Here are some ideas to keep your kids busy on a car trip: ย
1- Make a “busy book”
This is really easy — I just get a 99 cent binder and fill it with the cheap pack of notebook paper. ย I then get one of those little pockets that fit into the binder and fill them with crayons, pencils, markers — whatever you want them to have in the car (base this on their age).
2- Library books
Get a few new books from the library and have your kids read as many as they can, while keeping track of how many they have read. ย When they get to your destination, they could earn money to use at the beach (10 cents per book for young kids and go up from there.)
3- ย Envelopes, paper & ย pencils
Yep, just good, old fashioned drawing tools. ย The kids love the envelopes. ย They pretend to be in houses and they write letters back and forth to each other.
4- Book on tape
Last year, we drove 8 hours to Georgia and we listened to a book on DVD (Land of Stories). ย It was our favorite car trip to date. ย Our family was so involved that we hated to even stop for lunch. ย It was so much fun and now we do it every single time.
5. ย If you can stand it, bring along a relaxation CD.
This puts our little ones to sleep every time. ย I take away all books, movies, etc.. .and put this on. ย I save this for when they are getting cranky, because that means that they are tired. I put the music all the way to the back, so that we don’t really hear it (it is very soothing, although it doesn’t make me sleepy at all.)
My tip: ย I actually keep a relaxation DVD ย in my car and put it on anytime that they get loud. ย It instantly calms them. ย (shhh — don’t tell them my secret weapon)
Here are a few moreย car travel hacks if you have a long car trip!
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