Road Trip Must Have???
- Thread starter quirkymom
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Hey! My family has driven to Florida and back 3 times from New Jersey, since my mom does not fly. The first time we drove with my little sister, I was 13 and she was 6 or 7, I think. Here are a couple of suggestions from my time on the road-
- One cool idea (that I've unfortunately never tried) I found online was to go to a pizza parlor and ask for a clean box- your kids can store crayons and drawing paper in there and the crayons won't melt!
- On our drive down to Disney, my mom surprised us with little toys throughout the duration of the drive whenever we got bored- she went to Walmart about a week before we had to head down and got us little stuffed animals, dolls, keychains, etc.
- Car bingo is always fun! Since my sister and I were a bit too old to appreciate crayons and stuffed animals, the whole family played car bingo on our way back home last time we drove.
- Have a "team meeting" every time you need to use the rest stop- talk about how far you've gone, how far you still need to go, etc. Try to set little "goals" for the kids- i.e. "Before we get to the next rest stop, I need you all to draw a picture of Disney World/Orlando/whatever your destination is." or "We're going to stop for dinner shortly. I need you all to keep an eye out on the signs and decide where we're going to eat tonight."
- Trip journals are always fun! Give each of your kids a new notebook and some fun pens/pencils. And if you're going to post a TR of your journey, you can add some of the things your kids write in their journals along with them
Happy trails and have a great time on vacation
We play MadLibs. I have found travel size books at Michael's and Target.
White-board and markers - for Hangman, Dot-to-Dot, tic-tac-toe. (Then I use it in the room to show the schedule for the next day, the menu-when we have a kitchen, other to-do items.)
I found a license plate game at Michael's - a map of the country with a license plate for each state that can be flipped. We don't do it as a competition - just try to get as many states as we can. Always fun to get both Alaska and Hawaii. (A printed map or just a list of the states would work. It also accidentally helps with geography!)
Paper, color books, pencils and markers for all.
Books on CD - though electronic
We love our road trips! Enjoy!
White-board and markers - for Hangman, Dot-to-Dot, tic-tac-toe. (Then I use it in the room to show the schedule for the next day, the menu-when we have a kitchen, other to-do items.)
I found a license plate game at Michael's - a map of the country with a license plate for each state that can be flipped. We don't do it as a competition - just try to get as many states as we can. Always fun to get both Alaska and Hawaii. (A printed map or just a list of the states would work. It also accidentally helps with geography!)
Paper, color books, pencils and markers for all.
Books on CD - though electronic
We love our road trips! Enjoy!
lovemygrowingfamily
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2009
- Messages
- 115
We drive every 2 years from northern Minnesota to Florida.
All the kids love pipecleaners and can spend hours making things taking them apart and making more. I buy most from amazon in bulk in several colors and sizes.
momsminivan.com has a lot of good ideas. My oldest 2 enjoyed the book on oragami that i got them and some paper.
A journal for the older kids so they could track towns we went through, places we stopped and then when we did each day at Disney. My 13 year old even put the milemarker and the name of the rest stops that he liked the most so we could stop there on our next trip. Wal Mart has nice hardcover ones with Mickey on the front.
Disney comics were a big hit with all the kids except the 3 year old ( she was 2 at the time).
Color books and pencils, blank papers so they could scribble all over it then color in each space, play tic tac toe, hang man, and whatever else they could come up with.
Notebooks to write in so when we played games like counting cows, license plate game, most red tractor trailers ( or other random things) in so much time and they got a little prize. The prizes were items like they got to choose the next game, a different color ink pen, where we eat dinner within reason.
They each got to pick out a new book. Chapter books for the older ones and appropriate ones for the younger kids. That took up a few hours of their time.
They each got their own backpacks and were responsible for it.
Of course we had a lot longer drive so I had to come up with a lot of ideas to keep 6 kids busy.
All the kids love pipecleaners and can spend hours making things taking them apart and making more. I buy most from amazon in bulk in several colors and sizes.
momsminivan.com has a lot of good ideas. My oldest 2 enjoyed the book on oragami that i got them and some paper.
A journal for the older kids so they could track towns we went through, places we stopped and then when we did each day at Disney. My 13 year old even put the milemarker and the name of the rest stops that he liked the most so we could stop there on our next trip. Wal Mart has nice hardcover ones with Mickey on the front.
Disney comics were a big hit with all the kids except the 3 year old ( she was 2 at the time).
Color books and pencils, blank papers so they could scribble all over it then color in each space, play tic tac toe, hang man, and whatever else they could come up with.
Notebooks to write in so when we played games like counting cows, license plate game, most red tractor trailers ( or other random things) in so much time and they got a little prize. The prizes were items like they got to choose the next game, a different color ink pen, where we eat dinner within reason.
