How to Keep Young Children Busy in the Hotel Room

When you are traveling with young children it is always a challenge to keep the children busy at night or on rainy days in the hotel room. If you are lucky enough to be staying at a full service hotel with a swimming pool, games and movie rentals your job of keeping the kids busy will be easy. However if you are staying at a hotel where all these resources are not available you will have to tap into your own imagination.

The first thing you need to do is to plan ahead. Before you ever leave home you must make a list of all the games, puzzles, movies and appropriate toys you are going to bring on your trip.

Start with the games and puzzles. Pack a storage bin with board games and puzzles for the kids to do. These are perfect for the children at night or on a rainy day. To make it even more fun let the children set up a special place on the bed or in the middle of the floor to play their games. Even under a table with a blanket draped over the top will make the game playing even more fun.

Second thing to do is to take a look at your movie selection. Plan to watch some of the tried and true favorites as well as some movies the kids have not watched in a while. You can even surprise the kids with a few new movies that you have purchased especially for the trip. It is always a welcome site to see something new yet familiar so consider purchasing a video of your children's favorite cartoon or television show.

Next come the toys. Look for interactive games such as GI Joe, Polly Pockets, Barbie, Leapster hand held games and Mr. Potato Head. These toys are great for rainy days because the kids can use their imaginations while keeping themselves busy. Girls dolls with clothes are great. The girls can build homes for the dolls in the hotel room and play house while you are traveling. Dress up clothes are always a hit with both girls and boys. Consider letting the younger children walk around the hotel dressed as there favorite character.

A great trick to making the toys even more fun is to give each child a small bag or suitcase and allow them to fill it with whatever toys they want to bring. This gives the children some control over what they have and makes that bag of toys even more fun.