Picnic

Picnic

Monday, April 12, 2010

Staying Sane While Traveling

We have family who live seven hours away from us, so the drive can get pretty long, especially with two children under the age of three.  On our last trip, I wanted to have a pleasant seven hour ride, so I planned ahead and came up with several activities to keep the boys busy, hoping they would enjoy them.  Some of them are my own ideas, and some came from the Activity Mom (located in her travel section), and some came from Little Family Fun.  Most of the activities went over really well, and we ended up having a great and happy fourteen hour round trip.
I-spy jar.  I filled a glass jar with rice and different objects that the boys had to look for.  This activity didn't interest them.  They handed the jar back to me rather quickly.  Micaiah threw it on the floor. 
Clothes pins, rocks and pom poms for my baby to take out and put back.
Micaiah liked the colors and softness of the pom poms and the smoothness of the rocks.
Buttons and pipe cleaners.  When I saw this activity I thought this would be difficult.  I was wrong.  Abishai played with this for a really long time.
For this activity you're supposed to match alphabet stickers to the letters on the paper roll.  This activity would have gone over really well if I had larger stickers for his tiny hands.  We ended up having to abandon it. 
This activity, "match the pipe cleaner with the identically colored hole", was intended for just Abishai, but Micaiah didn't seem to have any trouble getting the pipe cleaner in the hole.  It became a baby activity as well as a toddler activity.
Abisahi matching the colors.
Snack time is very important for keeping my little ones happy.  We had a range of healthy snacks; raisins, juice, banana chips, bananas, and these crackers.  I normally don't buy crackers of any kind because the ingredients aren't healthy- even the supposedly "healthy" ones.  However, this box was new to the store shelf and didn't have anything in it that sounded like a chemical, so all you ingredient readers out there, my boys gobbled these up.
I-spy book.
A folder of Poo puzzles.
Lots and lots of books.
Matching letters again.  We were missing the E.
I had a few more activities planned like memory and a parking cars game, but we didn't have the time.  Next trip, I guess.

7 comments:

  1. Renae! Thanks so much for sharing this. What a GREAT idea(s). PLAN ahead and make games and activities for the kids to enjoy and learn. I love it. I am totally going to use these ideas next time we take a road trip. Where did you get the trays to fit over the car seats? That's brilliant!

    C. Kremski

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  2. Great activities Renae! Seven hours on a trip is a long time for little guys to sit...You have a flair for thinking up very creative educational activites!

    Glad you guys ahd a pleasant trip!

    God Bless

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  3. Great post. I do not like traveling long distances with little ones, but I've never been so organized and creative either. I'll keep this post in mind for our next trip. I really like the trays.

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  4. The trays are bed and breakfast trays. I haven't found a proper traveling tray yet, so I just used what we had on hand.

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  5. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment:) Travelling trays are such a good idea, thanks for sharing:)

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  6. I agree. I am going to look for some traveling trays to use too. Regardless of what we set up it ends up on the floor. We have 40 hrs of driving in June to BC so I have to get planning. ;)

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  7. awesome ideas!!

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