Road Trip with Kids - Part 2 - the long road back.

If you haven't seen part 1 yet - check that out first. The prizes I gave out at each hour all still go with their original magnetic trays.

Again, I had 9 hours to cover. I had prepared all of the gifts for both legs of the drive before the trip, and had them in a plastic crate on the extra seat in the van. With their initials and number of gifts written on the outside, they were able to watch the clock themselves, and hand out the gifts each time.

#1: New coloring books

We started out the drive home with a good old stand-by - new coloring books. My girls love coloring, so it was an obvious choice. They were able to use their trays under as a solid surface for coloring.

#2: Puzzles

I found 3 cute little puzzles at Dollar Tree in these little tins. I purposely chose ones that only have 24 pieces, knowing the pieces would be larger and harder to lose. Then I cut little magnet strips and stuck them on the back of all the pieces, and on the back of the tins. They were able to do their puzzles on their trays and not lose any pieces! They also took turns with each of the 3 puzzles and shared with each other.

A hint: I found it was super quick to attach all the magnets by doing the puzzle on a piece of cardboard, flipping it over, and then sticking all the magnets on while it was assembled.

#3: New magnetic notepads

Knowing my girls, I knew the notepad that they got on the way up would be LONG GONE by the drive home. They used them on the drive, and to "take orders" at Grandma's house for their playdoh restaurant. So a new notepad was a safe bet. Again, I found these at Dollar Tree. They already have magnets on the back, so they could just stick them on their trays, and draw and write notes.

#4: Baby Bottle Pops - AGAIN

There's no explaining it - they just love these. 

#5: Little Farm/Circus Toys!

I have to admit - these were my favorite find as I browsed for toys I could use for this. These little tiny boxes are easy to miss - they were in the aisle at Walmart with all the little "blind box toys" like Shopkins, etc. And it's no joke - there are seriously over 30 pieces in there! And they all fit inside a cute little circus tent or barn! I wish they had more little sets than just the two - but that seems to be all they have. I think they were about 3 dollars each.

I put strips of magnet on the bottom of the tent/barn - so it would stick to the tray. The rest of the animals and toys in it are super tiny, and could get lost or stolen (or eaten by smaller kids) - so keep that in mind. But my girls LOVED them. In fact, after our trip, they all used their own savings money to buy the opposite set than the one I had chosen for them. So now we have 3 farms and 3 circuses.

#6: New journals

My youngest is still mostly too little to write much without help spelling. But these cute little journals at Dollar Tree were perfect. They have some pages with little prompts like "Describe your favorite day of summer so far," etc. Little J mostly just drew pictures, but her sisters helped her write a few things. It was a nice time for them to sit and reflect mainly on the week we had just had in Montana with family and at Glacier National Park. 

#7: Card games

G is obsessed with Marvel movies lately, and M and J both were in the back, and love to play Go Fish. So I found some decks of cards with some favorite characters on it. They were somewhat limited in what games they could play - but they also started to try making up magic tricks, which ended up being hilarious and so much fun for them.

#8: Disney Doorables

I had these in a stash I keep of little rewards/toys they like that I find on great deals. A few months back, we noticed Walmart had these sets on clearance for $5 each. They normally were as much as $12-$14. So we scooped up a bunch of them to have on hand for birthday gifts for friends, rewards, bribes, whatever. 

If you haven't seen them before - they're cute little big-eyed Disney characters that come in a box full of little "doors." So each toy (and sometimes 2) comes in each little door box. Opening them is half the fun - and then their little "guys" joined their circuses and farms and they played happily.

#9: Light-up Pineapples

This was the weirdest, most random prize in the bunch. I saved it for last, thinking it might be dark outside by the time we were getting home. (However, driving to and from Montana in the summer, I hadn't factored in the fact that darkness doesn't come until 9 or 10 at night). The idea was that they could magnet it to their tray and still be able to see the stuff they were playing with. But they never really needed them for light on this trip.

But my girls love pineapples, and all things pineapple-themed. These cute little LED lights turn on with a switch. These were also at Dollar Tree.

