3 Creative Travel Activities 

By Stephanie Porcello

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Summer is here! Whether you are traveling or just relaxing at home, these creative activities are sure to keep your family engaged and thinking like artists.

 

As a mom of two who loves vacationing with her family, I know there is a lot of in-between time during the summer. An endless line here. A long car ride there. I’m always thinking on my toes. “What can we do in this moment to not be bored?” I hope these ideas provide your families with laughter, entertainment, and peace during those moments.

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1.  The Clipboard. A dollar store clipboard is magic. Why? It’s a great small,

practical hard surface for on-the-go drawings. Pack it in an airplane bag or bring it into a restaurant. I’ve found that sometimes the one thing that has stopped my kiddos from doing art is not having a smooth, firm surface to create on. 

 

But wait, there’s more magic! The clipboard itself is a fantastic drawing surface. I’ve seen kids and teenagers fully immersed in physically drawing on the board. Almost any drawing tool shows up well on a clipboard, but my favorites are: Posca Pens, Sharpies, felt tip markers (Papermate has lots of pretty colors and the tip is a good all-ages size for writing or drawing), Glitter pens, and color changing rainbow pens. 

 

I also love drawing on clipboards because it’s a small size and doesn’t feel as precious as a blank piece of paper. It seems easier to jump right in. If your artist needs an idea, writing and decorating their name is a good place to start. Placing stickers on the board, then adding a drawing around them is fun too.​

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​2. Spin on the classic "I Spy" game. Challenge participants to find items around the room within a certain category. Take turns coming up with wild categories. Here’s some to get you started:

• Find items in rainbow order. For example, if someone spots a red shirt, look for something orange next…then yellow and so on.

• Find five (green, round, delicious) items.

• Look for items you would see at Grandma’s house.

• Look for things out of place. Ex. bag of chips in the stuffed animal section of a store.

• Look up everywhere you go. You’d be surprised at how many cool ceilings there are! Ask, “would you want this ceiling in our house?”

• Look down. Spot the shapes in the floor tiles.

• Keep an eye out for pocket-sized treasures and collect them. At the end of the day, have a show-and-tell where everyone empties out their pockets. This one requires a few more parameters and rules to be set beforehand, but it’s a neat way to slow down and find beauty in the little things.

 

*Modifications: 

-Draw any of the items you find above

-Make it a competition. Race around your space collecting items.

 

3.  Ask for art help. Next time you are waiting, find a napkin, paper plate, or any sort of writing surface and a pen. The more unexpected the writing surface, the better. Ask your artist for step-by-step instructions on how to draw their favorite things. Yoshi, the dog, a koala. Watch their inner artist light up as they show you. 

 

        *Modifications:

        -Change the tone of the activity. Serious: plain piece of paper and a more complex drawing request. Silly: Ask them to teach you how to draw a made-up situation. Ex. A racoon eating a pizza.