In preparation for a trip that is coming up soon, I've been doing a lot of thinking about ways to keep the little bodies busy. It's going to be 2 long days of driving each way, and I know I can get very tired of the "Are we there yets?" and the "How much longers?"
So, in an effort to keep those classic, yet annoying questions away, I've been preparing. I have a program that allows me to create my own word searches, so the kids and I have had fun plugging all kinds of Disney movie words into them. I'm up to 18 so far, and still rolling. Think that will last through 4 days of travel? =) I'm also scavenging stores for cheap, entertaining ideas. Stickers, pipe cleaners, model magic, small dollar store doo-dads. Tonight I found this great site, with loads of ideas for paper and no-prop games: MomsMinivan.com I'm planning to print out the word searches for each of them, with the other paper games added in. Then they can each have their own book for entertainment, and the backside of the paper can be their travel journal.
What travel entertainment works well for your kids? I mean besides the usual books, movies and personal entertainment devices. I've got some great ideas, but I'd like to be well armed with even more!
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9 years ago
Okay...this sounds a little cheezy to adults but our kids LOVE it!! We give someone three words and they have to make up a little story using those three words... the kids have fun coming up with the three words as well as trying to tie them together into a "story"... now obviously Ane's are paragraphs long and Jenna's are usually a couple sentences, but the oldest three really have fun with that! Also, we have an actual game called Who?What?Where? and we've kind of adapted it for travel... the kids come up with three words (one who, one what and one where) and they have to draw that picture (and elephant eating popcorn on a slide..for example).. and they all draw at the same time, then pass their pictures around the van and try to guess what athe other kids' whowhatwhere were... the kids have adopted random forms of the game such as getting a specific letter... like "B" (Beaver playing ball at the beach for example)... anyway, we spend a LOT of time traveling and little made up games like these seem to last us longer than other entertainment... hope it helps!! You're on the right track though b/c I always feel like long trips (FL, OR, etc) go better when mom spends a little time preparing for the journey!! : ) Have fun!
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Thanks, Melisa! Those do sound like a lot of fun! I tried a couple new travel games out on Kenneth last night. He needed some "mommy time," so we played a few together; he was laughing and cheerful in no time! =)
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