I have used or will be
using these travel tips in my near future and feel excited to share them with
you and talk about them on Live in the D.
Here's the clip from the show.
Here's the clip from the show.
Ziploc bags for everything
Because we flew to
Myrtle Beach, our toiletries obviously needed to be in a quart-sized bag. However I think the gallon-sized bags are the
unsung hero of travel organization. They
prevent random action figures from going MIA in a time of need and help to keep
snacks from exploding in the backpack.
Letter Activities on the Plane/Car Ride
I love a break from the
school grind that summer offers; however, I do become really nervous that the
kids (more specifically, Thomas) will forget how to hold a pencil.
I created a letter book
in a spiral notebook that was small enough to fit in my purse. On one page, I wrote the uppercase and
lowercase of each letter and left the other side blank.
When we had time, I
would ask him to think of a word that starts with the letter on the page. I would write it lightly in pencil, and he
would trace it in crayon. I can’t say
that he loved it since writing is not his favorite, but I can say it was a
short activity that could be done on the fly without a lot of prep.
For Marie, I had her do
a letter poem. She wrote out our
location M Y R T L E B E A C H. She then
added a word for each letter. Writing is
Marie’s thing so she enjoyed this activity.
Baby Powder on Beach
Did you know baby powder
could remove sand? Not like sort of remove
sand, like when you use the foot shower thing at the beach. I mean totally takes the sand off of your
skin and leaves it silky smooth. I do
not know why this is not printed on the container. I had a friend share this
trick with me when Marie was a baby, and it has been a lifesaver ever since.
If you do not like baby
powder, I am sure cornstarch would work well, too.
Manners Boot camp
While on vacation, it
became obvious that I tolerate really bad table manners at home (some days out
of laziness, other days because I am saving my energy for the bed time saga). This does not translate very well out in the
world of restaurant dining or sharing a table with other people, like my
parents.
Because we will be
houseguests on our next adventure, I made a laminated chart to keep at the
table. Depending on their choices, they
can either get a smiley face sticker in the Excellent, Doing OK, or Needs Work
columns.
If they have more smiley
faces in the Excellent or Doing OK columns, they can have a little reward
(choose what we eat for dinner, a special dessert, etc.)
If this is too
complicated, cut out stars (or even scraps of paper will do) and put them in a
jar each time they make good choices.
When you feel that they have earned enough, give them a reward.
Road Trip Bingo
I do not know what it is
about road trip bingo, but I’m intrigued.
Maybe it’s because it would force the kids to look out the window and
away from any and all screens. I found this on the Reading with Kids website.
We are going to use
bingo daubers, and the winner chooses what playlist or CD they want to listen
to.
Laminating an Atlas
This idea was inspired
by a blog post by It’s Always Autumn.
She suggested laminating a map, but instead, I bought an atlas and had
the pages carefully removed. I put them in a small presentation binder with
laminated page protectors and BOOM we have our own personal atlas with a
highlighted route to our end destination.
This may also serve as
my hardcopy of directions the in the event that Map Quest stops working.
Vacation Photo Art
How many times do you
take photos and they just sit there in your phone or camera?
I took photos (and
started to let the kids take some before an unfortunate sand incident).
I then edited my photos
on my phone (Snapseed is my favorite)!
I ordered my prints from Prinstagram (a Social Print Studio app - I
cannot express how much I love this company)! I used the 4x4 squares for the project, but love the Mini Squares, too.
I went to Michael’s
Craft Store and bought a 2 pack of 9x12 canvas and some Modge Podge. (I have been looking for a project to use
this ever since Angela from Jumping with My Fingers Crossed handed these magnets at one of her gatherings).
Marie chose the photos
she wanted to use, glued the photos on to the canvas with Modge Podge and then
brushed it over the photos to seal them to the canvas.
Voila! Perfect real life
art pretty much created by online apps.
Have you hit the road
yet this summer? What are your favorite
travel tips with kids?
