Incorporating Art in Your Travels

We're off to Mexico next week. In the midst of the chaos we call packing, I've been thinking of how we add creativity to our travels.

For the girls, we take colored pencils and drawing paper, detailed coloring books, and blank notebooks for the plane and hotel room. We've started taking a box of 36 fine point Papermate markers, unlined wire-bound Hand journals (I mod podged patterned cardstock to the covers so the girls could have their own "look" to their journals), stick-notes, a mini-stapler, kid scissors, tape and clips, plus zip lok bags to collect ephemera along the way and document our days.

For myself, I'm happy with a ziplok bag of PITT pens, Sakura microns and gellyrolls, a wirebound 8 x 10" drawing pad and a lined 5 x 7" Moleskine. And a camera of course!

Art supplies also create a well needed diversion ~ during travel there is a lot of time "waiting" at airports, in hotel rooms, recuperating from a day of adventures. It's relaxing. 

We also play games in hotel rooms... my younger daughter invented a game called "library" with hotel note pads as library cards and an unplugged hotel phone as the librarian's telephone. Hotel notepads can be used for so many things; writing silly poems, doodling, hiding notes among the luggage, pretend "scriptions" for pretend doctors offices.

Here are some links about traveling with kids: Why Travel With Kids is an Enricing Experience from TravelBlogs.com, including contributions from Delicious Baby, Travels with Children and Traveling Mamas.

Do you have ideas for incorporating art while traveling?