I deeply, deeply love planning and making lists. I full-on geek out about it. This post is dedicated to the searching I did for road trip ideas for families, and the work I have put into packing an activity bag for our kids (8, 9, and 10 years old) on our upcoming road trip to South Carolina – 840 miles one way. I know that’s not a lot for some people, but it is for us.
What’s in the bag is a surprise to the kids, and I will keep it that way. I will give them things as needed throughout the trip to keep the peace. Some friends have asked what is in my magic Mary Poppins bag, so here it is…
1. A binder.
– In each binder is step-by-step directions to our destination and back home, so when they ask where we are I can say, “Step 27”.
– They have a copy of the State License Plate Bingo Game in a page protector so they can mark them off with a dry erase marker, and start a new game whenever they want.
– They each have 2 unique pages of Road Trip Bingo, again in page protectors.
– They have age appropriate “code breaker” math sheets, because my babies like math 🙂 These are not in page protectors, just hole punched in their binders.
– And they have a page of thinking questions (adapted from this) that they can answer in their notebooks – If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? In what ways are you like your mom? In what ways are you like your dad? What do you want to be when you grow up? If you got to do anything you wanted all day long, what things would you do? Etc.
2. A hanging toiletry bag.
This might be the item I am most excited about. I found these bags on Amazon for like $8 each. The girls have red ones and Eli has a black one. In the top pouch I have pencils, the middle one has crayons, the bottom one has two dry erase markers and a paper towel, and in the very bottom big pouch I will put snacks – just a few at at time. And gum. There is a hook at the top that will go through the peg of the head rest of the seat in front of them so everything is accessible for them.
3. A clipboard.
4. Easy Sudoku puzzles.
Again, math babies. I bought a book of all easy puzzles, and tore out all of the pages so I can easily distribute them. I stuck them all in one of my page protectors so they aren’t floating all over my bag. Oh organizing, how I love thee.
5. I Spy and Where’s Waldo books.
6. Library books.
Lots and lots of library books. Also we will stock up Grace’s Kindle the night before.
7. Notebooks.
They each picked out a notebook at the store. It’s amazing how much time they can spend just drawing.
8. Stickers.
I got 3 packets of stickers for each of them to go in their notebooks, or on their clipboards.
9. Coloring/Activity books.
10. Brain games.
I picked these up at Barnes & Noble. They should keep them busy for a while. Fingers crossed…
11. A bag of Smarties.
If they’re playing Bingo, they need a treat when they win 🙂
12. Pipe cleaners.
No mess crafts! Michaels has a good selection.
13. Glow sticks.
For the evening portion of our car trip!
14. New movies.
I got 2 new movies they haven’t seen yet, and won’t see until we’re on the road.
15. Homework.
Yep. I’m getting the homework they will miss the week they’re gone.
So there you have it. I’m hoping to reduce the amount of movies they watch this time around. I’ll have to do a follow-up post to let you know what was and wasn’t successful!
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