In retrospect, I thought the whole thing went as good as I could have imagined. No one asked how much longer it was until we were there - having a goal for the next hour on the clock seemed to be enough anticipation for them at a time. My husband and I were able to actually sit and talk for most of the drive, we only watched 1 movie on the DVD player the entire time, and they had new toys/activities to use while we were at Grandma's house, too.

In the future, I plan to have them repack the tray in the little backpack bags for trips. And, while I probably won't do something for every single hour of the trip (most of our drives are less than 5 hours long), I may get one or two more things to add to their "tray set" as we go on future adventures.

Road Trips with Kids - Part 1

Last month my family went to my family reunion up in Lakeside, Montana. From our house, that is a 9 1/2 hour drive - with no stops.

I've done the drive with my kids a few times. Once, before my youngest was born, I did the drive all by myself (husband had to work) with my two girls! And M was potty training! (Side bar - I have some tips for traveling with potty training kids too...but I'll save that for another post).

Anyone who knows me personally knows I'm a planner. I like to have a game plan, and a strategy and know what I'm getting into. It eases my anxiety to feel like I have a backup plan for WHEN (not if) things go wrong. And trust me - with kids in a car for 10 hours, things go wrong. But what I wanted to solve with my plan this time was the "are we there yet? how much longer?" that continually grates on my nerves on a long day of driving.

So this post will lay out what my "game plan" was for this trip last month. And I must say - it worked REALLY well. So I hope my research and planning can go to some good for some poor soul out there attempting a similar trip. To some extent this could be used for airplane trips as well - but you would have to pack all of the supplies in a way that you could get to them easily in your carry-on, be aware of TSA guidelines, etc.

To begin, I've done similar things in the past - planned and wrapped little "gifts" for the girls to open at various times during the drive. But this time, I tried to theme it all together.

And so I present the Lewis Family Travel Trays!

I'll go through it the way the girls received it - and below each step I'll list the items I used, and where I found them. You can pick and choose which ones work for you, or come up with your own ideas as you browse your dollar store, or Walmart, like I did! Some of these might actually be out of order, and I didn't get pictures of all of the "treats" they got. But you'll get the basic idea.

I knew I'd need 9 "gifts" for each kid - 1 for each hour on the clock after we left. They don't get one at the very beginning - just after the first hour. Then I knew I'd also need 9 each for the drive back. For the most part, all three kids got the exact same item each time (to prevent fighting) - with the exception of some of the things that were a little "advanced" for my youngest. I wrapped everything, numbering them (and putting their initial) on the outside so they could just pull them out of the basket and pass them out amongst themselves when the time came. I also wanted to alternate between a "toy" or activity, and a treat of some sort. We have healthy snacks all the time in a cooler in the car, but I knew they would like a little candy almost as much as a toy some of the time.

We pulled out of our driveway at almost exactly 9am - so I told them their first goal was to watch the clock for 10:00 - then they could open #1.

#1: The tray, a magnetic dry erase board, magnetic dry erase markers, and magnets (notice a theme?), and a magnetic notepad.

Since this was the beginning of the "tray" theme, they obviously got the tray. But I knew it would be boring to just get a cookie sheet. So this is by far the most extensive of the "gifts."

The trays themselves are just cookie sheets from Dollar Tree. So - you guess it - a dollar each. The little round magnetic containers were also at Dollar Tree. The magnetic dry erase boards were a few dollars each at Walmart, and I bought a pack of the magnetic dry erase markers at Walmart and then split them up between the 3 kids. I liked that they would stick to their board and/or tray, and had built in erasers on the end, so they didn't have to have a separate one of those. The magnets in the little jar I had lying around the house - but any magnets would do. They were able to draw pictures on the notepad (also from Dollar Tree) while it would stick to their tray or dry erase board, and then magnet them to the tray for displaying them, etc.

I realized last minute, that they would want some sort of pen holder that also magnets to their tray (maybe it's just my kids, but they drop EVERYTHING in the van). So I used some duct tape in their favorite colors and made little pen holders - complete with a few colored pens in each one, and magnets on the back.

And then I also knew I wanted them to be able to keep all of their gifts/toys together. So I picked up 3 drawstring backpack bags at Dollar Tree. The trays fit in there perfectly! They received the first gift in the backpack bags, so as they received more accessories for it, they could just add it to their bags.

