Car Travel with Toddlers--it Doesn't Have to Be a Bumpy Road!
It is upon us...the Season of Summer Road Trip! Remember when we were kids, and every car trip over an hour long seemed like torture--droning along in the back seat with NOTHING to do, pleading silently (because we were "strongly urged' NOT to plead aloud again!) to know WHEN would we get OUT of the car?!? We yearned for the day when WE would be in the driver's seat, in control of WHERE we went, WHAT TIME we would leave, WHERE we would stop to eat--and how OFTEN! And, years passed, and we finally made it! But a few years later, the tables were turned...and WE were the ones HEARING (not asking)..."ARE WE THERE YET?!?"
Here are a few sanity-saving tips for parents of TODDLERS, those little darlings of about age 2 thru age 5, who aren't reading yet, but WOW are they talking!
Travel Tickets
Use some colored construction paper to cut out some "tickets" for your trip, or run to the local super-center and buy some if you'd rather. Give your child a pre-counted baggie full of tickets. Every half hour (or every 30 miles) they can turn in one ticket to you. When their tickets are gone, the trip has ended! This really helps young children get an idea of how much time is left on the journey, and helps them practice counting, too!
Aluminum Foil Modeling
Give everyone a sheet of aluminum foil. Have them mold it into anything they want: animal shapes, Frisbees, balls, jewelry, crowns, headband, necklaces. Be creative.
Drawing boards
Such as Magna doodle, Etcha Sketch, and small white boards with dry erase markers. These are great and very popular with toddlers and moms!
Make a mini-car racetrack
Use with little Matchbox type cars. Take a shoe box, draw on a racetrack before you leave, or have the child draw one on when you are driving and you have a racetrack and holder. (You may consider attaching the car to the box with string, to avoid spending the better part of your trip fishing out from under the seat!)
Pipe Cleaners
Pack a new bag of multi colored pipe cleaners (about $1 or so) and let their creativity run wild. They can make letters, flowers, animals, chains, jewelry, twist ties in their hair, practice braiding, and by the end, just balls of many colors.
Felt Boards
These are fun, and you can even make your own. Use a large piece of felt for the back ground mounted on a sheet of cardboard, and cut out characters and shapes from different colored pieces of felt. Tell stories like the 3 pigs or Little Red Riding Hood using characters you've made. Let your child manipulate the pieces.
Colorforms !
Similar to felt boards, but the pieces are made from thin plastic that sticks by static cling. These are also fun to stick on the windows of the car. Be careful not to block the driver's view.
Animal Sounds
Make animal sounds and let your children take turns naming the animals. If your children are able to do so, let them take turns making the animal sounds and have you guess the animal.
Teach your kids to like YOUR Music
Hey, it's worth a try! Get a tape of the kind of songs you HAVE to sing to-- such as the Beatles, the Best of the 80's, even some Elvis tunes if he's your man. Or just play the music you liked when you were a teen and see if you can brainwash them into liking YOUR music before they become teenagers themselves.
Give each child a "Trip Bag"
This can be a backpack for each child, or a canvas bag or even a big plastic bin that is used specifically for road trips. Kids can load it up with all their favorite road trip stuff an other toys so they can have it all handy and easily accessible to them in the car. You can even decorate the bag to designate it as their special trip bag and use it to collect stickers or pins from various trips.
Cookie Sheet Magnet Board
Use an old cookie sheet and a collection of magnets such as ABC magnets. Older children might like to use it as a tray for snacks or
for playing cards or other games.
The Animal Game
Play it sort of like 20 Questions. Take turns thinking of an animal and giving everyone else clues about it until they can guess it. "I'm thinking of an animal that has a long neck and eats leaves", or "I'm thinking of an animal with sharp teeth, a long tail and spots...". Tailor it to fit all ages of kids in your car.
The Rainbow Game
Call out a color and they have to find something that color. Make the older kids find five things while the 2 year old looks for one. Pink and Purple are the hardest!
TV - VCR for your car
When you're all out of other ideas and they're trapped in those car seats for a really long trip, let them watch some of their favorite videos. It's a little expensive, but it might be worth it for your peace of mind if you just really need a break. You can get tv-vcr combinations that will plug right into your car lighter.
Keep them happy with food and snacks!
Make Your own trail mix with stuff that's on sale: mix dried fruit, nuts, M&M's, cereal, goldfish crackers, etc./ together. Put servings into small sandwich bags to be passed out at the appropriate times.
Cereal mix Mix ALL different kinds of cereal and package in individual zippy bags. Or just package individual kinds of cereal in bags. Pass them out for breakfast in the car.
Pack a picnic for lunch/dinner Eat in the car, or at a roadside stop. This saves a lot of time over eating at a restaurant. It's also less expensive, and often times a lot cleaner than some of the Interstate fast food places I've seen.
Apple slices dipped in Sprite (keeps them from turning brown)
String cheese
Bottles of water This is the only drink my kids are allowed to have in the back of our van. It's healthy and makes cleaning up spills a lot easier than juice or soft drinks. All that sugar just gets them too hyper in the car anyway.
Juice boxes If you freeze these first, they help keep other stuff in the cooler cold on the road. Drink them as they thaw. We only get these out if we are having a picnic at a roadside rest stop. Otherwise, it's only water in the car.
Fruit roll ups now they even have tattoo roll ups. Oh the fun you can have with food!