With holidays around the corner, there may be a few road trips for you and your family. Our family tend to either travel to East London to see my friend Llynne, or to Knysna to see my dad – and fortunately they are not too far away… so I just about manage to keep the kids entertained.
I have however found a cute idea, which I am going to try next time and maybe it’s something you could try to.
It’s called a Road Trip Grab Bag, and in a nut shell – you hide something for them to do in a bag, and have a bag for each hour of the journey.
So if your journey is 4 hours, you have 4 bags and the kids open a bag each hour. Buy brown paper bags , number them and put whatever you want inside and staple it shut.
Here are some ideas of what you can put in the bag (Perhaps consider alternating a game with a treat)
Pipe Cleaner Creations: This one keeps kids engaged for a long while. My kids can play with pipe cleaners forever, making shapes, loops, chains, small people, you name it. You can bring buttons or bead to add to them as well. They can also make letters out of the pipe cleaners and spell words for a little added educational bonus.
Square Colored Paper: Sometimes a simple pad of paper will last kids a long while. The trick to giving them paper is to provide them with ideas on how to use it. My kids love to make paper airplanes and they fly them back and forth to each other. You can also give them a set of origami instruction to go with it, or even create these origami frames as the kids draw pictures on the inside. Endless possibilities.
Clear Tape: I know this seems silly, but my kids will play with tape for hours. You might be worried about what they will stick it to, but just be sure to talk to them before hand if there’s anything you don’t want stuck! My kids like to color a little tape with black marker or pen and make a mustache, adding to their upper lip. Or they can tape long strips across the whole back seat from window to window. I’ve also given my kids a small open box and they use tape to cover it up. They think it’s the coolest thing to have their own roll of tape to do whatever they want with it.
Paper Clips: Another super simple object that my kids love to play with. They can make chains, necklaces, or open them up to make more structures. My kids have strung paper clips from one side of the car to the other, attaching them to the hand rails, and then hanging their toys from it. All sorts of fun things to do with paper clips.
PS... I am not opposed to bringing out a portable DVD Player - especially when the 2 year old nods off for nap, then Hayden can hold it on his lap.
