My Must-Have Item for Traveling with Kids

Hint…it’s not what you think!

I’ll set the stage for you- I love the beach and all things summer. With a July birthday, my one request is we visit Lake Michigan and my husband has been happily obliging for years. 3 years ago, he suggested last minute that we take the kids camping so we can see the sunset twice and I found myself nodding along to his wonderful plan. The kids loved every minute and it has somehow become a tradition of sorts, so now we camp in a tent once a year.

On our annual camping trip in 2025 I had the brilliant idea to pack something that absolutely saved our sanity on this trip. I will forever pack this on all future trips and it has nothing to do with easier traveling or packing cubes.

I have raved out these watercolor paints in stories multiple times and I cannot stress to you how lovely it was to have everyone quietly and independently painting after 24 hours of cooking, packing, driving through construction, setting up camp with a broken tent, and a complete inability for any of the kids to do anything for themselves because we weren’t at home.

I have purchased this exact watercolor set twice (one for each of my oldest two children) along with this set of watercolor paper and this set of watercolor notecards. These bookmarks are on my list for a stocking stuffer for my oldest.

My favorite features of this particular watercolor set:

• the whole set is about as big as an envelope (taller, obviously, but still fairly compact)

• the case is hard, so nothing inside gets crushed

• latch keeps everything in the case secure

• internal storage for all the brushes that are included in the set

• 48 colors feels just right for kids age 5 and up. My 3 year old has borrowed a paint set, but I would say she didn’t appreciate the variety of colors.

When dry, these should be fine to take on a flight and my other favorite part is the kids can create art about the special trip. I plan to hang the sunset pictures up just as soon as I catch up on laundry!

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