Things You'll Need:
- Paper
- bag
- crayons
- treats
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Step 1
TRAVELING BY CAR? Don’t know how you’ll make it past the first hour? Here are some fun car-trip ideas. First and foremost remember - they can’t sit still. No matter how badly you want them to just sit and stare out the window, they can’t. The best thing to do is muster a little extra patience and create a “bag of tricks” to make the time pass by. With a few moments of preparation, you can turn a 5 or 10 hour trip into a fun adventure.
Child Preparation: Ask each child to find 1-3 things (depending ages of kids) that they want in the car. These can be things that are special (blankie, bear) or fun (Barbie#, cars) or even books. This will help them to start preparing for the trip. Within reason let them bring what they choose (the life size giraffe might be too big). -
Step 2
Pack a goody bag for each kid. The bag should be given to them at the beginning of the trip. Tell them it is for the ENTIRE trip. They can have a food item out of the bag once every hour, but they should ask first. The other items they can use anytime they wish. This bag should include healthy snacks as well as a couple of fun treats they don’t normally have, e.g. gum, Kisses#, dry cereal, dried fruit, granola, apple slices, water, juice etc. Also include a couple of pads of paper, some washable pens/crayons, coloring book, Mad-libs# or even a new if you child is a reading. You can also print off the computer hang-man pages for them to use.
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Step 3
Games Pages: Children love to race. So, you can make your own puzzles and games to help pass the time. Sounds daunting? Not at all. These ideas can be done in about 15 minutes.
A) Take a few minutes to right out a list of things that you might pass on the road e.g. red car, seashell, water tower, a blue letter E etc. Include things that are special to your trip. If you are going to Disney you could include Mouse Ears# or pirate ship. Create a different list for each child. You want them to enjoy the search, not just fight with their sibling over who saw it first.
B) Go to a website like www.crosswordpuzzlegames.com/create.html to generate crosswords or www.genuineclass.com/games/wordsearch.html word searches. These can actually be a great learning tool. Include information about the place you are visiting. If you are going to Washington D.C. , you can write clues about the first president, where he lives, monument names and so on.
C) Print a map of where you are going, showing the states and cities. Many sites will offer maps you can print out - such as www.randmcnally.com. Draw out your path along interstates. Mark key places of interest and places you plan to stop. For example, on I65, exit 53 there is a dinosaur theme park where life size dinosaurs can be seen from the road. Have them draw pictures of dinosaurs as you get closer or think up names for the dinosaurs. Looking for this landmark could easily eat up to 30 minutes of travel time. www.roadsideamerica.com has many interesting and off beat attractions to fill your map.
D) Draw a bucket or cup, something that can be filled up, on a notebook paper. Do this for each person. Then, if your trip is 5 hours, divide that bucket into 5 sections (1 for each hour of the trip). Kids can then color in each section as time passes, giving them a sense for “how much longer”. You can even divide the last hour into smaller segments or add segments for lunch or dinner stops.
E) Give one game at the beginning of the trip and maybe one half way through. Let them know you have a prize each can win for finishing, something small, maybe a treat or a puzzle book. -
Step 4
Screen Time: Many people don’t have or use a TV/DVD or Video games in the car. Some do, but don’t like the kids to watch much TV.
A) Require that you are on the road for at least 1 hour before anything can be turned on (this will eliminate that impending question next time you are just running errands) and
B) limit screen time to 30 every 2 hours. This way, you have established the standards and the kids know what to expect. -
Step 5
Discipline: Even with all your preparation, there will be those moments when kids are, well, kids. The great thing about the above items is they are small, but can be used to enforce discipline. You can take away a treat for that hour, but the child can still “earn” his treat for the next hour by behaving. That way, there is a measurable punishment and a clear return of the privilege to encourage better behavior.
