In a couple of weeks we are about to embark on a 10 day road trip from Winnipeg to Banff and back, with stops in Calgary and such along the way. I'm trying to plan some ways to keep my kids occupied in the car. They are four and 20 months.
So far my best bet is to rely on my dual screen DVD player. However, I don't want the kids watching hours of TV in the van the whole time. Yes, they will watch movies and such for some of the time, but it would be nice to keep them from being zombies in the car.
I have found a few ideas that I'll share here. Any suggestions? Please comment! The ideas I'm posting here I've found around the web. Some come from Savymom.ca articles. That's a fantastic website by the way!
- Pit stops give the kids a chance to run around and burn energy. Stick some balloons in your pocket and reach for them at each stop (they each get their own so no fighting). This is also a great time to deal with the mess on your car floor (yuck). Teach the kids to take out their own garbage at each stop if they want to get out of the car.
- Play name that cloud: find shapes in the clouds
- Play the Rainbow Game: Call out a colour and have the kids find items in the car and out of it that are that colour. Have little kids find three items per colour and older ones find five.
- Play "Virtual Scavenger Hunt" - Create a list of things to find on your trip (each day for example) List things like Yellow Volkswagon Beetle, White transport truck, cows, sheep, horses, golf course, pool, construction signs, etc.
- Play the Alphabet game: Start with and find the letter "A". On a sign, on a license plate, etc. go through the Alphabet.
- Play the License Plate Game: Find a license plate from each province and state. Hard to do! (more fun for the adults I've found! it gets a little addicting and you will find yourself combing parking lots for that elusive Hawaii plate...)
- Keep bubbles in the car (for Mom or Dad to blow only) and blow a few at the toddlers for popping.
- See this article for tips and hints!
- We love the Alex Car Valet because it keeps the fun stuff easily at hand for your passengers and provides a fold-down work surface for them to play on. (Available at www.indigo.ca, $26.95) (Quote from this article)
- I was told by a few vetern travel Moms that keeping grapes in the car keeps kids hydrated but not to the point where you are stopping for potty breaks every hour. That's good to know.
I'm going to try and find some more toddler friendly things to do as most of these activities are aimed at my four year old.
When I make my scavenger hunt lists I'll post those too!
5 comments:
You have some awesome ideas!
I didn't see this on my reader.... just so you know I wasn't ignoring you! (don't forget to sneak me in the back of your van, we won't tell Art, though he might wonder what the heck all the extra weight is!)
Wow...great plans in store.
The trip sounds great. Safe travels.
Sounds like a great trip! Good ideas, made a note of these for when Little Bit is older.
I am *finally* getting my post up, and am linking to you.
Cheers! Have a wonderful time,
Kiy
It's called Gravol. :-P When I was a kid, my parents would give my brother and I gravol when we first left the house so we'd sleep for an hour or two. :)
But that's just me.
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