#2: A Chocolate Egg treat

Knowing that this trip would be coming up in June, I spotted these the day after Easter at my local Walmart. They were clearing them out for 3 for a dollar! Chocolate eggs, with little Shopkin toys inside. 

#3: Legos!

What's this you say? Tiny toys that can fall and get lost in the dark crevices of the van? Yes, true. But I was willing to risk it. I LOVE toys that encourage creativity and free play. So, again, at Dollar Tree, I spotted these little bases, and packs of lego-type bricks in a variety of colors. So I grabbed 3 bases, and 1 pack of each color of blocks, and 3 more of the little magnetic tin jars. I split the pieces up into the tins equally (so they each had the same type of bricks, the same number of bricks, etc).

Using a strip of self adhesive magnet (purchased from Walmart for 3 dollars - I only needed one package for everything on this post), I put strips on the base, so it would hold sturdy while they built. And then the little tin held their pieces in place. And as far as they told me - no one dropped a single block! The edge on the tray probably helps too.

#4: A little "triangle" game with pins

My oldest 2 girls had just recently discovered this game a week or so before our trip - and kept fighting over the one set we had at home. So when I spotted cheaper, smaller versions of it at Dollar Tree, I knew I could include it with their trays.

Again, strips of magnetic tape on the back of the board itself. Then I found cute little plastic jars full of colorful buttons at Dollar Tree. I loved the little cookie-jar-style jars, so I bought them, put the buttons in my every-growing collection of buttons, and used the little jars for the pegs. Another strip of magnetic tape on the bottom of those, and it was secure as they played.

#5: Baby Bottle Pops

I don't know why - but my girls LOVE these little baby bottle-shaped candy treats. The sucker part they flip and dip in the sugar in the bottom of the bottle. They have loved having them on road trips ever since their uncle gave them one once. The best part - it takes them a LONG TIME to eat just one.

#6: Playdoh!



My kids love this stuff. And I love that it doesn't stick to anything permanently and is easy to wash. They had these cute "confetti" kinds at Dollar Tree. They were able to play and build things directly on their trays. And maybe I'm weird - but the smell of playdoh was sort of nice while they quietly played in the back.












#7: Road Trip Bingo

I found these adorable road trip bingo cards on pinterest

https://crazylittleprojects.com/road-trip-bingo-game/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:blogspot/GkPot(CrazyLittleProjects)

I printed them up (there are 2 to a page), laminated them, and then punched holes in the top corner and put them together on a ring. The girls got to choose a bingo page, and then use their dry erase markers they already received to mark things off as they spotted them out the windows.

#8: Friendship Bracelets - and Letter Magnets

I knew my oldest two would be able to do the bracelets - but it was a little advanced for my little 5 year old squishy. So I bundled up our old letter magnets (that have been packed away for awhile because the clutter on my fridge stresses me out) in pencil cases - separated by numbers and letters. She spelled out funny messages (her sisters had fun telling her how to spell things), while they made bracelets. The little bracelet weaving discs were at Dollar Tree in little kits. I had thread on hand, but it can be purchased in bulk kits at Joanns, Michaels or Walmart. And then I printed up a handful of "patterns" for them to follow if they wished. They mostly liked just making it up as they went though.

#9: Ring pops

I knew once we were in the last leg of the trip, that we would be driving through a particularly beautiful area of the country - right along Flathead lake in Montana. So I knew they'd want to look out the windows. So they got ring pops that they could slowly lick while they looked for animals out the windows.

Thanks to my adorable M for "modeling" during our drive up. The big girls took turns sitting in the very back with little Squishy J to help her out. So whichever one was in the middle seat got to be my model for pictures.

A bonus I hadn't even thought of was that the girls all had a handful of toys to play with at Grandpa and Grandma's house. And during the times in the car when they hadn't received a new toy, or were done playing with the latest one, they used their trays for coloring books, drawing, and playing with the box of various magnet toys we have had for years.

I will post "Road Trip with Kids" part 2 as soon as possible with the things we did for the drive back. Check it out!