Don't Forget the Kids When Traveling

Posted by Mary Welling-Bonney Jul 11, 2009

Why not make it easier on yourself. I like to add a gift bag filled with wrapped items I picked up at the dollar store. They have a lot of items that keep kids busy for hours. We recently went on a five hour drive with a four year old. You can bet I was armed with my goodie bag.

One of my favorites are dry erase markers. They wipe off of almost everything so there is little chance of your car being destroyed. I also bring empty brown lunch bags and we make puppets and create a puppet show. If your dollar store doesn't have dry erase writing boards, pick up some vinyl placemats. The kids can write all over them in the car and while waiting for meals. Then when you need a placemat you have one. You can use tissue for an eraser.

Most kids spend a great deal of time at daycare during the normal week and our four year old is no exception. We took him to a cabin in the great outdoors. We offered him all sorts of attractions in the area. The only thing he wanted was time. He wanted one on one time. I was so glad I brought everything from beads to playdough.

His favorite things he talked about the whole way home were the simple things we did together in the cabin.