They each got to pick out a new book. Chapter books for the older ones and appropriate ones for the younger kids. That took up a few hours of their time.
They each got their own backpacks and were responsible for it.
Of course we had a lot longer drive so I had to come up with a lot of ideas to keep 6 kids busy.
We are a road tripping family. We consider the 12 hour trip from VA to Disney a medium-to long one day drive. This summer our family vacation was an 18 day, 7k+ mile coast to coast rambling trip. That's actually more common for us than Disney.
My DDs are now 8 and 5, but have been traveling "big" trips their whole life.
We do allow a movie every day (and on long days one again in the afternoon). Each kid has their own loaded MP3 player (music ONLY; not a ipod touch sort of deal). They can listen to that during any down time.
We make our kids trip journals - pictures to color, a page for each state, a map, activities. On longer trips we break them out over time. I don't know that your older kids would want all of that, but
On big trips we stop at every "Welcome to {new state}!" the first time we enter the state. It's cheesy, but it's something for the kids to look forward to.
We look at RoadsideAmerica.com and other similar resources to find off the wall stops or sights to be on the lookout for. My kids and husband love all of the kitschy stuff. I'm not as thrilled, but love how excited they get about houses covered in cans, or a peach shaped watertower that looks like a butt
We get new books, new stickers, new magazines, new toys - kind of. We set aside books, little toys, magazines well ahead of time, so that on the trip they are new again. This works for younger kids; not sure about your kids' age!
The kids look out the window a lot. We look at guides for places we're going. We buy postcards, write them on the next leg of the trip, and drop them in the mail at the next stop.
When a kid finds something that "works" for them on a trip, we stick with it. In a coloring mood this year? We'll stop and get more coloring books. Can't stop reading but are now out of books? Let's stop by this used bookstore. Learned how to make friendship bracelets? There's a Michaels up ahead; let's get you some more materials.
We play a lot of games - Who Am I? 20 questions. A-Z. I'm going on a picnic.
Ultimately, though, road trip in a car is just family time... in a car. We do pretty much the same stuff we do at home. Limited screen time, encourage interests, don't tolerate whining, be on the look out for quirky things to try... same at home and in the car
Have fun on your trip. Look forward to the ride. Kids take their cues from you. Let us know if you find anything awesome roadside - you know we'll be taking another road trip soon, and are always looking for new quirk
We consider the 12 hour trip from VA to Disney a medium-to long one day drive. This summer our family vacation was an 18 day, 7k+ mile coast to coast rambling trip. That's actually more common for us than Disney.My DDs are now 8 and 5, but have been traveling "big" trips their whole life.
We do allow a movie every day (and on long days one again in the afternoon). Each kid has their own loaded MP3 player (music ONLY; not a ipod touch sort of deal). They can listen to that during any down time.
We make our kids trip journals - pictures to color, a page for each state, a map, activities. On longer trips we break them out over time. I don't know that your older kids would want all of that, but
On big trips we stop at every "Welcome to {new state}!" the first time we enter the state. It's cheesy, but it's something for the kids to look forward to.
We look at RoadsideAmerica.com and other similar resources to find off the wall stops or sights to be on the lookout for. My kids and husband love all of the kitschy stuff. I'm not as thrilled, but love how excited they get about houses covered in cans, or a peach shaped watertower that looks like a butt
We get new books, new stickers, new magazines, new toys - kind of. We set aside books, little toys, magazines well ahead of time, so that on the trip they are new again. This works for younger kids; not sure about your kids' age!
The kids look out the window a lot. We look at guides for places we're going. We buy postcards, write them on the next leg of the trip, and drop them in the mail at the next stop.
When a kid finds something that "works" for them on a trip, we stick with it. In a coloring mood this year? We'll stop and get more coloring books. Can't stop reading but are now out of books? Let's stop by this used bookstore. Learned how to make friendship bracelets? There's a Michaels up ahead; let's get you some more materials.
We play a lot of games - Who Am I? 20 questions. A-Z. I'm going on a picnic.
Ultimately, though, road trip in a car is just family time... in a car. We do pretty much the same stuff we do at home. Limited screen time, encourage interests, don't tolerate whining, be on the look out for quirky things to try... same at home and in the car
Have fun on your trip. Look forward to the ride. Kids take their cues from you. Let us know if you find anything awesome roadside - you know we'll be taking another road trip soon, and are always looking for new quirk
SamSam
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- Joined
- Jan 21, 2001
- Messages
- 6,669
When my kids were still at home we played the same 'road' games that I played as a child.
ABC - you start with letter A and everyone takes a turn naming something that starts with the letter A, when no one can name anything you move to B and so on.
