How to Entertain Kids On a Long Trip In the Car

Over the years we have had our fair share of long trips in the car.  I grew up in California so for a lot of my married life we visited  regularly  to see my parents on the "Farm." Growing up in California with most of my relatives being from Utah,  we also drove the long, boring road through Nevada many times.  Whenever my kids complain, I like to brag about when I was a kid and how we had no air conditioner and we drove 55mph.
  We have tried many things to entertain depending on their ages.  And although kids use electronics during long trips now, sometimes you need a little more.  
When  Anna and Kate were little we went on a long drive to Nauvoo.  Every hour I had a treat or game for them to pull out of the lunch bag to get them through the long trip.
  Annalisa has taken this to a whole new level.  Recently we went to Nauvoo and Annalisa prepared activities for that trip.We decided last minute to go to Disneyland in December.  I was dreading our drive to California because Nauvoo was fresh in our memories.  Our plan was to drive down Wednesday  Play in Disneyland for Thursday and Friday and drive home Saturday.  I had very low expectations.  Anna came through with this list of fun traveling activities.  I wanted to share them in case you are looking for some entertainment in the car.  She did mention to me that buying a cookie sheet at a dollar store before hand makes a great lap desk/magnet board. It could also help with play dough or drawing.  Her goal was to do one activity every hour.  She didn't get through them all because sometimes the activities take longer than you think or maybe you decide to have reading time, or watch a movie, etc.  This is not a problem, because you've got another 15 hours on your way back. 

Activity List (Not in order)

1.  Froot Loop Necklace:  Use yarn with tape wrapped around the end and then string away.  
2.  Gummy Bear Necklace.  Use a needle and thread on this one.  Variation is to use peach rings and or mix many gummy things into their own creative necklace.
3.  Marshmallow Bracelet using a needle and thread as well.
4.  Bingo

 5.  Scavenger Hunt ( I actually played this one and it took about 1 1/2 hours.)

 6.  License Plate Game:  Keep a list  of states and try to find a license plate from every state.  This can be an ongoing game.  Variation would be to time it and see how many different states they can find in that amount of time.
 7.  Tin Foil: Choose a category and have them create something with a square of tin foil

8.  Origami:  Have papers cut into a square beforehand.Wrapping paper works as well.
9.  Puppets.  The easiest way to do this is to make them out of lunch bags, markers and construction paper.  For older kids you could use socks and have them sew with a needle and thread.  Bring a zip lock bag of  scraps of fabric or felt.
10.  Dry erase:  Bring a board and have them draw.
11.   Alphabet game:  You try to find every letter in the alphabet outside the car on signs, license plates, billboards, Stores, etc.  A variation of this is to find things that start with that letter, not the letter itself.
12.  Make your own trail mix.  She had many choices and everyone added what they wanted. 
13.  Coloring books or tear out a page for each person and have them do their very best.
14.  Rubber Band Bracelets.
15.  Play Dough:  Make homemade play dough before hand and put in Zip lock bags.  Give the kids a topic or an object and see what they come up with.  Tell a story.  Ask a question like what is your favorite food and try to guess what they sculpted.  A variation of this one is the make the borax goo but you will probably need the cookie sheet for that one.  Recipes included at the bottom.
16.  Yarn or string games ( Jacob's Ladder)
17.  Puppets
18.   Paper Tearing:  Tear into shapes like Pictionary drawing  only with tearing.  Variation could be have them tear an object or animal behind their back and see who's looks the most like it.
19. Pipe Cleaners:  Create Creatures out of pipe Cleaner. A variation would be to make jewelry.
20.  Pom Poms:  We wrapped the yarn around a DVD case.  Tied it in the middle and cut it in half.
21.  Sticker Bingo
22.  Snow Flakes
23.  Magnet Paper Dolls.
24.  Mad Libs.
25.  Telestrations with a notepad:  Each person starts out with an object and there own pad of paper. They draw a picture of the object and pass it to the next person who writes a word that describes what they see.  Then you pass it to the next person who draws a picture of the word.  You continue on until you want to stop, then you show everyone how it evolved.

Scavenger Hunt List ( You can find more of these lists online)

1. Flashing Red Light

2. Stop Sign

3. Convenience Store ( Gas Station)

4. Police Car

5.  School Bus

6.  Tennis Court

7.  Hotel

8.   Railroad Tracks

9.   Blue Truck

10.  Tractor

11. Picnic Table

12. Person on a cell phone

13. Someone on a bike

14.  Dog or a Cat

15.  Tree

16.  Mountain

17.  Semi Truck

18.  Semi Truck that honks.

19   Fire Truck

20. Flag

21.  American Flag

22.  Mail Box

23.  Airplane

24.  Helicopter

25.   Detour sign

Play Dough

1 cup flour

1 Tab. oil

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 cup water

1/2 cup salt

3 drops food coloring

Mix flour,k cream of tartar,k and salt.  Add oil, water, and food coloring mixture in electric skillet.  Stir.  Cook at medium heat until mixture sticks together.  Place on a sheet of waxed papaer.  Cool.  Knead to playable consistency.  Keep in airtight container or zip lock bag. 

