This is from last summer, but I thought it was worth repeating. Miss Jennifer
I am very surprised, but glad to hear that gas prices have not ended all the car trips this summer. I have always been a big fan, ever since I was a child and my parents would pile my sister, brother and myself in our station wagon and head cross country (not once but several times over the years). So, here are some things to do on those long trips, without using the DVD player. Yes, kids there were no DVD players when I was a little girl.
1. Car games- You can collect license plates. See if you can find one from every state. It is not easy, in 38 years I think I have only gotten all 50 twice. One trip we got them all (yes Alaska & Hawaii) but not Rhode Island. We wanted our parents to keep driving around until we found one.
A second game we made up that was alot of fun, doesn't have a name but it works like this. You can have teams or each individual can play by themselves. Each team picks the name of a hotel, restaurant, gas station, grocery store, and a department store. Each time you see one you get a point. To make it fair we would let a different person pick first in each category. It was always fun trying to see what was coming up at the next exit through the trees on the highway (no counting when you see them listed on a sign telling you what is at the next exit).
2. The goodie bags - My Mom always had two bags. One had candy and gum and pretzels and chips, while the other had things to do, such as crayons, coloring books, Yes & No books (kids ask your parents what they are) (parents you can still get them in places like Cracker Barrel), and other things we could do in the car.
If we were driving three or more hours in a day, we got to pick from the activity bag. We got to chose from the bag with the yummy things to eat, always after lunch and if we were not driving our parents to nuts. When we were younger and my parents wanted us to nap (we could pretend to sleep if we really couldn't sleep) we could pick a treat when we woke up. My brother always had a hard time pretending to sleep, so I would share my treat with him.
3. Stopping - This was a great way to make a long drive fun. My parents were always willing to stop and see the great things that were along the way. I remember one time we were out around Colorado. The kids were asleep and my parents were driving on this road they call the million dollar highway (because of the views). They drove down the road for about a half an hour when they decided to turn around, go back to the beginning and wake us up so we could see what we were missing. I still remember how amazing the mountains and rivers were.
We have lots of great pictures of us at various pullovers along the road. One I remember us all getting wet under a waterfall that was cascading over the mountain at the pullover.
4. Don't forget music, I learned to love classical as well as the Beatles on those trips and stories, my mom read us lots of books and now with books on cd the whole family can enjoy the books.
5. Driving while the kids are sleeping. This tip is for the parents. When we drove cross country we would leave at 2:00AM. We would sleep while my parents drove.
6. Another great idea when you are traveling is to give your children a book they can use as a travel log. Take them to Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc and let them pick out a hardcover book with blank pages. I like the spiral binding kind since they stay open more easily when writing in them.
Then bring pencils, pens, scotch tape and maybe even some colored pencils along on the trip (markers leach through the paper).
I am on my second book and I fill them with funny things that happen, license plates I see, miles I travel, what I eat and then I tape all sorts of things in. I save plants and flowers and lots of empty sugar packets that have names of hotels and restaurants in my log.
My mom has logs pasted in all her travel scrapbooks. It is great fun to see how much it cost to eat and sleep on the old trips, so add that to your log. (Moms and Dads, by sharing some of the costs of your trip, such as gas and food, it can help children begin to understand money and costs with regards to the things we do).
So get out your notebooks and starting saving those memories.
Have a great trip. If I think of some more of the things we did, I will post them.
Miss Jennifer