Family Road Trip Fun
How Best To Travel With
Kids
by Sherrie Le Masurier
Family Travel is meant to be fun and relaxing and with a little road trip
planning, you can organize your car travel to make this year's road trip your
best family vacation ever.
When it comes to road trip planning it's important to expect the unexpected and
be prepared. Turn to creative solutions like pre- planned snacks and car games
to counter "I'm hungry" screams and "Are We There Yet?" questions. Every time
you travel with kids you can count on the need for both creative solutions and a
ton of car games to keep the kid's busy.
Following are some of my favorite ways to make a family vacation car trip not
only bearable but fun.
Activity Boxes - A plastic tote with a flat lid works best as it holds both your
child's activity supplies (paper, markers, cards etc.) and doubles as a play
surface.
Bottled Water - Bring a whole case for drinking and quick wash ups.
Paper Towels - These are indispensable when eating and make short work of
cleaning up.
Blankets or Coats - The warmth of a blanket or coat comes in handy for nap time.
Pillows - To a tired and cranky child, a pillow can be a real lifesaver.
Plastic Bags - Various sized plastic zipper-type, grocery and garbage bags are
handy for everything from storing crayons and leftover crackers to separating
wet bathing suits and collecting trash.
Drinks - Place a small cooler filled with beverages in a central location where
everyone can reach.
Snacks - Consider individual boxes of cereal, packages of crackers, cups of
fruit,applesauce and yogurt. Don't forget the spoons.
Okay, so now your kids are well nourished and have their activity box before
them. But with a day or two of traveling still ahead, your kids'short attention
span may yet get the better of them. Ward off sibling battles and screams like
"She's looking at me again!" with the following car travel solutions.
As a child one of my favourite family travel games was to create a story
together. Dad would start the first sentence, then mom, myself and my brother
would add to it. Each of us would take a turn adding a sentence as the story
unfolded.
Another favorite road trip car game was "I'm going on a trip and I'm
bringing..." Here someone starts the game off by naming an item that starts with
the letter "A". After "A" , the next player will say the same thing but with the
letter "B", and so on.
If you're looking for creative verbal games that will help build your kid's
vocabulary, check out 101 Word Games at
http://familysanitysavers.com/cargames
Finally, countdown the distance to go, with a bunch of Cheerios or Fruit Loops
pre-thread on shoestring licorice. Your kids can enjoy one with every passing
kilometer.
Want more Family Sanity Saving Ideas? Visit
http://www.familysanitysavers.com
today!
Written by Sherrie Le Masurier, Lifestyle Columnist, Professional Organizer and
Co-Owner of Family Sanity Savers.com
- Copyright 2005.