Travel in time
The right toys keep little jet setters entertained
By Tina Benitez -- Playthings, 6/1/2006
Most of us can still clearly remember our very first family vacation or plane ride, whether it be to Maine, England, or even Argentina. Travel at any age is always memorable, and travel-specific playthings can be key to helping parents and children cope with a long drive or the stress of airline travel.
What better way to teach kids about a far-off region before traveling there than with an atlas? National Geographic's Our World picture atlas features large, colorful, easy-to-understand maps designed to introduce young children to the world.
Parents and kids can also watch the Travel Guide series of videos from Equator Creative Media, Phoenix, together before a big trip. New releases in the series include Travel with Kids Caribbean, Wild Garden and Oahu.
For the latest in travel products for kids, Madallie.com, Los Angeles, stocks books, play sets, on-the-go desks and more. The online retailer offers products specifically for kids on the move. “We love to travel and love to do it with our kids,” says Susan Davis, owner of Madallie. “We just came back from a trip and were in the airport and noticed all of the impulsive buying that people do to keep their kids busy while they travel. We looked around, and saw that no [company] really does anything specifically covering travel for kids.”
As a result, Davis has focused on product offerings that keep kids engaged during travel times. “It's not a movie or another DVD but more interactive and engaging [products]. We have a lot of products with handles, so it's their own little briefcase.”
The company—named after Madison and Allie, the daughters of Davis and partner Mellanie Bradfield—is only a year and a half old but growing steadily, with more than 200 products currently available for kids ages 3 to 13. Madallie has even launched a few travel products of its own, including Cuppa Knitting, a travel kit of yarn (complete with needles and instructions for making a scarf) that fits in most car cup holders.
Davis also recommends travel books that teach facts about specific places and landmarks; once they arrive, kids already recognize the sites.
Madallie's current top sellers are Roadtrip Trivia from Klutz, Palo Alto, Calif., the Rubber Neckers game from Chronicle Books, San Francisco, and from Alex, Northvale, N.J., the Car Valet, a sturdy surface for coloring, drawing and writing that fits on the back of either a car or a plane seat and has pockets for storage.
“We want people to come to the site and know they will find something like bug checkers,” says Davis. “You're not going to find a T-shirt on my site. I'm not going to get trendy.”
