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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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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This next toy is the Doodle Pro Basic Color and it’s a toy he already has and loves. The Doodle Pro is great for the car because it involves no mess what so ever and you can draw over and over again. My son just loves his and he actually got it as a gift awhile ago for having a great potty week.

I like this one best because of the stamps and the holder for the stamps. It also has a handle which makes it easy for kids to carry it around. This was one toy purchase that I have felt very good about. It lasts and is durable and it encourages creativity. We will definitely be bringing this with us on out trip!

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So, I’ll be doing a series on travel toys to help those of us who are traveling. I’ll do some pricey ones and some not-so-pricey toys. Here’s the first toy that I am looking into getting for my 3 year old. It’s the LeapFrog Leapster L-Max Learning Game System.

I’ve been reading up on this toy and I really think it is something that my little guy will like. I’m heading to the store today to see if I can play with it and check it out for myself. Here’s a description of the Leapfrog Leapster L-Max:

The Leapster L-Max helps teach through four exciting modes:

Educational Game Player. Lets players learn essential school skills with leveled games that teach reading, math, and critical thinking skills.
Digital Art Studio. Encourages creative thinking with dozens of art tools and step-by-step lessons that let children draw, write, and create anything they can imagine.
Electronic Book Reader. Inspires a love for reading via electronic storybooks that teach literacy skills, story comprehension, vocabulary, and phonetic awareness.
Interactive Video Player. Develops fundamental reading and math skills by playing interactive videos that encourage children to participate in the action.

The device itself is comfortably shaped for little hands with safe, rounded edges, and is small enough to store and travel easily. A bonus cartridge with six educational games is included. Games offer multiple skill levels and teach kids letters, words, plants, animals, shapes, and basic math. The L-Max requires special cartridges (sold separately) for dual-screen play, but can work with existing Leapster titles. Older titles won’t play on dual screens, though, and may not project to the TV. Four AA batteries are required, but not included.

We have bought several Leapfrog products in the past and they have been a big hit in our house. I plan on getting this for him for Christmas, so he’ll be able to use it on the trip back. I’ll have to figure something else out (and a little cheaper) for the trip there.

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My 3 year old will get so frustrated when he draws outside of the lines. Side note: me reminding him that he is only three and he colors very well for a 3 year old, does NOT help one bit.

He still continues to color and get frustrated, but we are working through that slowly.

One of his grandmas sent him something a couple of months ago that just made his day. It’s a Disney Magic Pen Painting Book. He absolutely loves it and so do I! Yes, I have seen these before and they’ve been around for awhile, but I hadn’t considered getting him one.

This little book has kept him entertained and feeling like the greatest artist around the block and for that, I am very thankful. Whenever he starts to get really frustrated at the conventional coloring (lol!) we break out the magic!

I have been very pleased with this book and the pen is still going strong. We also have a Dora Surprise Ink Game Book and the pen did not last long at all. He still has a lot of book to color but no working pen. I’m not sure if it’s something we did or what, but the other pen seems to be much better.

So, if you have a perfectionist child in your family and need a break from time to time, I would highly recommend Magic Pen Painting. It’s also AWESOME for car trips! We are driving from Georgia to Colorado for Christmas, so you can bet I’ll be getting a few more of these.

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I didn’t actually purchase them for the car, but rather for my in-laws’ house. They recently moved back to our area, and I wanted to bring something to their new house that the kids could play with, but that wouldn’t risk ruining anything that didn’t belong to us. The Water WOW sets come with a sturdy tablet of about 4 pictures that can be “colored” with the water pen. It’s not a long-term source of entertainment, but it is nice because the colors disappear when the tablet pages dry out. So, it’s nice to have at my in-laws’ house because it’s a novel toy that we don’t have at home, and it’s ready to reuse each time we show up.

They remind me of those “watercolor books” from when we were little. Do you remember those? The pages of the books were white, but you could see little dots of color in groups over the pages. You could get a wet paint brush or a Q-tip and “paint” the pages of the book. I went looking for those a couple of years ago and couldn’t find any. Anyone else remember those?

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• Battleship Folio and other travel games
• Pocket Etch A Sketch
• 20Q Challenge
• V Tech – Quiz Biz – Math Mania

You can find the complete list in this article. Feel free to leave your suggestions for travel toys in the comments section. I’m sure parents will appreciate any and all suggestions offered!

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