Recorder Fun Pack
The Family Road Trip – 11 Ways to Save Your Sanity, See More Sites and Have More Fun
I have three kids whom I love with all my heart, and I can tell you that – sometimes – the idea of packing them in the car and driving through the hot countryside where they will bicker, invade one another’s space, and ask to stop and pee 14 times a day strikes fear into my heart. Fear, I tell you.
And yet, particularly in this economy, there are days when it simply doesn’t make sense to fly. There are times we must get in the car to get somewhere.
Here are some tips (most learned the hard way) about how to have more fun on a family road trip.
1. Before you go, visit the library, buy a guidebook or visit your favorite travel websites to find kid friendly parks, attractions, pools, and water slides. Try to work in at least one activity that will be fun for your child each day (even on driving days.)
2. Let your kids get involved in the planning process. Ask them what they’d like to see and do along the way. Ask them to inquire of their friends about good places to stop or to eat along the way. Let them take turns being the “captain” and making decisions about where to stop and eat lunch or which rest area to choose.
3. Let your kids pack their own “go bags” with little activities, mazes, books, and treats along the way. A child-friendly map is helpful. So is a pair of binoculars. Also, colored pencils or markers and games, puzzles, coloring books and plain paper. It’s also fun to include a disposable camera for each child and a blank journal for them to record the trip through their own eyes.
On the day of the trip, surprise them with a couple new things for their “go bags”…things that cater to their individual tastes and ages. Maze books, a kit for trying their hand at making balloon animals, fun facts about the places they’ll be visiting, and so on.
4. Look up and learn new crafts that kids can do in small spaces: Finger knitting is perfect for younger kids (do an online search for instructions). Older kids can crochet or knit.
5. Find a new book of creative car travel games. Here are a few, but you can find oodles more in books at the library or at your local bookstore:
The Alphabet Game: Try to find each of the letters of the alphabet, in order, on license plates, road signs, billboards and more. Two alternatives: find objects that begin with each letter or try to find all the letters, in order, on other cars’ license plates.
20 Questions: One person finds something in the landscape or in the car and gives everyone 20 questions to deduce what the object is.
License Plate “I Spy”: Make a chart of all the states. Cross off each one as you see a license plate from that state.
Letter Bingo: Print out Bingo sheets with words (or pictures) of things you’ll see on the trip.
6. There’s no shame in using a portable DVD player and a couple of movies. Rent new movies along the way at DVD rental kiosks.
7. Download a few new apps to get you through. We have passed many a mile playing Wurdle, Fruit Ninja, and – more recently – Angry Birds. Tiny Wings is a good game that is, well, less angry.
8. Bring some great sing-along songs. We love belting out old folksongs, like “Oh My Darling, Clementine” and “Tumbling Along with the Tumbling Tumbleweeds” – but we’re kind of dorks. Find a CD or put together a playlist that everyone will enjoy singing along to.
9. Bring small balls, a football or a Frisbee so you have an easy, ready-made game when you stop at a rest area or park. Or use the timer on your watch or cell phone to time your kids running laps around the rest area. Anything you can do to make it fun to get out, stretch and burn some energy.
10. Set realistic expectations. Unless you are planning to drive a lot at night or while the kids are sleeping, a maximum of seven hours of driving is all that’s going to be enjoyable for a kid.
11. Make road tripping rituals. For the most part, I would say it’s important to have some easily accessible healthy snacks that won’t spike your kids’ blood sugar. But we have certain food traditions that have become synonymous with road trips. We always get Easy Cheese and Triscuits, for example, and, while my husband drives, I write little abbreviated messages on them with squirty cheese and the kids try to decode. We also love to have pretzels and the kids try to eat just the inside to leave a pretzel heart. See what kind of fun rituals you can come up with that will help your kids build enthusiasm for the family road trip.
About the Author
When it’s time to plan your vacation, don’t book without first getting the latest travel coupons here: http://susies-travel-coupons.com and other new coupons and deals here: http://newcouponsanddeals.com Visit today and enter to win a $50 gift certificate!
The Sims 3 Generations Video Camera Recorder and Storage Tower HD
|
|
Sakar Digital Concepts Crayola Digital Camcorder Green With 2GB Acessory Bundle $54.95 Kids can enjoy endless hours of fun & learning with this Digital Camcorder. Camcorder features a preview screen, sound effect buttons and a built-in microphone. Includes:-Digital Camcorder/Camera, Project & camera software, USB cable. Five Activity Centers;-Photo Editing Center, Story Maker, Puppet Show, Photo Frames, Jigsaw Puzzles, Super art tools, Photo library, Print & Font options and Slide s… |
|
|
V.I.O. POV.1 Point-of-View Video System $542.23 Capture the kind of intense video footage you’ve always wanted, and all from unique points of view, with the VIO POV1 digital video system that can be attached to your helmet, hat, or handlebars Your fun doesn’t end with shooting to you’ll have all the components you need to edit (both on-site and off) and share via the Internet using POV Manager’s video sharing capabilities so that all of your fr… |
|
|
NBOX 2nd Generation True 720P TV Media Player Manufacture Gift Pack – Play MKV with Enhanced Chipset & Firmware $39.99 NBOX 2nd Generation, the HD media-player, is the simple solution to playback your digital videos on your large HDTV screen. You have thousands of video, music, and photo stored in your USB hard drive. Instead of watching it on your computer monitor, now you can simply take your USB hard drive to connect with it and enjoy your multimedia contents on your large HDTV. - New powerful chipset, much ad… |
|
|
Franklin AnyBook Reader – 60 Hour Edition (DRP-4000) $35.00 AnyBook Plus Read -60 Hour Edi… |
|
|
1920VAh UPS Battery Pack $1,025.00 1920VAh UPS Battery PackliBattery Type: Spill Proof, Maintenance Free Sealed Lead AcidliBattery Life: 26297.44 Hour to 43829.06 HourliOutput Voltage: 192 V DCliDimensions: 5.12″ Height x 17″ Width x 26″ DepthliWeight: 200 lbliPackage Contents: 1920VAh UPS Battery Pack , Installation Guide , Rack Mounting Brackets , User Manual , 4 x Battery ModulesliCompatibility: APC Smart-UPS RT… |
|
|
New – NTI Media Maker v.8.0 Suite Edition – 4100 Manufacturer/Supplier: NTI Corporation Manufacturer Part Number: 4100 Brand Name: NTI Product Name: Media Maker v.8.0 Suite Edition Marketing Information: NTI Media Maker 8 Suite delivers an easy-to-use, yet powerful suite of digital media applications. Family members of any age can quickly create dazzling CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs like a pro. Copy, convert, rip, edit, and share your music, vid… |
|
|
The Kid’s Collection – Recorder Fun! 3-Book Bonus Pack $9.03 Hal Leonard The Kids’ Collection – Recorder Fun! 3-Book Bonus Pack… |
|
|
The Disney Collection (Recorder): Recorder Fun! 3-Book Bonus Pack $3.79 (Recorder Fun! 3-Book Bonus Pack). By Various. Recorder. Disney. 3 songbooks and a high quality recorder. 40 pages. Published by Hal Leonard… |
|
|
Big Idea’s Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie: Book/Instrument Pack (Recorder Fun!) $3.88 This fun package features a songbook and a top-quality recorder so kids can learn to make music with some of their favorite songs – even if they’ve never played before! The book includes simple instructions to get you started, great coloring pages, and ea… |