[blessedw/3]

I know I have a lot of questions today... I'm getting nervous...

Does anyone have suggestions on what to bring along for my orphanage visits? My little girl is 2 1/2. I thought about bringing bubbles, balloons, photos, and fun little snacks. I'm looking for some fun ideas that don't take up much space in a suitcase.

Thanks again!

[ddahl]

Nothing says lets be friends like some smiling goldfish crackers....I am told these goldfish have sparked many a happy relationship, also teddy grahams. We were also advised on this forum to buy two of the same toy one to leave there and one to bring back for the pick up so there is something familiar for the baby after the time in between trips. Depending on the age of our referral.... when if ever in this life time that blessed day arrives...... I thought about making a photo picture album of us and home. Some have done this and added Russian sub titles.... pretty cool idea I thought. What a great adventure...trip 1 the making of your forever family! It is so exciting!

[waitinginnj]

Bring things that are younger in age than you would expect. My daughter was two. She was most intrigued by a duck that giggled, and rattles that had tubes that had balls moving through them. She loved Teddy Grahams, didn't like raisins. She liked me to touch her cheek with a soft stuffed animal, but didn't know to cuddle a stuffed toy.

I brought a recieivng type of blanket to lay everything out on the floor.

Trip two, the thing she liked best was a small beach ball. It was great in the hotel.

Have a wonderful adventure.

[stephw3boys]

In addition some of the other ideas - I left a disposable camera so the staff could take photos of my DD and her caretakers and where she had live. I left a small fleece blanket that I had slept with. DId the photo album thing too - I would have loved to have put a photo of her in it too - which of course can not be done until AFTER you meet your referral.

[cici32]

We just got back from trip one. Our little guy is 2.5 and we took cars, a ball and a coloring book w/crayons. By far the coloring book was his favorite. He loved to color and put the crayons back in the box. We left him a fleece blanket and a picture book.

I agree with taking toys that for a child that is younger than what your child is. At the orphanage we got to go in a play room and one of his other favorites was a shape sorter.

As far as snacks, teddy grahams, goldfish, cheerios and the fruit snacks are all a big hit.

[lyndayle]

Our boys both just turned 4. We made our first visit in March (we're still waiting to go back). The two boys seem to be at rather different interest levels, since one is the oldest child in a baby home, and the other is the youngest child in an all-ages orphanage. They reflect the attitudes of the children they are with, rather than a more age-appropriate level.

We took coloring books, crayons, puzzles, modeling clay, photo albums (with their picture on the cover and picture of their new brother in the other orphanage, as well as home, family and pet shots), stuffed toys (we have identical ones for the second trip, so they can keep the ones they have slept with since our first visit), dried fruit, nuts, animal cookies and bottled water. We also took several inexpensive, very cute, animal hand puppets from Dollar General ($1 each!). One of them resembled our dog, so they could get used to the idea of having a pet.

We made a mistake in the baby home: we gave the art supplies and puzzles to the orphanage director, before we met Sasha, as a gift for all the children. We wished we had saved them to use during our play with Sasha.

As it was, he is in a rather nice home with lots of toys already in two large playrooms, so we weren't out of luck for playthings. One of them had a puppet theater, and he loved using the puppets we brought. It was a great way for us to relate to him through animal sounds and kissy noises. He also loved the food, since what we think of as simple pleasures are a luxury to him. He wanted to hold and control the packages of food, but was very happy to share with all and sundry from the contents--he handed out individual nuts, fruit and cookies to us and our facilitator. Very funny and cute. He also drank from the water bottle like a pro, and was happy to share his backwash with everyone!

We corrected our premature gift-giving mistake on our visit to Pasha, which was fortunate. He is in a poor rural orphanage, and we were all put into a very small "time out" room with few toys. The things we'd brought came in very handy, though he much preferred the noisy toy helicopter, car and guns (not our choice, believe me) that our facilitators went out and purchased--without our knowing--when they heard that he liked those things. They also brought him some M&Ms, which he gobbled up as quickly as we'd let him.

Both boys really liked the photo albums, and pointed from our pictures to us, recognizing who we were. The dog and cat photos were a huge hit, and Sasha asked us if next time we came we would bring him a red dog (our longhaired dachshund is red, and the photo got his hopes up).

In retrospect, I wish we had taken more grown-up, building-type toys like tinker toys or leggos. Both boys seem to be very analytical, and like to manipulate things with their hands (future engineers and surgeons, no doubt!). While Sasha was still very happy to play with stuffed toys and puppets, he would have really enjoyed something more advanced, as we found out when he spent half an hour dissasembling and reassembling a plastic kiddy gymnastics set. And Pasha has been hanging out with teenage boys, so his mindset is more adult already.

