Get the Kids to Pack Their Bags With a Visual Packing Slip
Ask my four-year-old daughter to pack for the trip and, leaving her alone, she will bring a stuffed bunny, Elsa’s dress, and four marmalades. She needs a clear packing list, but she can’t read yet. This idea from Reddit user passglan s will help her a lot.
The redditor created simple visual packing slips for the family to go on their month-long hike. No artistic skills required – all it took was an image search on Google. Children could cross out each item when it entered the bag.
“My sons are eight, five, three and three years old,” a Reddit user tells me. “The three younger ones are illiterate, but quite capable of following directions and bagging things. Due to the proximity of their age, their clothes are difficult to distinguish in size, and also allows you to “borrow” other people’s things when they cannot find theirs. I wanted there to be no arguments about what belongs to whom, and that each of them took care of taking their things with them. “
Here’s how to do it:
1) Decide what kind of clothing and equipment each child will need on the trip. Each child’s list may differ slightly depending on their age and activities.
2) Open an image editor (Redditor suggests using a presentation editor like Keynote or PowerPoint). Add a shape that will group the gear and make it fill white and its border dark to show only the outline.
3) Search for images on Google for each item you want to package, and then click “Tools” (below the search box). Under Type, select Line Drawing. Choose a simple design with solid, bold lines. Drag the saved images onto the slide. Add any changes you need, such as stars on your pajamas.
A Reddit user asked the kids to color the items to make them look like their real outfit, then laminated sheets of paper and gave the older kids dry-erase markers so they could cross out the items as they packaged them.
“It worked well,” said the editor. “The only confusion arose from the fact that they forgot that they were wearing things all the time. They all enjoyed the opportunity to choose and pack their clothes … We have one dude diagnosed with ADHD and it helped him get through tasks and reduced his anxiety about being ready. “