Traveling with Kids – Montessori-Inspired Activities

Montessori materials aren’t known for being portable. The Montessori ideal consists of child-size furniture and low shelves with Montessori materials and activity trays that allow the child to freely choose activities.

Obviously, you can’t take all that with you on the road. But there are creative Montessori homeschoolers and bloggers who have found ways to bring Montessori-inspired activities with them, whether they’re on a road trip, visiting grandparents, or just going to the doctor’s office.

You’ll also find some great ideas in this article from For Small Hands (affiliate link at no cost to you): Create a Travel Kit with Montessori in Mind.

You’ll find lots of Montessori-compatible busy bags and other activities for traveling on my Traveling with Kids Pinterest Board.

In this post, I’ll focus on activities that are portable versions of traditional Montessori materials and extensions. Here are some ideas for bringing hands-on, Montessori-inspired activities with you when traveling with kids:

Traveling with Kids – Montessori-Inspired Activities

Montessori-Inspired Activity Bags/ Busy Bags/Waiting Bags

Fun Magnetic Vehicle STEM Trays and Activity Bags

Quick and Easy Spielgaben Activity Bags

Easy-to-Prepare Activity Bags {Montessori on the Go}

Montessori Walking the Line Activity Bag (Photo from Training Happy Hearts)

Montessori in a Bag (a number of activities, including the one in the photo), What We Got in Our First Activity Bag Exchange, and Sensory and Skills Spring Activity Bags with a Bit of Montessori Inspiration from Training Happy Hearts

Color Matching Busy Bag (Photo from The Princess and the Tot)

Practical Life, Color Matching, and Shape Matching Toddler Busy Bags from The Princess and The Tot

Primary Peg People Color Matching and Tying Busy Bag (Photo from Our Country Road)

Button Snake and Color Matching Busy Bags from Our Country Road

Color Matching and Grading Busy Bag (Photo from Teach Beside Me)

Practical Life Activities (including a button snake) and Color Grading and Matching Busy Bags from Teach Beside Me

Shoe Tying Busy Bag Board (Photo from Coffee Cups and Crayons)

Shoe Tying Busy Bag Board from Coffee Cups and Crayons

Kindergarten Activity Bag – Math (Photo from Chasing Cheerios)

Kindergarten Activity Bag – Math from Chasing Cheerios (This is a nice extension of cards and counters, although many of the DIY Cards and Counters would work well for a Montessori-inspired activity bag. I also like Chasing Cheerios’ idea of using pencil pouches for activity bags.)

Kindergarten Activity Bag – Sight Words Beans (could be used with simple phonetic words as well) from Chasing Cheerios

Felt Fractions and Button Snake (in “What’s in the Waiting Bag for May?”) from Kara’s Classroom

Felt Fractions from Counting Coconuts

North America Continent Bag (Photo from Counting Coconuts)

Continent Bags from Counting Coconuts (These aren’t intended as a traditional “activity bag” but would be a great way to bring geography on the road.) Photo of North America Continent Bag

Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Matching Activity

Activities using animal replicas such as this activity matching  dinosaur replicas and cards would work well in Montessori-inspired activity bags.

1000-10,000 Activity from Montessori at Home!

A number of activities from Montessori at Home! eBook such as 1,000-10,000 Activity from Montessori at Home! would work well in activity bags.

Some of the ideas on my DIY Montessori Materials post have miniature versions that can be used while traveling.

Montessori MOMents took a large bagful of Montessori-inspired activities on the road in Taking Montessori-Inspired Materials on Vacation.

Number Rods Control Chart and Number Cards (Image from Montessori Print Shop)

Many of the materials at sites on my Free Montessori Materials Online would work well for Montessori-inspired busy bags. (Photo from Number Rods Control Chart and Number Cards from Montessori Print Shop that could be used to make a miniature number rod set.)

Montessori Mystery Bags

Montessori Mystery Bag (Photo from Elaine Ng Friis)

Touch Sensory Bag from Elaine Ng Friis (blog is no longer available)

Early Sensorial – The Mystery Bag from How We Montessori

Montessori Mystery Bag Lesson from Confessions of a Montessori Mom Blog

The Stereognostic Bag by Jessie from The Education of Ours at Mommy Moment

Mystery Bag with a Twist from Montessori Messy

Mystery Bag Tutorial from Montessori by Hand

Portable Activity Trays

Portable Practical Life Amphibian Tray (Photo from We Can Do All Things)

Trays on the Go from We Can Do All Things

Toddler Activity Bags in Action from Chasing Cheerios

DIY Magnetic Travel Tray (could be adapted for a number of Montessori activities) from Craft, Interrupted

Interchangeable Travel Lap Board for Kids from Dirt and Boogers

Montessori-Inspired Tackleboxes

Sensorial Basics Tacklebox (Photo from Teaching from a Tacklebox)

Yes, there’s actually a blog called Teaching from a Tacklebox (a great blog)! Suzanne has lots of awesome ideas for portable Montessori homeschooling (Photo from Sensorial Basics post). You’ll also find free and inexpensive printables along with tackleboxes filled with materials that are available for purchase at her Livable Learning site.

Montessori-Inspired Quiet Books

Montessori Continent Map and Quietbook (Photo from Imagine Our Life)

Montessori Continents Map and Quietbook with 3-Part Cards from Imagine Our Life (The ultimate in quiet books with free printables and tutorials! If you enjoy sewing, this is awesome! If this is too much for you, don’t feel bad … there are plenty of other activities that are simple to prepare.)

Quiet Book Cover Tutorial (could be used for any quiet-book activity) from Imagine Our Life

Do you have any Montessori-inspired activities that you take on the road?

Happy trails! 🙂

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