Screen-Free Activities for Kids at Cruise Ship Dinners
Watch my Top 5 Screen-Free Activities to keep kids entertained during cruise ship dinners
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As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.Four-course meals on a cruise can be hard for kids to sit through! I’m going to share with you five things to keep your kids entertained, and none of them are a tablet!
I have been cruising for over 20 years with 5 of those years working on cruise ships. And I’m not bashing tablets: I just think my child gets plenty of screen time already, so I prefer to go screen free at a nice dinner. When I pick out an activity for a cruise dinner, my rules are: it can’t light up, and it can’t make noise. In general, you want it to pack flat because space is limited in your suitcase and on a cruise ship.
Small Toy
My first go-to item is a small, simple toy in whatever theme your child is into at the moment. For us, it’s dinosaurs, so this Jurassic World blind bag vehicle was perfect. It has five figures which are small enough to not be intrusive at a dinner table.
Colorblast Dinosaur Coloring Pad
One important tip is that all of these activities need to be a surprise. Your child should not see them or play with them until the actual vacation.
3. Restickable Sticker Books
My number three item is my favorite, the Melissa and Doug puffy restickable sticker books. Again, love the sensory aspect of the puffy sticker. There are so many different themes, kids can design multiple vignettes, and they really promote creativity.
4. Dollar Aisle Activity Pack
My number four dinner activity is my bargain item–an activity pack from the Target Dollar aisle or the Dollar store. They’re cheap, they pack easily, and they entertain for a brief amount of time.
5. Table Games
My last dinner activity is a simple game without too many pieces or commitment because the game will have to stop and restart for each dinner course. For little kids, I love a wipe board to play hang man, tick tack toe, write their name. For bigger kids, a simple card game, Mad Libs, or even trivia that the family can play together. Hope to see YOU at sea!
