My mother is a born craft queen. I am not a loyal subject, but will accept any and all completed projects she sends my way. We are getting ready to take my toddler daughter on a long car trip so my mom has put together some supplies that will hopefully avoid a major backseat meltdown. I agree, regardless of the ages and attention spans of your children, portable DVD players and hand-held video games are sanity-savers on long car trips, but these ideas may come in handy as well.
· Books on tape (with a twist). My mom got my daughter a backpack full of new books and recorded her voice reading them to her. Since my daughter is too young to read, my mom instead describes the pictures on each page, asks her questions about each scene, then cues her to “turn the page” when it’s time to move on. All I have to do is pop the tape into the stereo and my daughter has grandma “reading” books to her in the backseat, allowing mommy to drive in peace.
· Stickers. My daughter loves stickers, especially the puffy ones, which are great for toddlers who have difficulty peeling traditional stickers off the page. My mom gets a number of different sheets with a variety of shapes, colors and characters. Taylor’s favorites are ones that feature farm animals, fish, butterflies, Snoopy and balls. My daughter can spend up to 30 minutes sticking, peeling and describing her stickers to me from the backseat. Another bonus: easy clean up.
· Crayons. I never leave home without them. Team them up with your child’s favorite coloring book or a new pad of white paper. This activity keeps my daughter busy for miles. I also like to pack a pad of construction paper. It is a great and cheap way to turn my daughter’s “scribblings” into greeting cards for family and friends.
· A baking sheet. It doesn’t have to be one of your good ones. In fact, you can get one from the dollar store. The baking sheet is multi-faceted. It can be used as a playing surface for Legos, cars, dolls, or in my daughter’s case, setting up her farm animals. It is also great as a table for drawing and spreading out snacks. But my daughter’s favorite use for the baking sheet is as a display for her magnetized letters, numbers and shapes. On it she can create pictures, identify the letters in our names and try to make words on her own.
· Gift-wrapped “surprises.” My mom went to the dollar store and got a bunch of little toys and then tripled wrapped them in bright wrapping paper. (The more layers you wrap each item in, the longer it will take the child to unwrap it.) But, you don’t have to go out and buy new toys. Try recycling toys that your child hasn’t played with in a while, but still likes. Wrap them and give them to your child on your road trip. Even if your child may have lost interest in the toy at home, the change of venue may lead to a change of heart.
I also always pack a small flashlight for Taylor to play with in the backseat. It makes it easier to read and draw when the sun begins to fade. A few months ago my mom bought her a miniature battery-powered clip-on reading light, but her curious toddler hands got the better of it and it spent more time on the floor than it did attached to her books. However, I highly recommend it for older children. Hopefully, you can put some of these ideas to good use on your next road trip.