I used to be a teacher - I have such an incredible amount of respect for all the hard work that goes into a classroom. Once a month, I like to send in some sort of teacher treat as a small token of appreciation.

I sat down and assigned a very specific treat to each month of the year - most of which were fairly inexpensive. This took the guesswork out of it for me - so that my energy each month could instead be spent on implementing, rather than deciding. Because I learned in the past that vaguely saying, “I’ll send some sort of treat in soon” meant I never would do it. But deciding ahead of time that in October I will send in a fun bag of popcorn? That I can do.

It’s also important to me to feel like I have enough margin in my days to have the capacity to invest in our community. To prioritize relationships, to nurture connections, to love on our people. Taking the time to send our wonderful teachers a monthly treat makes me feel like I’m doing just that.

Yes, when we go camping, we do a lot of fun things. But we still bring activities with us.

I like to keep our daily rhythm somewhat similar in the Airstream to what we do at home, so I bring along a few supplies for sensory play, morning activities, and Quiet Time. My preschooler and I both benefit from the predictable rhythm, but it’s also nice to have these things when she’s tired, when the weather’s poor, or when we need a quiet moment while on the road.

I swear by bringing all these things for a successful trip with little kids.

Here’s what we bring.

my parents got an Airstream awhile back.

and this summer, they got a bigger Airstream.

“would you like our smaller airstream?” they asked, “we’d like to see the country with our grandkids.”

well, yeah.

so here we are.

and here’s the post with allllll the details.

and i’ll update this post as we learn the ropes, as we go on trips, as we organize every square inch.

consider this post a place I’m always adding our travel, camping, and small space favorites.

weeeee!

Originally published in 2021, updated yearly.

But first!

• Read Our Monthly Themes for Play for our full list of themes

  • and to learn five reasons why we love monthly themes.

• October’s theme is Halloween!

Originally published in 2021, updated yearly.

But first!

• Read Our Monthly Themes for Play for our full list of themes

  • and to learn five reasons why we love monthly themes.

• September’s theme is apples.

you know I’m super into automating what I can. deciding once, as Queen Lazy Genius says.

and while the past teacher in me loves alllllll things play - sensory play, seasonal books, play invitations, and toy rotations - the past teacher in me also love to think of ways to simplify and automate what I can.

i haven’t taught in years, and I swear my brain still thinks in terms of lesson plans and school years.

anyway.

enter the monthly themes. (the themes also make my teacher heart happy.)

But first!

• Read Our Monthly Themes for Play for our full list of themes

  • and to learn five reasons why we love monthly themes.

• We keep our toys the same, but we rotate monthly activities + monthly books.

  • See a quick tour of our playroom (and how we store our toys) in this reel.

  • We always have out these animal toys, these building toys, these vehicle toys, and these play kitchen toys.

• December’s theme is Christmas!

Originally published in 2021, updated yearly.

But first!

• Read Our Monthly Themes for Play for our full list of themes

  • and to learn five reasons why we love monthly themes.

• November’s theme is fall! (We’re in Texas and finallyyyy feeling some fall weather!)

But first!

• Read Our Monthly Themes for Play for our full list of themes

  • and to learn five reasons why we love monthly themes.

• We keep our toys the same, but we rotate monthly activities + monthly books.

  • See a quick tour of our playroom (and how we store our toys) in this reel.

  • We always have out these animal toys, these building toys, these vehicle toys, and these play kitchen toys.

• August’s theme is transportation/vehicles: cars, planes, boats, construction trucks, anything!

But first!

• Read Our Monthly Themes for Play for our full list of themes

  • and to learn five reasons why we love monthly themes.

• We keep our toys the same, but we rotate monthly activities + monthly books.

  • See a quick tour of our playroom (and how we store our toys) in this reel.

  • We always have out these animal toys, these building toys, these vehicle toys, and these play kitchen toys.

• July’s theme is oceans.