License Plates - Everybody yells out the license plates you see from different states, or you can make it a contest and everyone writes down the ones they see 'first'...of course you have to yell it out to be first.
Alphabet game from signs - everybody watches for signs and yells out when they see an a or b or c, etc.
Start a story - I went to the store and....(the next person picks up from there).
Also, stop at interesting looking roadsides. The break does everyone good and there's no telling what you may learn from what you see.
ABC - you start with letter A and everyone takes a turn naming something that starts with the letter A, when no one can name anything you move to B and so on.
License Plates - Everybody yells out the license plates you see from different states, or you can make it a contest and everyone writes down the ones they see 'first'...of course you have to yell it out to be first.
Alphabet game from signs - everybody watches for signs and yells out when they see an a or b or c, etc.
Start a story - I went to the store and....(the next person picks up from there).
Also, stop at interesting looking roadsides. The break does everyone good and there's no telling what you may learn from what you see.
Disney is about 11 hours for us and a pretty easy drive. We do a family visit 8 hour drive at least once a month. Things that DS7 likes and older DS liked when he was little:
Reading out loud- I'm the reader and can read for hours. We went though several of the Harry Potter books on a few trips.
Trivial Pursuit:Take the cards our of a jr version and you ask the kids questions.
Color Wonder products, a hit with my non-coloring DS
Magazines, books, stickers.
Lots of snacks- some healthy stuff like cheese cubes and grapes, and some totally fun junk like pop rock candy and gummy bears.
Electronics- I know you said EXCEPT---but we do allow these and they are sanity savers. We are pretty restrictive at home, but we relax those rules a lot on trips. A few new down loads on a ipad or iphone, a new DS game or a new movie can really make it easier. Sometimes on the 8 hour trip, we say no electronics till after half way.
Keep going!! We find that stopping a lot just does not help things a lot. We try to push at least 4-5 hours and them sometimes stop just to potty and get gas and food. When we do need a longer stop, sometimes we choose a fast food place with a play area and the adults eat while the kid plays and we get his food to go. Sometimes we get food at a drive food and then stop at a rest stop to eat and let the kid run a bit. We also choose a nice mall if we need a 30 minute or so break. Check out a few stores or the arcade or play area and grab food court food to go.
Reading out loud- I'm the reader and can read for hours. We went though several of the Harry Potter books on a few trips.
Trivial Pursuit:Take the cards our of a jr version and you ask the kids questions.
Color Wonder products, a hit with my non-coloring DS
Magazines, books, stickers.
Lots of snacks- some healthy stuff like cheese cubes and grapes, and some totally fun junk like pop rock candy and gummy bears.
Electronics- I know you said EXCEPT---but we do allow these and they are sanity savers. We are pretty restrictive at home, but we relax those rules a lot on trips. A few new down loads on a ipad or iphone, a new DS game or a new movie can really make it easier. Sometimes on the 8 hour trip, we say no electronics till after half way.
Keep going!! We find that stopping a lot just does not help things a lot. We try to push at least 4-5 hours and them sometimes stop just to potty and get gas and food. When we do need a longer stop, sometimes we choose a fast food place with a play area and the adults eat while the kid plays and we get his food to go. Sometimes we get food at a drive food and then stop at a rest stop to eat and let the kid run a bit. We also choose a nice mall if we need a 30 minute or so break. Check out a few stores or the arcade or play area and grab food court food to go.
We are leaving from Chicago to Disney TOMORROW 
so I will post later what works for us.
One thing we did during a road trip this summer was "dime fines" - we gave each kid a M&M container with 25 dimes in it. Every time they fought, or whined, they had to give me a dime. If they were mean to a sibling, they gave their sibling a dime. When we arrived at our destination, I traded remaining dimes for dollars. I didn't spend any additional money - as I had already planned on $25 spending money per kid - but it worked well. I know this isn't an "activity", but it made the trip much more enjoyable.
so I will post later what works for us.One thing we did during a road trip this summer was "dime fines" - we gave each kid a M&M container with 25 dimes in it. Every time they fought, or whined, they had to give me a dime. If they were mean to a sibling, they gave their sibling a dime. When we arrived at our destination, I traded remaining dimes for dollars. I didn't spend any additional money - as I had already planned on $25 spending money per kid - but it worked well. I know this isn't an "activity", but it made the trip much more enjoyable.
monorailsilver
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2002
- Messages
- 4,977
We did a scavenger hunt.
I used this list
http://faculty.deanza.edu/donahuemary/stories/storyReader$1473
I hope it works!
I did tweak it a bit and deleted some of the stuff.
My kids also had activity books, books, iPods, movies, pillows! It was a 24 hour drive for us.
I used this list
http://faculty.deanza.edu/donahuemary/stories/storyReader$1473
I hope it works!
