Traveling Activities

Heather, a friend in MN who is author of the blog Bless Your Family meets Justus and shows him how to draw on these fancy white boards she made as a gift for Alathia and Jeremiah. Though she didn't have internet during this summer, she'll be back to blogging again this fall so be sure to visit her inspiring blog!

Heather used fun fabric around the edges which she covered in clear packing tape. Each board has the child's name on it (the little square at the bottom). These boards were my kids FAVORITE thing to play with all the way home when they weren't sleeping. She said I could attach the marker with a piece of yarn if I so desired to prevent losing them.

Having logged at least 350 hours in a car with children since I became a mama, due to the fact that my husband's family lives 1,ooo miles away, I have learned a few things about travel activities. I have also learned that having a van makes a big difference in comfort levels while traveling!

Here is what I store in my Travel Bag, which always stays in my bedroom closet:
My travel pillow
Children's Bible Songs CDs
Small toys and board books that are only for travel and aren't played with any other time
A Ziploc full of LARGE crayons (I've found that regular crayons get destroyed immediately and broken but they can't break the large, fat crayons!
Coloring books
A few kids books on tape with storybooks included
Things I add to the Travel Bag in preparation for a trip:
Kleenex and wet wipes
A fun lacing-cards book complete with colorful strings, a gift from Heather a couple of years ago!
A ziploc with memory cards
Ali's photo ABC book I made her for her birthday
A few of the kid's favorite storybooks
Balloons
Large, colorful popsicle sticks
Alphabet cards
Markers and notebooks
Animals and Trucks Sticker Books
A few of their favorite toys
Magna Doodles for each kid (the toys our kids have spent more time playing with than any others!)
As I've said before, I've had some rough trips before and I didn't know if we'd be coming home during the day or pulling another all-nighter since my hubby figured he would decide based on how rested he felt. All-day long trips are torturous for kids, so I wanted to be ULTRA prepared and I packed an additional bag full of goodies which I'll share about in my next post!