Are We There Yet?! Making Summer Travel Fun

I always pack my kids with a goodie bag that includes a new puzzle or coloring book (depending on age) along with a small surprise along with small snacks and a juice and they don't get that bag until we are on the road and it helps with the trip.

Also now that my older kids (11 & 9) can read and know the location of the 50 states on a map - I print out a blank map with the outline of the 50 states, and we look at the different license plates we pass and color in that state as we travel and see how many different states we pass.

You can always bring along adventures in Odyssey to listen to, that passes the time quickly, and it gives you some quiet as well as an opportunity to talk about the episode- or books on tape.  Or have an ultimate card game tournament between the kids and keep track of who wins (maybe even have a bracket for each round that kind of thing), try to find different state license plates, bring pony beads and have them make pony bead animal key changes (you can find the patterns online). play other games- memory games like "I'm going on a trip and I'm going to bring..." and add something each time.  Sing camp songs, or songs from church.  Pretend that you all are on a space shuttle and you're riding through space.  All this of course depends upon the age of kids as well as how many there are.

  When we traveled as kids, we'd often take very long car rides (20 hours plus- all in one day because my parents didn't like to stop and worry about hotel rooms, etc.).  To keep us well behaved, they'd give me and my younger brother each 20 dollars in singles at the beginning of the trip when we pulled out of the driveway.  We were told that every time we complained or fought, they would take a dollar away.  The $20 was our spending money for the trip, so we wouldn't want to lose any of it. As far as I can remember, we never complained or fought.  

  We also weren't allowed to ask "are we there yet?".  Instead, we were given a map we could write on and were allowed to ask "where are we?" so we could find where we were on the map.  This kept us busy and let us learn our map skills as we figured out for ourselves when we would arrive.  While this may be less pertinent in the days of GPS, it's still a good skill to have.  

We also used to give our kids a roll of quarters as you know they are going to want small gifts, ice cream, etc.  For each time they asked "are we there yet" they owed us a quarter.  If they fought with each other - whoever started the fight owed the other sibling the quarter.  It's one thing to have to give a quarter to mom or dad but it sure is something totally different if they have to give it to the sibling and know they might have more to spend when we get to our vacation spot!  :o)  

I put a potty chair in my van for my grandchildrens use and line it with a disposable diaper. When the need arises, we pull off the side of the road, flip the lid and let them use it. I then roll the diaper up, put it in a ziplock bag and dispose of it at our next stop. It is much more convenient than looking for somewhere to stop, especially when a toddler needs to go quickly.

When ever we travel we play a game, we pick from a few of them.  but our favorite is "Yellow" we see who can find and count the most yellow cars, trucks, motorcycles.  another game we play is "RV, Boat" we see who can find the most Rv's and boats.  every time we stop the car the winner gets a treat, and a new game starts then!

Sounds great!http://www.sfyh.com/timewalker_ss

I think that is an interesting point, it made me think a bit. Thanks for sparking my thinking cap.

i am agree with your statement, because you explained it very well

please visit my blog, I will learn more about sport. this is my blog http://domesticintravel.blogspot.com/


thank you......

great article you live in a beautiful area