Road Trip with Two Young Boys

C.,

While the most obvious advice would be to get a DVD player so the kids can watch movies, I suggest getting books on tape/CDs so the whole family can listen and imagine the action! This would include everyone in a discussion/conversation especially if you stopped the cassette/CD once in a while to talk about it.

Also, come up with a pose that the kids will do every time you make a stop- and then take a picture of it. I remember my sisters and I used to pose purchasing a soda from a vending machine. it's funny to see the pictures now of us and these vending machines from different cities. It's silly and fun. Your kids can also collect postcards, rocks, leaves, etc. from the different stops.

Since you've already done some roadtrips, ask your boys what they want to do.

Have fun,
F.

I took my 4 kids on an 81 day driving trip in my mini-van last summer. My kids were 12,11,10 and 6. We drove 15,515 miles and saw 42 states. To keep my kids occupied, I brought along books on tape by odeysey that I checked out from my church library. We also brought fun reading books for both them to read to themselves or for me to read aloud to them. We stopped at thrift stores along the way and bought new used books for 49 cents. We also took crayons, coloring books,and small toys they could hold in their hands like farm animals and poly pockets. Put the pieces in a zip lock bag, so they won't loose them. My 3 daughters, also enjoyed fashion designing with small pieces of cloth on a wooden doll.
Next, I made each of them their own pocket size spiral notebook. On each of the first ten pages I made an age appropriate game. Ideas I used: Find all the _____ color cars on the freeway.Each child had to find a color that was their favorite.I filled in a different color for each child.
The next one was the alphabet game. For two of my kids I wrote out the alphabet in capital letters and as they found them in order on signs they could cross them out. We also used the same game for liscence plates. Both numbers and letters. The older kids wrote the letters down as they spotted them.
Make a whole page of blank tic tac toe games.
Make a whole page of dots in columns and rows so they fill most of the page. Each person gets to draw a stright line up or down connecting as many dots as they want. The kids take turns and try to make a squre with 4 dots. If they draw the last line on a three sided box that fourth line forms a closed box and the child puts his initial in the box and gets to make one more line. Then he puts a score mark on the bottom of the page for each box completed during his turn.
Another game was out of state liscence plates. The older children wrote the name of the state and the younger kids just made tally marks.See who can spot them first and call them out.
Another game is clouds. Look out the window at the clouds and see what shapes you think the cloud is. Is it a bear, an elephant, or a dog with floppy ears.Any answer is right straight from their imagination.
Car bingo. I drew 25 spaces on their page and they had to put an X on the things we passed. You can draw different kinds of cars, different road signs, different kinds of hauling trucks, buildings, farm animals, telephone poles and trains.
I also xeroxed a copy of the 52 states and gave each child a copy so they could color every state they traveled through.
Also play I'm going on a trip game. I am going on a trip and I am taking a_______ . The first person names something. The next person repeats the sentence and adds another thing. Each person must repeat the whole list and add one and keep going.
You can also play the alphabet game where each person names something that starts with the letters of the alphabet. The first person is A then a B word for the next person and continue.
We also journaled in our notebooks. The bigger kids could right about something they did or saw each day and the smaller kids could draw pictures.
My kids love jokes so I took the A to Z Christian joke book. We took turns telling jokes out of it.
We also sang songs in the car.
We had so much fun together. The kids learned how to work together to put up a tent and take down a tent and all the fun that goes with camping. We also stopped at some hotels and friends houses. The cheapest hotels we found across the United States is Motel 6.They are always $20.00 cheaper than a Super 8 and since there was one adult and 4 kids, I always got a 2 bed non-smoking room and put the extra child on the floor with a comforter. We rotated who got the floor and who shared with who a bed. Children under 17 are free in the childrens room.Good Luck, D.

Hi C..
I totally recommend looking into Susan Peterson's books. She wrote "Fun & Educational Places to go in Southern California." Her sons wrote a couple books as well. They are car games and activities to do on a road trip. The books her sons came out with are targeted towards the age of your guys. Maybe check them out at your local library.
If not, I know Barnes & Noble has a great selection and should carry them.
Have fun!
P.

Take a look at this website: http://www.momsminivan.com/
This site has amazing resources for traveling with kids!
Have a safe and memorable journey this summer!!
God be with you!

Hi,
Go to the 99 cent store or Big Lots and get lots of little things your boys would like. Wrap each one, and give them to your boys periodically during the trip.
Good luck!

Some ideas:

give each boy a disposable camera so they can take their own pictures (write their names on them) When you get home they can make their own memory book

Dry erase markers are awesome for time in the car. They can write on the windows and erase it.

Window clings in geometric shapes so they could use them on the windows

Fresh snacks for the times in between stops

the License plate game (each counts how many different states they see while driving

I Spy

Journals (at least for kids who can write) so they can write about their trip

Movies ( this is always our last resort - there is so much to see on the road)

Let them pick some music to listen to in the car

Travel car games like Connect 4 and Battleship

Brain Quest cards

Take them to the 99cent store and let them pick out a couple new action figures or cars to play with.

New tends to be the key when planning activities for the road. If they have it and already play or do it then they burn out on it a lot faster

For areas with little or no site seeing opportunities, check online for parks in the area so they can stretch their legs. Take along balls for kicking and/or catching.

I hope this helps you. I have a 3 year old girl and 7 year old boy and we obviously have gone through this with the car.