Kid Activities for Long Trips

If you are a follower of my blog, then you may already know that we recently took a trip to the Outer Banks.  We made the 12+ hour trek in our new van all the way from NY, with our 6 kids.  I enjoy a road trip, but I wasn't sure how our kids were going to fare.  So, I headed over to Pinterest to get some ideas and also asked for ideas on my facebook page.

Here are some of the great ideas I found and used:

I was a little stumped for the twins that are 19 months old.  I didn't have too much time to prepare something, so I just made them each a small bin of baby toys.  I also brought along their blankies, and the ipads were a HUGE lifesaver with them; those seemed to entertain them for quite some time.

For the 4 bigger kids (ages 3,5,7, and 10), I used my friend Christy's idea of filling a backpack with new activities and treats for the kids.  

Here are some of the things I included in their backpacks:

• Sticky Mosaics
• Box of crayons
• Stickers
• Small, blank notebooks
• Mad Libs
• Book to read
• Comic book
• Amazing Marker book
• Coloring books
• Small activity books (with crosswords, word finds, color by number, etc.)
• Dover sticker books 
• Wipe-Off books
• Fruit snacks & Fruit by the Foot
• Tube of M&Ms
• Package of large Smarties 
• Ring Pops

I also put these wonderful printables from Living Life Intentionally in each of their bags.  I laminated them and included in each pack a dry-erase marker and a small pack of kleenex.

And who doesn't like to play the license plate game while on a long road trip?  I put one of these printables in each pack as well:

We also incorporated 2 other things into our road trip that I found on Pinterest - Car Bucks and "Road Trip" Countdown.

The kids earned Car Bucks for good behavior while traveling.  We then let them decide if they wanted to turn them in for a souvenir or earn more on the way home and then spend them at the Lego store.  The Lego store won.  You can decide how much each car buck is worth and for what kind of behavior you award with them.

The "Road Trip" Countdown was a visual for the kids to see how far we had traveled and how far we had left to go.  At each of our stops (which was quite a few traveling with 8 people), we wrote down our location and the time and then pinned it up on our line.

The kids were really well-behaved on the trip and handled the long car ride nicely.  They loved the backpacks and were so excited when they opened them as we started our trip.  Daddy said that next time he wants his own backpack!

Sharing with:
Women Living Well Wednesdays @ Women Living Well 
What Works Wednesday @ Upside Down Homeschooling 
Works-for-Me Wednesday @ We are THAT Family  
Big Family Friday @ Holy Spirit-Led Homeschooling
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars
Weekend Whatever @ Your Thriving Family
Favorite Resources @ Learning All the Time