold hands they sing a delightful duet. Needless to say, these are not the Barbie dolls we grew up with!

For tweens, Wildcat fans can take along their set of High School Musical 3 character dolls. Girls will be able to play out this momentous occasion from the movie with Gabriella, Troy, Sharpay, Ryan, Taylor, Chad and Kelsi dolls. Each of the dolls are designed in the characters likeness and come dressed in their formal graduation attire from the movie.

Books are always a great item to take along during travels and make great gifts, but there is a twist on some of children’s favorites with audio books. MacMillan Audio has released some children’s books on a CD which is perfect to bring along. Our toddler loves listening to books and following along and one of MacMillan’s titles that she memorized at an early age offered is Brown Bear & Friends by Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle, read by Gwyneth Paltrow. Ages 2 to 5, 1 CD, 1 hours, $14.95. Purchase here: http://us.macmillan.com/brownbearfriends. A title to consider for slightly older kids is The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden, read by Tony Shalhoub. Ages 8 to 12, 2 CDs, 2.5 hours, $14.95. Available at MacMillan.com.

A unique product we came across that entertains and educates is a series of Wooden Spinny fun and compact wooden toys, designed for ages 3 and up. The three sections on the toys rotate so children can create numerous combinations of either funny creatures, people, or words. These compact products are the perfect size to take along and only cost $7.50 each. One bonus feature is that they are made in America by Maple Landmark. Available at HazelNutKids.com.

A compact, challenging and fun game also offered by HazelNutKids.com is its Haba Horse Memory game. A traditional memory game but the pieces are shaped as horses. The suggested age is 4, but our 3-year-old was able to play it and handle the pieces. Available for $12.90 at HazelNutKids.com.

In case parents forget to pack some much needed attention-keeping products, airport stores also offer some relief. In Chicago, the Field Museum has seen several kid-friendly travel products “flying” off its shelves. One that is great for infants is its Plush Penguin Plane, which has four little penguins included that Velcro into place. There is even a plane engine sound. Another product perfect to help entertain during the wait in the airport and on-board is its 52 Travel Activity Kit, complete with 52 travel games, markers and stickers. Both come in self-contained carrying cases and are available at The Field Museum.

Tropical Family Travel will continue to provide great kid-friendly products to help make travels this holiday season more enjoyable for all! Happy Holidays!