Traveling with kids

[StillJulie]

Please post your suggestions for keeping children occupied on long car rides.

[StillJulie]

posted by burpin


Books on tape, children's music, word search books, crossword puzzles, card games, books, markers and coloring books, play I-spy

[StillJulie]

posted by Kim2005

Here are some ideas I've used in the past.

-wrap up inexpensive (dollar store) toys to give them along the way. Make sure you save some for the return trip.

-car games like:

I Spy

license plate game

I'm going on a trip (Someone starts it off by saying I'm going on a trip and in my suitcase I'm bringing "such and such". The next person has to say that whole sentence, including the item, and then add their own item. Then it goes from person to person.)

-mazes or word search books

-we bought a DVD for the car. Big $$ but worth the price! We just bought it a few months ago, and we've used it on two trips so far.

-snacks! Always a must for growing boys.

-Adventure in Odyssey tapes. This is a favorite of ours!

-pit stops with lots of leg stretching/running to help get the wiggles out!

[StillJulie]

more by burpin

ANd for those pit stops...maybe bring along both of the boys' baseball gloves and a ball....they can play catch while you can relax and go potty!

[StillJulie]

posted by Kim2005

More ideas!

Here's a website for car games.

Printable Car Bingo Games (http://www.momsminivan.com/printables.html)

Travel Scavenger Games (http://www.momsminivan.com/scavenger.html)

Travel Journal for Kids (http://www.momsminivan.com/tripjournal.html)

[StillJulie]

posted by tepupmommy

My dks are much younger and I didn't see what the others posted so I might repeat.
We did the gift giving every 2 hours.
Leggos...sounds crazy but they make those little leggo boards that are about the size of a sheet of paper...and the kids could build things on them.
View master w/ new thing-ama-jigs.
Can you barrow a friends tv for the car? This would keep their attention for the whole trip!
Check out familyfun.com
Car friendly snacks.
Auto bingo (fun car game)
The ABC search game (in order)
Lisence plate search game (states)

[StillJulie]

posted by Buckeyes

The kids like reading; the ABC game; they like ME to read aloud; tapes; and they like Mad Libs--good English review, too!

[StillJulie]

posted by Barb123

If you can find an inexpensive 9x13 metal pan and lid you can put put magnet letters inside. Also take words or pics, glue them on to magnets (I used old ones businesses give away) and cut them out...the best part is they store right inside the container and they are harder to loose since they stick so well to the container!!

[StillJulie]

posted by citylights:

I've always allowed my dks to pack a small box of things that they would like to take along for the car ride (this is in addition to the color books/crayons/books that I pack). You can give them each a shoe box, or you can buy those plastic boxes that sell for $1 at Walmart or the Dollar Store, etc. My ds usually packs a few toy cars, or little figures that he has, and the girls have packed small dolls. older dd now packs crafty items that she likes to work on.

[StillJulie]

posted by proverbsmama

I would highly recommend the Adv. in Odyssey tapes. We LOVE those! In fact, they have a set of 12 stories (4 cds) on their website right now for only $10.00! The shipping was really fast too! Here's a link:
Focus on the Family AIO (http://www.family.org/resources/itempg.cfm?itemid=4562)

[StillJulie]

posted by jeannedaughter

Individual walkman's with cassette tapes!!
We did this for our kids and they loved it!! The players are only about $5.00 at Dollar General and you can buy all sorts of cassettes for them to listen to. Praise and worship, books on tape, whatever you want. Have a great, safe trip!!