Travel Theme Week for Families

 This week our theme is Travel, and that can take on many aspects.  You might travel locally, as we discussed in Week 1 of the Summer Theme Weeks.  Or you may be undertaking a longer venture.

Image: sxc.hu

If your summer involves traveling, do you need activities to keep youngsters busy on long rides, in airports and on planes.  Whatever did my parents do with four of us in a car in the days before electronics?  

We took fairly long trips from our home in NYS to New Hampshire, Virginia, Washington, DC, Montreal Canada and even New Brunswick.  My parents stayed sane, we children squabbled some but not excessively, and gathered good memories. 

When our daughter was younger, my husband and I drove from NH to Wyoming with her for camping trips in the Rockies.  That was before the days of electronics. 

 When I saw a dad setting up a DVD player at the supermarket parking lot the other day for his youngsters, I wondered what they’d do if the DVD player quit.  Did the youngsters even see the country they were traveling through or could they have stayed at home and watched the same DVD in less confined quarters?  Probably the destination was worth the movie or game.

Why not try some of these activities that involve the whole family?

•  License plate game – How many can you find?
• Types of cars
• Different animals
• Telling and writing stories
• Drawing and coloring on lap desks
• Puzzles
• Audio books

 Nowadays we add electronic games, movies, ipods, and cell phones (with text messaging) to the travel totes. 

 How do you keep youngsters occupied on long journeys?