Are we there yet? Car activities for kids

Kids get bored in the car.  Technology keeps them occupied for only so long.  The other day I shared about Car Travel Bins but was all secretive about what goes in them.  Well, except for using cups to keep colored pencils in, I shared about that.

All this build-up.  You'd think this was something far more exciting than kids' car activities.  Lemme open the super-duper secret vault for you (I can feel it, you're on pins and needles, I know it).

Composition Notebooks.  They're like $.89 each (big spender, eh?).  They're open-ended, the kids can do whatever it is that they want in them.  Draw pictures.  Write a story.  Play tic-tac-toe.  Play hangman.  I try to get cheap-o stickers (check out the dollar stores, I got 1000 stickers for $1) and stick them in the notebooks.  Then, the kids can get creative with the stickers as story inspiration or making designs or who knows what they come up with.

Tangoes.  They're magnetic puzzles.  You get a handful of pieces in varying shapes and sizes.  You get a booklet of pictures using the shapes and you have to try to figure out how to make the picture with the pieces.  The answers are included, not that I've had to look at the answers or anything (nuh-uh, nope, not at all).  We've got the Animals set, Objects set, and People set.  When my kids get tired of figuring out the puzzles, they make their own fun shapes.  My oldest even put faces on the pieces in one set and spent 45 minutes making them interact with each other.  After I saw what she did, I thought about saying, "Hey, don't do that," but she was content and I'm not the one playing with these puzzles, so it wasn't an issue for me.

Mystery bottles.  Originally an idea from Pinterest (you can follow me, I'm not super active at this time),

we've also had campground hosts do them as an activity at their campsite for the kids.  Take an empty water

bottle (easy after a camping weekend), clean it and make sure it's completely dry.  Find a bunch of small objects, between 10-20, depending on how big your bottle is.  Use a funnel and start filling the water bottle with uncooked rice, adding the small objects intermittently.  You don't want to fill the bottle all the way to the top so that there is movement inside the bottle as the kids try to find the objects.  As you're searching for small objects, get creative or use things that aren't used much anymore - silly bands, coins, hair ties, paper clips, beads, a bell, game pieces from a game missing too many pieces, paper clip, small toys.  I try to keep a list of what is in the bottles to help with knowing what to find.  When you're done filling the bottle, add some glue to the lid as you put it on to minimize rice explosions in the car.  My kids want to make more, even though we've got 4 already.

Activity Books.  There are all kinds.  I've got these pictured Lego activity books tucked away for our upcoming trip to Gatlinburg.  I've got Mad Libs, tucked away, too (can't lie, I'm looking forward to those).  Youngest spent countless hours working through her My Remarkably Sparkly Sticker and Doodling Purse, there are other versions, too.  We've also got some fashion design activity book that I can't search for because of sleeping children.  Before our trip to Alum Creek which involved a trip to the American Girl store, I picked up some AG activity books on sale specifically for the car ride.  Basically, if your kid has an interest, there's an activity book for it.  I might get my act together and print some worksheets for Oldest to practice her math skills on the way to Gatlinburg.

Camping Snacks. My kids know that they get "camping snacks" for the car ride to and from a campground.  In the cookie aisle, there are plastic cups of Nabisco treats.  I don't normally buy Chips Ahoy or Teddy Grahams or Oreos or Nutter Butters, so these are treats in every sense.  The plastic cups are self-contained, they're easy, they have a lid (of course, plenty have been dropped/spilled/given to the eagerly awaiting dog).  When these are on sale for $1, I stock up.

The kids will help pack what goes into their bins, they may add a few things that I didn't include here, they may not put in all that I've said.  This is just the ideas I use to help start and end our trip on the right foot and in the right mood.

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