Anybody that has kids knows that travelling with preschoolers can get a little rowdy. Sometimes you don’t get very far down the road at all before you have the almost irresistable urge to turn back and forget about the trip all together.
You don’t need to be afraid any longer weary traveling parents. There is hope. With a little bit of planning and forethought you can make your road trip something everyone will look forward to.
Provide entertainment – The night before the trip, ask each child to choose three to five toys or activities to bring along. Helping choose the activities can make the child feel a part of the trip, and they are likely to pick activities they will enjoy.
Parents should also choose something for the kids and bring it out as a surprise when the time is right. The element of surprise will always help to break the monotony of a long road trip. You can get window markers that allow the children to scribble all over your car windows which they will love. Of course you will also need coloring books and crayons as well as a few pocket games to help pass the time.
When the toys and games from home lose their ability to entertain, turn to fun and interesting road games. Road games such as counting the number of blue cars or finding out of state travelers by their license plates. If your kids are older they may enjoy a competition to see who can spot a specific letter or number the most number of times. I remember my brother and I use to have fun trying to make sentences with words starting from each letter in the license plates. For something the whole family can get in on try the round robin style of story telling. Even the driver will be able to have fun with this. One person starts the story with a sentence and passes it on. The next person continues the story, and then passes to the next.
Why is it, when you’re miles from anywhere, that a child will always complain that they are hungry? Hungry kids are cranky grumbly kids. Be prepared for middle of nowhere snack requests with fun, easy to eat snacks prepared and waiting in a cooler. Sliced apples and peanut butter, celery stuffed with cream cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches cut into fun shapes, veggie sticks, or bananas make great on-the-road snacks for preschoolers. Soft drinks and other sugary beverages should be avoided as these will just make the children hyper and restless. Sitting in a car gives them no way to burn all that excess energy off. If you supply fruit juice make sure you don’t do it in a juice box or pouch. Children can’t help themselves with these things and will always experiment with a good squeeze just to see what happens. If everyone is covered in sticky juice the trip can become a sour journey indeed.
If you think of a road trip as having the whole family together it can be a great chance to learn more about each other. Plan ahead with healthful snacks and fun activities and make the trip memorable for all of you.
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