Adventure Pack-Up

Your child packs their own small backpack for a real outing — the park, the pool, Grandma’s, a car trip — by imagining what will happen there and working out what they will need, then checking the bag against a picture list.

  1. Announce the destination a little ahead of time and give your child their empty backpack: “We’re going to the park after lunch. You’re in charge of packing your bag.”
  2. Imagine the trip together. “Picture us there. What will we do? What’s the weather like? What if you get thirsty? What if your hands get sticky?” Each answer points to an item.
  3. Make a picture list of 4–6 items — your child draws tiny icons or you draw as they dictate (water bottle, hat, snack, ball, tissues).
  4. Pack from the list. Your child fetches each item, puts it in, and ticks it off. Hold back from fetching things for them.
  5. Do a “zip-up check”: touch each icon and find the item in the bag. Then ask one stretch question: “Is there anything we don’t need to carry today?”
  6. On the outing, let the bag do the teaching. When they reach for the hat they packed, name it: “Good thing you planned for sun.” If something was forgotten, stay matter-of-fact: “What shall we add to the list next time?”
  7. Unpack together at home — bottle to the sink, hat to the hook — so the bag is ready for the next plan.

Variation: play it as pretend on a rainy day — lay out ten objects and say “We’re going to the beach / the snow / a sleepover. Choose the four things you’d need and tell me why.” Or pack for someone else: “What does the baby need for the trip?”

Requirements

  • Space: Wherever the backpack lives, plus access to the places the items are kept (hallway, bedroom, kitchen)
  • Surface: The floor or a bed to lay items out before they go into the bag
  • Materials: A child-sized backpack, paper or a sticky note and pencil for the picture list, and everyday outing items (water bottle, hat, snack box, tissues, a small toy, spare clothes)
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; siblings each pack their own bag
  • Supervision: Light — an adult asks the imagining questions and quietly double-checks essentials such as medication

Rationale & Objective

Packing for somewhere you are not yet is planning in its purest everyday form: the child must project themselves into a future situation, anticipate needs they do not feel right now (thirst, cold, boredom), and act on them in advance. Researchers study exactly this with “trip tasks”, in which young children choose items for an imagined journey; the ability to choose sensibly and explain why emerges between roughly 3 and 5 and keeps developing afterwards (Atance & O’Neill, 2005; Atance & Meltzoff, 2005). Because the outing is familiar, children can draw on their knowledge of how such trips usually go, which is where preschoolers’ planning is strongest (Hudson, Shapiro & Sosa, 1995). The picture list and zip-up check add the organizational side — keeping track of several items and verifying the job is complete — routines that Dawson & Guare (2009) recommend as the first steps towards managing one’s own belongings. It is also direct preparation for the school years, when packing a bag becomes a daily expectation.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: packs favourite toys regardless of destination; cannot say what the trip will need without the adult naming items; walks away before the bag is finished
  • Developing: suggests 2–3 fitting items when helped to imagine the trip; packs from the picture list with reminders; forgets the check at the end
  • Proficient: names most needed items for a familiar outing, packs and checks against the list independently, and explains choices (“hat because it’s sunny”)
  • Advanced: plans for possibilities (“it might rain”), leaves out unneeded things, packs for an unfamiliar outing after a short chat, and unpacks without being asked

Safety Notes

  • Keep the bag light — a common paediatric guideline is no more than about 10–15% of the child’s body weight — and use both shoulder straps
  • Adults remain responsible for true essentials (medication, allergy kit, sun protection, enough water). Check quietly rather than leaving safety to a 5-year-old’s plan
  • Let small omissions teach (no toy for the car), but do not allow a forgotten item to cause real discomfort such as cold, sunburn, or hunger just to make a point
  • Children who become very anxious about forgetting things need reassurance and a simpler list, not more responsibility. If worry about being unprepared is frequent and intense, mention it to your paediatrician

Hints

  • Playfulness: call it an expedition and your child the “expedition leader”. Ask for a packing report at the door — “Leader, is the team ready?”
  • Sustain interest: laminate or reuse a few standard picture lists (park, pool, sleepover) and let your child add one “my choice” item each time. New destinations bring new thinking
  • Common mistake: repacking the bag behind the child’s back. If you must add something, do it openly — “I’m adding sunscreen, that’s my job” — so the plan stays theirs
  • Limited space: no trip planned? Pack a small bag for an indoor “picnic” in another room, or a busy bag for a waiting room. The imagining step is what matters, not the distance
  • Cross-domain: talk about weather and seasons (science); count items and compare heavy and light (math); zips, buckles, and bottle lids give fine motor practice; explaining choices builds “because” sentences (language)
  • Progression: adult lists, child fetches → child chooses from laid-out items → child generates the list with imagining questions → child packs from memory → child packs the evening before for the next day → child packs for a new kind of trip

Sources

  • Atance, C. M. & O’Neill, D. K. (2005). “The emergence of episodic future thinking in humans.” Learning and Motivation, 36(2), 126–144
  • Atance, C. M. & Meltzoff, A. N. (2005). “My future self: Young children’s ability to anticipate and explain future states.” Cognitive Development, 20(3), 341–361
  • Hudson, J. A., Shapiro, L. R. & Sosa, B. B. (1995). “Planning in the real world: Preschool children’s scripts and plans for familiar events.” Child Development, 66(4), 984–998
  • McCormack, T. & Atance, C. M. (2011). “Planning in young children: A review and synthesis.” Developmental Review, 31(1), 1–31
  • Dawson, P. & Guare, R. (2009). Smart but Scattered. Guilford Press — organization and planning routines for young children