Long Car Rides
Here’s a couple of ideas to keep the kids happy while driving to your vacation destination. Last year we took a 3 1/2 week driving trip starting in the Midwest to Florida, then up the East coast to Plymouth, Mass, over to Philly and back to the Midwest. Here’s what kept my kids happy and me sane!
1. I packed paper lunch bags full of snack items, books and toys. I labeled the bags with each child’s name or number (I have 4 kids) and wrote the destination or check point where they got to open their surprise goodie bag. Most stuff I got at the dollar store. I also raided the bottom of the toy chest for those forgotten toys and discarded activity pads. The kids loved getting their bags and it kept them busy for a while. And they were always happy to find a snack.
2. A long time ago, before car and portable DVDs, we purchased a 13 in. TV with a VCR. It has gone with us on many trips. Sometimes in the lunch bags, they found new movies to watch. If it was a short weekend trip, we rented videos from the video store. At one point I counted close to 20 videos in the video bag, so I started taping shows like the Magic School Bus, Liberty’s Kids and Cyberchase. We got 6 hours worth of educational video on one tape which cut down on the videos we took. Also to answer that dreaded question of “How much longer?” We would tell them one more video. Or two videos. One caution is to avoid taking 30 minute videos. If your kids aren’t able to switch them out it gets real tedious reaching back to change the tape for them.
3. During the week I don’t let my kids play a lot of video games, but on a long drive I’m okay with gameboys as long as they don’t play it the entire time. This year they finally convinced me to let them bring a game system in the car. I didn’t want to deal with Nintendo cartriges or Play Station CDs, so we found an inexpensive controller unit that had over 100 games and we only had to worry about plugging it in! That was a great investment and the kids look forward to it while they travel. I like it because there’s no parts to lose.
4. To keep me busy I usually bring books or take craft projects. I’ve been working on a cross stitch for 4 years now! I only pull it out in the car, but when I do, I get a lot done. My hubby likes to listen to books on tape when he drives. He uses a small tape recorder with head phones. We also do a lot of brainstorming and planning on those long drives and keep a pen and paper handy!
That’s all for now. If I think of some more traveling tips I’ll try and add them on!
