a smooth road trip with a little kid

A few weeks ago Travis, L, Resa, and I left the boys at Grandma's and drove to Nashville for my friend's profession of final vows with the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia.  The 7 hour drive was done in a little over 8 hours each way and it was really, really smooth.  

Before we left I did some research into travel tips for toddlers and I'm so glad I did.  We don't have a dvd player in our car and there was absolutely no screen time in the car.  I thought I'd share the ideas that worked for me in case they come in handy for anyone else in the future.

#1 Leave the ornery ones with Grandma.

She fell asleep with her arm propped up like that multiple times.

Okay, this one is partially a joke, but I do want to acknowledge that 4 year old L and 2 month old Resa are both really happy, easy kids.  Not having super active Ben and tends-to-whine JF made the trip easier.

#2  Activity Binder

L picked out a cheap binder and then, without her seeing, I filled it with the following:

- A map showing our route.  I printed it off Google Maps, cut it down to size, and inserted it in the front of the binder.

- A pencil case that had markers, crayons, and a pen.

- Blank paper for her to draw and write on.

- Stickers

Except for the binder we already had these things in the house, I just had to collect them and package them in the new binder and they were then special.

#3 Scavenger Hunt
Mom's Minivan has a great scavenger hunt you can print for free.  It has a words and pictures so it doesn't matter if your kid can read or not.  I still had to help L with it until she got the hang of it but once she did she would proudly check things off on her own.  I printed off two, one for each way.

#4 Packages to open
This was another tip I found online.  Have a series of gifts to hand out as needed.  The gifts don't need to be new - part of the fun is just opening a present for Pete's sake!  The gifts I used were:

- Pipe cleaners.  This one was suggested on several sites but was a complete dud for L.  I tried to get her to make jewelry and different shapes out of them but she wasn't interested.

- Snack necklace kit.  Around the time of her afternoon snack I gave her a bag with a shoelace, chocolate covered pretzels, fruit loops, and fudge striped cookies (they are shaped like 'O's).  She strung everything together, finished in time for snacks, and munched away happily.  I gave her this gift on the way down and the way home and she loved it both times

yum

- Glow sticks.  This was the best gift of the bunch.  I waited until the sun was setting to give them to her and she had a blast forming them into halos, bracelets, and whatnot.  The glow sticks kept her happy for over an hour - I think the darker it got the neater they were so she didn't tire of them too soon.

L's "loop-dee-loop"

- Some I Spy books.  L already owned them but hadn't looked at them in a long time.  The beauty of the I Spy book is that she just has to match pictures, though I did also read them to her, too.

- A rosary.  This way we prayed the rosary as a family, asking for safe travels.  L even led some of the decades.

These few little tricks made our drive so nice.  Our trip was quick - down on Tuesday and home on Wednesday - but we were able to do it peacefully and happily.  I hope some of these ideas will help someone else!

Sister and L