Road Tripping With Littles
This past Holiday weekend we took our first big road trip with our kids in tow. Google maps told us it would take 8 hours..... Which doesn't seem so bad until you start to add in potty breaks....and construction...and food stops.... and traffic... and coffee drive thru windows....and more potty breaks....and gas....and oh yeah, 3 KIDS ages 5 and under.
It took us about 10 hours to get there, and 12 to come home.
Despite the long haul and lack of electronics (minus the DVD player which we used for about 4 out of the 22 hours) our kids EXCEEDED our expectations. Even the emergency potty break was a success as luckily it was our son who needed it so the side of the road worked out just fine other than him peeing on his face. #stilllearning #packwetwipes
Can I even hashtag in a blogpost? #dontgetit
Anyway, the success of the trip was in part to my ability to overthink, over plan, and over research the heck out of something.... Or maybe it was my fear that our DVD player would stop working a few hours into the trip and I'd be stuck in a vehicle with 3 loud kids for hours on end. Regardless of my motives, after a few hours on pinterest and way more pins than I knew what to do with I was on my way to the craft store with a list in hand and a solid plan.
Here are a few of the tips, tricks, and activities that worked well for us.
Activity Lap Tray. I decided to go with simple and cheap which meant a cookie sheet from the dollar store with a sheet of felt hot glued to the back. I also recycled an old yogurt container and glued a magnet to the bottom so the kids had a place to put their crayons or whatever it was they were working with.
Reacher and Ice Cream Bucket. My husband thought I was crazy but he was singing my praise by the end of the trip. We have a vehicle were I can't reach 2 of our kids so filling the bucket with whatever it was that they needed and using the reacher to get it back to them worked wonders. (you can find a reacher at a dollar store) I also combined all of the materials in a container and kept it within reach.
Countdown. It cut down on the "are we there yet" question and helped our kids who do not yet have a concept of time know how far into the trip we were.
1. Puzzles- you can even glue magnets to the bottom of the pieces for extra fun!
2. Eye Spy Game - I found a car eye spy game I liked online, printed it, and put it in a sheet protector so the kids could use dry eraser markers on it. Here's the one I used from Make and Takes.
3. Sticky Notes and a Pencil- This one was a favorite!
4. Snacks - Choose something that takes a while to eat like suckers or pistachios.
5. Books on CD- Check our local library.
6. Coloring books/crayons
7. Felt Copy Shape Game- Check it out at Say Yes
8. Lacing Game- Check out the back corner of your game closet. You may be surprised at what you find.
9. Magnets- Anything magnet you have on hand is fun with the trays. We had some magnet dolls and letter.
10. Grab Bags- Grab a lunch bag and fill it with a handful of little toys we all have laying around our houses.
11. Pipe cleaner with beads- This one was a hit too!
12. Old ipod - Anyone remember the ipod shuffle?... plug headphones into it and let you kids listen away!
13. CD's- Check out your local library!
14. Books- We filled a bin of books from the library and kept them between the girls. New books are always fun to look at.
15. Stickers/paper- A sheet of paper and a book of stickers. The possibilities are endless.
16. Stamps/paper
What other travel ideas and tricks work well with your kids? Happy Road Tripping!
It took us about 10 hours to get there, and 12 to come home.
Despite the long haul and lack of electronics (minus the DVD player which we used for about 4 out of the 22 hours) our kids EXCEEDED our expectations. Even the emergency potty break was a success as luckily it was our son who needed it so the side of the road worked out just fine other than him peeing on his face. #stilllearning #packwetwipes
Can I even hashtag in a blogpost? #dontgetit
Anyway, the success of the trip was in part to my ability to overthink, over plan, and over research the heck out of something.... Or maybe it was my fear that our DVD player would stop working a few hours into the trip and I'd be stuck in a vehicle with 3 loud kids for hours on end. Regardless of my motives, after a few hours on pinterest and way more pins than I knew what to do with I was on my way to the craft store with a list in hand and a solid plan.
Here are a few of the tips, tricks, and activities that worked well for us.
Activity Lap Tray. I decided to go with simple and cheap which meant a cookie sheet from the dollar store with a sheet of felt hot glued to the back. I also recycled an old yogurt container and glued a magnet to the bottom so the kids had a place to put their crayons or whatever it was they were working with.
Reacher and Ice Cream Bucket. My husband thought I was crazy but he was singing my praise by the end of the trip. We have a vehicle were I can't reach 2 of our kids so filling the bucket with whatever it was that they needed and using the reacher to get it back to them worked wonders. (you can find a reacher at a dollar store) I also combined all of the materials in a container and kept it within reach.
Countdown. It cut down on the "are we there yet" question and helped our kids who do not yet have a concept of time know how far into the trip we were.
1. Puzzles- you can even glue magnets to the bottom of the pieces for extra fun!
 |
| Check out the fun mini puzzles in a tin I found at Dollar Tree. |
2. Eye Spy Game - I found a car eye spy game I liked online, printed it, and put it in a sheet protector so the kids could use dry eraser markers on it. Here's the one I used from Make and Takes.
3. Sticky Notes and a Pencil- This one was a favorite!
4. Snacks - Choose something that takes a while to eat like suckers or pistachios.
5. Books on CD- Check our local library.
6. Coloring books/crayons
7. Felt Copy Shape Game- Check it out at Say Yes
 |
| I would recommend the extra trip out to replace your colored ink as opposed to tracing and coloring..... |
8. Lacing Game- Check out the back corner of your game closet. You may be surprised at what you find.
9. Magnets- Anything magnet you have on hand is fun with the trays. We had some magnet dolls and letter.
10. Grab Bags- Grab a lunch bag and fill it with a handful of little toys we all have laying around our houses.
11. Pipe cleaner with beads- This one was a hit too!
12. Old ipod - Anyone remember the ipod shuffle?... plug headphones into it and let you kids listen away!
13. CD's- Check out your local library!
14. Books- We filled a bin of books from the library and kept them between the girls. New books are always fun to look at.
15. Stickers/paper- A sheet of paper and a book of stickers. The possibilities are endless.
16. Stamps/paper
What other travel ideas and tricks work well with your kids? Happy Road Tripping!
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| Chipotle Stop! (and yes, my other daughter was along too- despite the fact she was in the wrong seat for the camera) |
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| Dinner at one of our favorites along the way! |
Great ideas. WE learned similar things in prepping for Florida-- worth the work to prep it all!! (A 3 year old, a 2 year old and 40 + hours in the car!) After the trip I felt like I could conquer the world. You have great ideas, we also loved making (and eating) fruit loop necklaces, water wow, a memory travel game adn Melissa and Doug TAPE book, super super fun!! Great to see you Saturday!!
ReplyDeleteThe fruit loop necklace idea is genius! Love that! I agree that is it totally worth the prep... and 40 hours- there should be an award for that. :) Fun seeing you too- hopefully next reunion we can be around for more if it.
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