Back to school means lots of things for my family. For me – it means getting dressed in something other than running shorts or yoga pants. It means more crock pot meals, earlier mornings and later nights. It also means a lot more time in the car. With a daycare drop-off for one, our commute ends up coming in at a little over 20 miles and approximately 45-50 minutes each way. So, what do my 4 1/2 year old and I do in the car to keep ourselves busy and entertained? Here are some great ideas for you and your kiddos!
Mess-Free activities: We love our Melissa&Doug Water Wow books. Just a few ounces of water in the plastic pen and you’ve got a few minutes of arts and crafts without any real clean up! Even the “baby” participates when he is with us. I can’t wait to play the License Plate Game with my boys. (For older children – example at left) This is what I remember most about my childhood road trips and it was especially fun when traveling along major highways. To this day, I call my mom when I see a Hawaii or Alaska plate.
There’s also “I Spy” (we limit it to what’s visible inside the car) and the Alphabet Game (search for each letter of the alphabet in order, this is great for emergent readers looking at road signs!)
Music: While I love my XM Radio, not all stations are child-friendly. When my older son started singing Charlie Puth’s “Marvin Gaye” this summer, I realized it was probably time to abandon “my” music. Luckily, about this time, FCMB owner Amy introduced us to Secret Agent 23 Skidoo. If you don’t know them, go download one of their albums. SO FUN. For holidays, I generally create a new playlist on my phone to stream (and even sometimes burn it to CD! old school – gasp!) of my son’s favorite songs. This past school year, he was loving Katy Perry’s “Firework” and anything from Frozen. I’ll throw on a Wiggles song for the baby as well.
Books on tape: My mother-in-law gifted us an amazing set of Julia Donaldson stories on CD (on Amazon) last Christmas. We especially love The Gruffalo and The Snail and the Whale. Each story is followed by a catchy song summarizing the story and the British accent doesn’t hurt. Listening to books helps my little guy’s auditory attention and the predictability of stories helps his confidence. We sometimes bring the books with us but this particular set doesn’t have a “page turn chime” like the Puffin Storytime sets have. We are definitely investing in more of these this fall!
Car Bingo: Click here for printable! I created this combination of images and words for children who are ready for letter-sound correspondence. It can easily be modified for younger children with only images or older children with fewer pictures. I laminated the page (printed on cardstock), purchased a $1 clipboard (back-to-school sales!) and tied a dry-erase marker to the top of it. It makes my son feel super professional and he loves wiping the board clean when he’s done.
How do you keep your children entertained and engaged on longer car rides?