When we go back the second time, we are taking things like cars, juvenile reading and picture books, kids CDs and DVDs (if we can find the room to take a portable DVD player), and more coloring supplies, as well as the makings for some lightweight craft projects. We're also taking a couple of fleece blankets from "Babushka" to snuggle with on the plane, and some beach balls. I'm packing their stuff in two new backpacks, so they will have their own carry-on full of fun things on the airplanes, too. We want to give them a head start on the English while we're there, hence the books, etc. (I'm also studying Russian kid-language with a Ukrainian woman before we go.) I wish we had room for a set of leggos, but the luggage weight restrictions may preclude anything like that.

If anyone has more ideas on what kinds of things to take on the second trip for 4-year-old boys, I'd really appreciate your input. I'm a first-time mom, and every little bit of info makes me feel more secure about taking this plunge into motherhood.

[deere1]

Two items that were a big hit by our "terrific two" were: a matchbox car and a small stress ball.

Have a great time.

[wifeoverne]

Beach balls are easy to pack and the kids love them. Also the Touch and Feel books, especially the ones with animals int it. Snacks were the biggest hit, we took Goldfish and animal crackers, candy was not allowed. Also, we bought bananas for the girls and for the orphanage. Ask first, the orphanage did not allow citrus fruits or any apples that are not red. balloons can be dangerous if broken, a child could pick up pieces and choke on them. I also found a small rag doll at a $ store, another big hit. If you leave a photo album the caregivers may take it out and show it to her pretty often. good luck!

[Alison_inPA]

Good point on the balloons being choking hazards, wifeoverne. It's easy to forget about things like that.

Do you have any idea why the orphanage wouldn't allow citrus? Seems like a strange requirement.

[Remmy]

At the time we went our daughter was 18 months old and our son was 11 months old. The thing our daughter loved the most was a toy cell-phone. There is one that you can record something on and the child can play it back by hitting a button. She loved, and still loves any type of phone. Our son and daughter also both loved those stacking cups, and the two small care-bears we brought.

Their favorite snack we had brought was Cheerios. We brought a couple little boxes, and Ana would dig in the bag of toys we brought to find it.

We wished we had brought crayons or something.

Another thing, (not toy related) every time we were at the orphanage, they asked if we had diapers for our children to use. We had to have our coordinator take us out to buy more, because the ones I brought just in case of one trip were gone pretty fast.


Take care!

[sickmeig]

i took gifts both trips. i took lots of little dolls. when i first met katya (3) i was so glad i took toys because they didn't have any out for us to play with. i took rolls from the hotel, they were a success. i left all the toys for the kids. i think the orphanage workers realize this child will be going home and getting lots of things and they are grateful for what you bring to the other kids. i took few clothes for myself. just suitcases packed with toys and gifts for the orphanage workers. most of the workers are poor too and don't get much. they are very appreciative. you will be shocked at the poverty, i was.

[Annabell]

A plastic blow-up beachball was the best for our then 2-year-old.

[kimber413]

Our daughter was 2 when we met her, and by far the best things were the Goldfish, animal crackers, and coloring books. I'm not sure she'd every colored before, but she caught on quickly and spent a lot of time doing it. I also agree to take toys that are "younger" than the child. Kaitlin was fascinated by a Fisher-Price toy that's a musical peg and stars, for about 6 months and up. The stars stack on the peg, just like the little donut stacker, but the peg has flashing lights and plays music. I think it's about $10 most everywhere. She loved that, and we bought her one when we got back. She still plays with it occasionally. She also like stacking cups and stuffed animals.

[wifeoverne]

Seems like we were told that some children may be allergic to citrus so they were not taking any chances.

[momm2be]

Bring anything you don't mind losing.

Balls are always great fun. We used a balloon but she was 6 at the time. Anything to color with, bubbles are messy- our spilled during the trip, even though in a plastic bag it was still messy.

Anything they can manipulate with their hands, such as legos, cars.

Pictures to look at. Take pictures of everything at home, they will be fascinated to see anything.

I had a large bag that became the secret bag, if she took a toy out she could hide it back in the bag if she did not feel like sharing- that work well. If it gets to the general population it will not come back. I am still on the look out for a musical flower with the Happy Birthday song to replace the one she took upstairs at the detsky dom.

We were able to bring bananas to her group and a weird cake. Told some kids have allergies to oranges. The kids gobbled down the bananas. If I had known how happy they were to get fresh fruit, I would have brought it every day.