Borax Goo

( I recommend looking this one up online if you've never made it before)

1 bottle of 8 ounce white glue.

Water 

Borax Powder

Food Coloring

1. Pour white glue into a bowl. Fill the glue bottle with warm water, put the lid on and shake it.   Pour the water into the bowl with the glue.   Mix well with a spoon.

2.  Add food coloring

3. In a plastic cup add 1/2 cup of warm water and 1 teas.  of Borax powder.  Stir.  It's fine if the Borax is not completely dissolved.

4.  Slowly add Borax water mixture to glue a little at a time.  Mix with a spoon at first and then your hands.  Keep adding until it is the consistency that you like stiffer or slimier or stringier.  You decide.

5.  Put it in an air tight container or zip lock bag.

This recipe is based on using a brand new 8 ounce bottle of Elmer’s Glue. Empty the entire bottle of glue into a mixing bowl. Fill the empty bottle with warm water and shake (okay, put the lid on first and then shake). Pour the glue-water mixture into the mixing bowl and use the spoon to mix well.

Go ahead… add a drop or two of food coloring. 

Measure 1/2 cup of warm water into the plastic cup and add a teaspoon of Borax powder to the water. Stir the solution – don’t worry if all of the powder dissolves. This Borax solution is the secret linking agent that causes the Elmer’s Glue molecules to turn into slime.

While stirring the glue in the mixing bowl, slowly add a little of the Borax solution. Immediately you’ll feel the long strands of molecules starting to connect. It’s time to abandon the spoon and use your hands to do the serious mixing. Keep adding the Borax solution to the glue mixture (don’t stop mixing) until you get a perfect batch of Elmer’s slime. You might like your slime more stringy while others like firm slime. Hey, you’re the head slime mixologist – do it your way!

When you’re finished playing with your Elmer’s slime, seal it up in a zipper-lock bag for safe keeping.

- See more at: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/glue-borax-gak#sthash.8r7jOKOj.dpuf

is recipe is based on using a brand new 8 ounce bottle of Elmer’s Glue. Empty the entire bottle of glue into a mixing bowl. Fill the empty bottle with warm water and shake (okay, put the lid on first and then shake). Pour the glue-water mixture into the mixing bowl and use the spoon to mix well.

Go ahead… add a drop or two of food coloring. 

Measure 1/2 cup of warm water into the plastic cup and add a teaspoon of Borax powder to the water. Stir the solution – don’t worry if all of the powder dissolves. This Borax solution is the secret linking agent that causes the Elmer’s Glue molecules to turn into slime.

While stirring the glue in the mixing bowl, slowly add a little of the Borax solution. Immediately you’ll feel the long strands of molecules starting to connect. It’s time to abandon the spoon and use your hands to do the serious mixing. Keep adding the Borax solution to the glue mixture (don’t stop mixing) until you get a perfect batch of Elmer’s slime. You might like your slime more stringy while others like firm slime. Hey, you’re the head slime mixologist – do it your way!

When you’re finished playing with your Elmer’s slime, seal it up in a zipper-lock bag for safe keeping.

- See more at: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/glue-borax-gak#sthash.8r7jOKOj.dpuf

This recipe is based on using a brand new 8 ounce bottle of Elmer’s Glue. Empty the entire bottle of glue into a mixing bowl. Fill the empty bottle with warm water and shake (okay, put the lid on first and then shake). Pour the glue-water mixture into the mixing bowl and use the spoon to mix well.

Go ahead… add a drop or two of food coloring. 

Measure 1/2 cup of warm water into the plastic cup and add a teaspoon of Borax powder to the water. Stir the solution – don’t worry if all of the powder dissolves. This Borax solution is the secret linking agent that causes the Elmer’s Glue molecules to turn into slime.

While stirring the glue in the mixing bowl, slowly add a little of the Borax solution. Immediately you’ll feel the long strands of molecules starting to connect. It’s time to abandon the spoon and use your hands to do the serious mixing. Keep adding the Borax solution to the glue mixture (don’t stop mixing) until you get a perfect batch of Elmer’s slime. You might like your slime more stringy while others like firm slime. Hey, you’re the head slime mixologist – do it your way!

When you’re finished playing with your Elmer’s slime, seal it up in a zipper-lock bag for safe keeping.

- See more at: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/glue-borax-gak#sthash.8r7jOKOj.dpu