I did tweak it a bit and deleted some of the stuff.
My kids also had activity books, books, iPods, movies, pillows! It was a 24 hour drive for us.
rachael95
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 11, 2000
- Messages
- 622
Could you add on a bit of time for your drive and maybe stop at a few roadside attractions? There are a ton of interesting little places, especially if you take some of the non-main interstates. You might research a bit and see what sounds interesting. Or maybe try a different route than you might normally take and see new places. If there is a city you'd like to visit, maybe make your trip go through there.
For the older kids:
1. One thing we did and maybe the older kids could do is to be the navigator. Get them a big paper map, have them highlight where they are on the trip, follow the road from city to city. It was a great way to get good map reading skills and also to figure out when we would arrive at certain cities based on how fast we were going and where we were on the mile marker. Also, they'd be able to let you know about rest stops or anything else on the map. Good math skills too.
2. Books to read
3. Maybe teach them how to crochet or knit
4. Have them be in charge of entertaining the 3 year old[
For the youngest You might try getting one of those lap trays.
1. Coloring pages of where you're going.
2. Make some "busy bags" that include pipe cleaners, Lego, memory card games, etc. You can also do homemade games with Popsicle sticks in different colors or with animal pictures taped to them, travel versions of paper dolls
For the older kids:
1. One thing we did and maybe the older kids could do is to be the navigator. Get them a big paper map, have them highlight where they are on the trip, follow the road from city to city. It was a great way to get good map reading skills and also to figure out when we would arrive at certain cities based on how fast we were going and where we were on the mile marker. Also, they'd be able to let you know about rest stops or anything else on the map. Good math skills too.
2. Books to read
3. Maybe teach them how to crochet or knit
4. Have them be in charge of entertaining the 3 year old[
For the youngest You might try getting one of those lap trays.
1. Coloring pages of where you're going.
2. Make some "busy bags" that include pipe cleaners, Lego, memory card games, etc. You can also do homemade games with Popsicle sticks in different colors or with animal pictures taped to them, travel versions of paper dolls
luvmy2babies
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2010
- Messages
- 2,931
I drove alone with my 2 children this summer. I made a road trip journal for my daughter who was 10. My son was 3 and he has a toy bucket in the van and some books, but he did watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and play games on my Kindle Fire as well.
I was our first time driving down after flying down 3 times so I figured the book would help my daughter. It was pretty much a timeline of our trip with some coloring pages. There were a few pages about North Carolina (our state), South Carolina, Georgia and Florida with some coloring and activity pages. I pasted in information about each stop I had planned. There was an information page about our hotel in Georgia where we stayed overnight. I split the trip over 2 days since I was the only driver.
There were some Disney themed activity and coloring pages and pages that detailed out our resort and our park days. The images were easy to paste in from Google of anything I wanted like the highway sign at each states border, the pictures of the hotel in Georgia, the Welcome to Disney World arch, images from our resort, various park images. I just pasted the images in around text I put in and added lines for her to record her thoughts along the way. Education.com had the activity sheets on each state.
I was our first time driving down after flying down 3 times so I figured the book would help my daughter. It was pretty much a timeline of our trip with some coloring pages. There were a few pages about North Carolina (our state), South Carolina, Georgia and Florida with some coloring and activity pages. I pasted in information about each stop I had planned. There was an information page about our hotel in Georgia where we stayed overnight. I split the trip over 2 days since I was the only driver.
There were some Disney themed activity and coloring pages and pages that detailed out our resort and our park days. The images were easy to paste in from Google of anything I wanted like the highway sign at each states border, the pictures of the hotel in Georgia, the Welcome to Disney World arch, images from our resort, various park images. I just pasted the images in around text I put in and added lines for her to record her thoughts along the way. Education.com had the activity sheets on each state.
Music - as in CD's for the car. We've brought the DVD player before and it hasn't been touched. Instead, they love listening to music. Since it's in the car's CD player, we all hear it and some sing along. We pick music that they're familiar with. Before our last Disney trip, I bought a new Disney music CD a month before and played it at home several times. Even our 10 year old will sing along to High School Musical though he says it's his sister's! Just make sure to pick music that you can tolerate as well!
*Do not get color wonder "no mess" Disney picture glitter pages. I picked it up on Clearance once year seeing the no-mess on it and thinking it would be great for the car. What I failed to realize was that the glitter is not included in no-mess. There will not be marker mess, but there will be an overload of glitter mess! It will get over everyone and everything.
*Do not get color wonder "no mess" Disney picture glitter pages. I picked it up on Clearance once year seeing the no-mess on it and thinking it would be great for the car. What I failed to realize was that the glitter is not included in no-mess. There will not be marker mess, but there will be an overload of glitter mess! It will get over everyone and everything.
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