When we head out for long trips I always try to make sure we’ve packed something for my son to do during the ride. Travel games are great, when it’s just him he enjoys playing solitary games, but sometimes we have one or both of our nephews along for the ride.

Minimus Games has some of your favorite board games, and mind games made into miniature versions set up especially for the car.

For the little ones they have Hungry Hungry Hippo, and Candy Land in small travel sized versions. For the older kids there’s Memory, and Sorry! car size games.

If you’re kids have a hard time playing together in the car, or you’re only traveling with one child like we often do there are solo travel games like Sudoku.

Some of these are even fun for adults!

Images Minimus.biz

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One of my favorites is the Crayola Portable Art Studio. Kids can have all the art supplies they need all in one place. The best part for us is when we’re heading out of town or to the lake. We can grab the Art Studio and my son can use it to draw, color, and create on the go.

Crayola Model Magic comes in handy when you have a school project that requires you to create a model, or figure for a book report or science project. We’ve had to make a zoo animal for school two different times, both times it worked really well to make it from modeling clay. It’s also fun to just create at the kitchen table.
Color Fillz use the Model Magic colors used to create 2 complete 4” x 6” mosaics. The mosaics come in patterns for both boys and girls. When they’re done they can hang them in their room, in a window, or you can use them as decorations on the Christmas tree.

Dry-Erase Activity Center – Zany Play Edition has fun, interchangeable templates that slide under the clear dry-erase surface. The Activity Center contains 8 game and activity sheets and creative elements like mustaches, hats to embellish photos, 1 page of re-positionable stickers, and 4 Crayola bullet tip dry erase markers. This would make another great travel idea!

All of these Crayola creative ideas will be available at Staples starting in November this holiday season.

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Here are some of my top picks.

• Make up a trail mix with some healthy nuts and dried fruits. Almonds, walnuts, peanuts, roasted pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and raisins are all good choices to throw in your travel trail mix. Add a few M&M’s if you have a sweet tooth.
• Homemade granola makes a great take along snack for a long car ride, or make some granola bugs for a fun treat.
• Pack some fresh fruits like bananas, apples, grapes, or oranges.
• Celery and peanut butter make a fun snack, add some raisins to the top and call it “ants on a log.” Store your celery and peanut butter in small ziplock bags until you’re ready to eat it.
• Cheese sticks and whole grain crackers make an easy travel snack.
• Whole grain cereals packed in small bags or containers.

Make sure you bring foods that don’t aren’t easily perishable, and don’t need to be refrigerated, unless you’re bringing a cooler with ice. Don’t forget to bring plenty of water, or fruit juices to keep children hydrated during hot car rides.

Do you have a favorite healthy snack you like to take on long car rides?

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Like I said in my last post, traveling with kids is never easy, but I feel this trip could not have gone any smoother. Here are a few quick pointers (all the family is down stairs waiting on me to finish up!) that I feel helped our trip go so well:

• Every time one kid says, “I have to go to the bathroom”, go ahead and stop. Make everyone go, fill the car up with snacks and stretch your legs. We were adamant about this even if they replied with “I don’t have to go”. We didn’t have to stop near as much.
• Have a small supply of movies that the kids have never seen. Now our kids are HUGE Full House fans, so I got 2 DVD’s full of Full House episodes. That kept them laughing and very content. With a movie, sometimes our kids get bored with the story line, but with 30 minute tv series, it keeps changing and keeps their attention longer. They are already talking about watching it on the way back home.
• For little ones, a magna doodle and some of those magic artist books are just the best! We bought two books that I will try to find links to later, that kept our 3 year old busy and so happy. I was very impressed with these books and will definitely use them again for more trips.
• Nap time: yep, we made our kids take a nap when things started to get a little grumpy in the car. We turned off the tv, put on some great music (My kids love to fall asleep to the Jump In! cd) and they all rested at the same time.
• Last but not least, try to keep things as light and fun and as less stressful as possible. Every time our kids would start arguing or just getting annoyed with everything around them, my husband would break out in song with “Joy to the World!” It made everyone laugh and just lightened up the atmosphere.

Alright, I better get going. I hope you all have a great Christmas Eve!

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Traveling with kids can be tough, but it is possible to make it enjoyable too. That is our goal through this whole ordeal is to make it enjoyable. I am trying not to stress about the little things and I am hoping that vibe will carry over to my kids.

We had kind of a rough start with our dvd player and that was no fun. One of the screens wasn’t working and we thought that our new player was already broken. Well, an hour into the trip I saw this little switch. Yep, that was the answer. Our kids are now happily watching 593 minutes of Full House, one of the BEST shows ever on television.

We have packed the car with healthy snacks and plenty of activities to keep the kiddos busy. Our oldest two received an early Christmas present, they each got a Nintendo DS and they are enjoying those a lot. My 3 year old received a couple of books, that I will tell you about later, and they are keeping him very happy and busy.

Alright, well my laptop battery is about to die. If only I had internet access. That sure would make the trip go faster for me! J

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This year, we bought the Dual Screen Portable DVD System and this is going to be so nice. We already have it all planned out who will sit where so that all of our kids can watch tv for part of the trip.

My husband and I always tell the kids that we didn’t have tvs when we traveled. We actually had to entertain ourselves and play games, read books, color, etc. They can’t believe how tough our lives used to be, lol!

We’ve already put the dvd player in our car and the kids love it. The sound is great, the picture is crystal clear and I think it’s going to help make our 25 hour, 1600 plus mile trip a little easier.  I’m exhausted already just thinking about it.

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Each of my kids has specific things they like to sleep with. For my oldest, it’s her bunny blanket and her “first baby doll” that she’s had forever. Being a five year old, she can survive without these things, but they’re nice to have around. For my middle child, it’s his “Pooh pillow and car blankie.” Two things he rarely does without. For my baby, his fuzzy duckie blanket and his pacifier (only one specific Gerber type will do, so you better have one clean!) are absolute necesseties when sleeping.

So, whether your child has a favorite teddy bear, or some other beloved toy, don’t forget it on your next road trip. Maybe it’ll help them rest and sleep a little in the car. It didn’t work for mine, but I can hope it will for you!

What can your kids not sleep without?

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