Traveling — With Kids! (Guest Post)

It’s Guest Blogger Month at Lemon Drop Pie! Today I’m pleased to introduce you to OneMommy. She has so many great ideas on her blog. Here’s just a few!

Are you planning a vacation this year with the kids?

Need a few ideas on how to keep them occupied in the car without playing videos the whole way and turning them into zombies?

Here are some tried, and kid-approved, car activities to make your trip more enjoyable!

1. Spiral notebooks/coloring books, crayons (I prefer the twist
up kind in the car; if you lose one it won’t melt all over your seats
before you find it!), and stickers. The younger the kids, the
more stickers I’d bring! With young children it is amazing how long they
can occupy themselves with stickers. (If they still have trouble peeling
the stickers off themselves, save yourself and them some frustration by
peeling the excess sticky paper off, leaving only the actual stickers
stuck to the sheet.)

2. Magnets. Simple ABC magnets or just some fun-shaped
refrigerator magnets can be fun on a small cookie sheet or cake pan (see
number 3). There are also some really cute character magnet sets out
there. I try to stick with magnets large enough that if they are dropped
they won’t be lost forever. (Also, make sure they are large enough not to
be a choking hazard, and if your child is one to put everything in his/her
mouth, then skip this one!)

3. Small Cake Pans and Favorite Toys. If you have a car-lover,
then a small cake pan works wonders as a place to push little cars around.
The sides of the pan keep them from rolling off. And if the child is old
enough to worry about where the road is, you can draw one on a piece of
felt to be stuck inside the cake pan. A cake pan can also keep other
small toys (like Littlest Pet Shop characters) from falling off small
laps.

4. Felt Board. Don’t have one? Follow these simple directions to
make your own felt board. Cut out simple shapes from
felt and kids can use them to create their own designs. Or make felt
cars, felt dolls to dress, or nursery rhyme characters they can use to act
out stories.

5. Water Wow Doodle Books. Fill the special pen with water and
“paint” the pages to reveal the pictures. Let the pages dry and you can
re-do them over and over again. (I found ours at Big Lots for $3 each and
they have seen A LOT of use.)

6. Tin Foil Surprises. Who doesn’t like surprises? Wrap Dollar
Store finds, small cars, etc. inside foil for them to open. Not only do
they have the fun of opening a little gift, they also can play with the
foil later

7. Books. Even children who don’t read on their own yet can
flip through old favorites. (Mine also love taking their Leap Frog Tag
Reader books while traveling.)

8. Dry Erase Boards. Got an older child? Dry erase boards
allow creativity that can be erased and done over and over. Or they can
be used to play Hang-man, Tic-Tac-Toe, etc.

9. Etch-A-Sketch/Magna Doodle. If you don’t yet trust your
child with a dry erase marker, how about a Magna-Doodle? They can draw
and erase mess-free. If they are a little older, and Etch-A-Sketch will
challenge them a bit more; plus, it’s fun to shake it to erase your
picture!

10. Plenty of Car-Friendly Snacks. (I like to stick to dry items
in the car for less mess!) Cheese crackers, raisins, pretzels, dry
cereal…

** Remember to plan extra time at rest stops to allow kids to stretch
their legs and run some energy out. Plus, use that time to change/rotate
their books, toys, etc. at each stop. This keeps things fresh and
interesting.

Happy traveling!

OneMommy can be found at There’s Just One
Mommy, where she blogs about life as a SAHM to her 3 year-old son and
4.5 year-old daughter. She writes about the funny things kids say/do,
simple kid crafts, and more. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

For more traveling tips, read one of my past posts: Fuzzy Buggy. Thank you, OneMommy, for giving us so many great ideas! My next guest blogger will join us on Monday, June 18.