An 8-by-10-inch piece of felt will fit the average airline tray table with room to spare, according to dimensions provided by airline seat back and tray table advertiser, Brand Connections Sky Media. Although Transportation Safety Administration rules as of July 2010 allow scissors with 4-inch or shorter blades in carry-on luggage, you can easily omit them if you cut all the felt shapes ahead of time.
Include circles and ovals in international flesh tones, triangles, squares and rectangles to make bodies and houses and a few animal silhouettes. Add a bright yellow sun shape and a white or silver full, half and quarter moon shape. Add stars and diamonds to make sky scenes. Include tree silhouettes. Use gallon-size plastic zipper bags so the contents of your craft bag are easy to scan through airports.
Use a mini backpack as a car craft bag. Include a pack of 8 to 10 different-colored dry erase markers, an 8-by-10-inch dry erase message board, a glue stick, artificial flowers, pre-cut self-sticking craft foam shapes, stick-on rhinestones, waterless hand wash and a purse-size tissue pack. Use the stick-on shapes, rhinestones and flowers to decorate the frame of the message board before using it to draw the scenery as you ride along. You can clean the message board with waterless hand wash and tissues as needed.
Print several simple child's coloring pages for project templates. Transfer the lines in your chosen drawing to a matching-size sheet of plastic canvas using permanent markers or paints. Provide enough 24-inch lengths of yarn in each color needed for the drawing, including yarn for the whip-stitch border.
Include a plastic tapestry needle for a child's craft bag. Add a booklet describing simple plastic canvas stitches with diagrams. Annette Rosanelli and Chris Rickert, mother-daughter owners of the Needlepointers.com website, have compiled an alphabetical stitch guide that includes diagrams and video demonstrations of each stitch. Store these projects in gallon-size zipper storage bags.