It’s been a while since I’ve written about this topic – mostly because people were staying close to home. This year, finally after wanting to for so long, our family is taking a trip out East. We leave next week and I’m super excited. My kids have grown (7, 9, & 11) and I think a lot of the ideas I had to keep them busy in the car when they were little need some updating. I’ve been searching and thought I could share some new ideas with you in case you have a long car ride in your future.
Babies/Toddlers: Ideally leaving after they’ve been fed and changed and are ready for sleep will give you a . . .
sleeping baby for a part of your long drive. Other ideas to keep baby entertained include hand toys. Take out toys that are new to them, toys that make noise (rattles, play phones, hand held musical instruments) and change it up often. In between toys you can give them something to chew on. Babies that have teeth and are teething can literally chew on a washed, peeled full carrot, or a cucumber or any other large vegetable that they can hold and only break off tiny bits of. (This of course needs to be monitored by an adult at all times in case they do get a large piece of vegetable, so best when travelling with two parents or with a grandparent.) You can also make a simple Eye Spy Bottle for them. To make one of these simply empty the contents of a plastic water bottle out, remove the label and fill the bottle three quarters of the way filled with sand or rice. Add small objects that they can spot. Examples include: pompoms, googly eyes, confetti, glitter, little poly pocket people etc. The other thing to pack is a large supply of books. Touchy feely books, musical books, plastic books they can chew on, and give them to your child one at a time. Lastly, all children need breaks out of the car. Stop frequently for exercise and snacks.
Preschool/School Agers: One thing we do all the time that’s super easy is listen to books on CD. We have built our collection through the Scholastic Flyers but you may also be able to find some at yard sales or online. To keep them organized we keep the books in a magazine holder between car seats at the back and the CD’s stay in the front. We also have a collection of music kept in the car, books (eye spy books are awesome for car rides), an etch-a-sketch, and we’ve added pencils and notepads to our collection. A handy thing to pack for a long trip is a small baking sheet, it’s both magnetic and can be used as a hard surface to colour/write on. We packed letter magnets and playdough with ours. The baking sheet was a perfect table for their playdough. I’ve also seen people pack empty wipe containers filled with lego pieces, if you glue down a lego plate to the inner lid, they are able to actually construct while in the car.
If your children are old enough, they could also play games like car BINGO. You can search many different types of car BINGO online. Add to this the license plate game, where everyone in the car has to try and spot different province/state license plates. The ABC game! This is our favourite car game, you have to point out each letter in order on signs and billboards. It keeps everyone happily looking out the window, and occupied for a bit. Of course, snacks are another great distraction that parents can pack for their kids. Pack their favourites and try to keep the list mess free, choose crackers, trail mix, fruit, veggies and stay away from apple sauce and yogurt (don’t forget to bring along a small bag for the garbage). A favorite idea I’ve read is to buy a few new small toys and wrap them up. If you’re going on an extended trip you can give your children a new toy to unwrap and play with every couple of hours. This can certainly keep their interests peaked. I know not everyone can read in the car, but recently we read through 2 novels on our car ride, talk about happy kids, it kept all of us entertained actually.
Don’t forget to talk to your children throughout the trip. Point out new landmarks, little things that they may not notice on their own or favorite scenes you look for on your drive. I’ve recently seen a cool idea of hanging a map of where you’re going on the back of the car seat for them to track the trip. Laminating it would allow them to use a marker to track the progress. All of this helps stimulate their interests and builds vocabulary at the same time. When you’re out of things to say though, the Internet is our friend. You can find many amazing ideas on how to keep your children occupied on long car rides, what I’ve provided you with is simply a small snapshot. Whatever you decide to do with your children in the car, I hope you find a way to enjoy!
