I think the best advice I can give any parent with toddler that wants to go somewhere and enjoy a nice mimosa is: be prepared! You can't expect a two year old to have a ball at your best friend's house for three hour brunch, especially when they don't have any toys laying around. Same goes for restaurants or plane rides. Being prepared will make it easier on you, and on them.
1. Bring stuff along with you. Always take a backpack with toys. You're best friend will be: the surprise factor. If you take toys they usually play with at home, they might not want to play with them somewhere else. But if you have the surprise factor under your sleeve, then that toy will probably cause more appeal.
2. Keep all these toys in a separate bin, away from your kids. Have a bunch in there and quickly pick some things out to put in the backpack. Don't take everything! Pick accordingly to the duration and setting. For example: I wouldn't take balls to a restaurant.
3. Let them have their own separate little backpack that THEY are responsible for, they can choose to take things only that FIT in the backpack. Make it a small backpack or purse. Make sure you let them know that WHATEVER they bring they take, they have to bring back. If hey lose it, they lose it. Let's be realistic; you'll gave to take a little ownership with the other bigger backpack, once they get a little older they can learn to gradually be responsible for everything.
4. You can chose whatever you want, the following is only and example of what I currently have in my bin. Dollar tree, Target Bulleye's Playground, Flying Tiger, Anko, Daiso Japan and Michaels are great places to buy little things for this "secret" bin. You can also use toys they've stopped playing with and hide them in there for a while.
Oh, for me these rules apply only when I'm taking them somewhere labeled for "adults", I don't bring these stuff when we're going to a playdate, park, beach or anywhere where they can have fun on their own.
Here is what I have in the bin:
1.Art and Reading Kit
We always take this one, no matter what. It is the first thing she always takes out. I only take crayons because markers can be dangerous, especially if you're at someone else's house. My daughter is pretty good at following instructions, but even I'm not willing to risk it. Most of these things are from the dollar tree: books, sticker book, drawing book, crayons, even those flashcards. The extra large pencil case is from Daiso Japan.
2. Magnetic Puzzle
I love this one. She can make up a little story, sort, name the animals, etc. This one is from Mudpuppy and they have many different kinds. The link for this one is here.
Other options are:
3. Quiet Book
My daughter LOVES to play with this! Has many different activities, and because everything is made of felt, it's light weight and doesn't make a sound. I'm actually thinking of buying a different one to mix things up a little. This one is from Amazon. The link is here.
But here are several other options:
4. Puzzle
This might be the 4th time I recommend these puzzles, haha. But seriously, we love them. They're super portable, so I bought one to have in our little surprise bin. This is also from Mudpuppy. The link is here.
Other versions of the same puzzle:
5. Puzzle Book
This one is a book, but also each page has a piece of a puzzle. You collect them all to build a large puzzle with all the characters in the book. It's not that portable, but I have it to add some variety. I bought this one in Barnes and Noble.
This is the same one but the Pet Version.
6. Little DIY treasure box
I bought this container at the dollar store. But here is a link for something similar. If you can go to the dollar store, obviously you can find a much better deal.
What I have here:
A few miniature doggies
Small rocks
String
Beads
Buttons
Pompom
Mini erasers
Small Sea Shells
What does she do: Whatever she wants!
7. 3D Puzzles
OK... we have a thing with puzzles. But my daughter loves them, so obviously they're my go-to toy. These are from a small company called Wordy Toys - www.wordytoys.com. They are bilingual, meaning, they have the word written in Spanish and English and the phonetic spelling on the bag. I like that they are easy to grab and take. Super cute too!
8. Extra spare toys
Small toys that you can rotate easily. Take one, take two, take a different one next time. We don't have McDonalds a lot, but those toys end up in this bin and our car bin (oh yes, there's a car bin). A few of the things are:
An old wallet with old cards.
A tiny baby (from Anko)
A Switch Pitch Ball - These are so cool,they change color when you throw them!
A smart phone, the one we have is from Leap Frog. She enjoys this one, the screen shows her the numbers and has songs.
And that's basically it. As I said, I switch these around, it helps a lot to have them in one place because I don't have to think about it.
9. Tablet
OH! I also bring the tablet along. But to be honest, she almost never gets to it. I put it in the back pocket of the backpack. We'll give it to her if it's been way too long. Most of the time, if it's been way too long, we'll decide to leave before I bring the tablet out. But I always have it just in case. She has the tablet around in our house and she doesn't really use it anyway. But it WILL keep her entertained any time we give it to her.
There is no youtube there, she has a few games, TV Shows and many books downloaded. I can control everything on the kid's fire tablet.
Always take into account your child's preferences when building your kit. Hope you can enjoy some time doing "non-kid" friendly things :)
Thanks for reading,
Georgina