Are we there yet?
Are you packing and getting ready for a 4th of July long weekend roadtrip with the family? Whether you’re flying to France, traveling to relatives or heading for the beach, check out our newly assembled Trekaroo’s Activities and Games Guide for Traveling with Kids.
These are all based on recommendations from Trekaroo’s community of travel-savvy parents over the last year. We’ve got games that can be played anytime, anywhere and no gameboards required. Some will make your kids think, some will make them laugh and some will turn them into detectives.
Here’s a sneak peak at Activities #24 through 35.
Guessing Games
24. 20 Questions (Ages 2+)
25. Treasure in a Bottle (Ages 2-4)
26. Name that Tune (Ages 3+)
27. Mother Goose’s Mixed Up Words (Ages 3-6)
28. How Far Away is That? (Ages 4+)
29. True or False (Ages 4-7)
Simple Activities with Just a Piece of Paper
30. Print out coloring or activity pages from websites like Education.com or Crayola.com
31. Print out a map of the US and check off each state that you find a license plate for
32. Free Roadtrip Bingo print-outs from MomsMinivan
33. Write a letter to grandma or a friend. Write a journal entry.
34. Travel Scavenger print-outs from Moms Minivan
35. Take a crayon, stick a coin underneath a sheet of paper and make a coin rubbing
The Trekaroo’s Activities and Games Guide for Traveling with Kids also has our favorite toys for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, school-age kids, tweens and teens that you can purchase ahead of time and throw in your Mary Poppins “entertainment” carpet bag. You’ll find books, puzzles, activity kits and more to choose from to keep the kids entertained and happy for your “family vacation”
Be sure to check-out Activity #68 in Trekaroo’s Activities and Games Guide for Traveling with Kids. It’s a great idea that I’d never heard of from happyonvacation.
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Visit Trekaroo’s Travel Store for more of our favorite travel gear, toys, and books for babies to teens!
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Esther Lee is co-founder and CEO of Trekaroo – a reviews site dedicated to exploring and traveling with kids.
Travel with kids to: CA | CO | DC | FL | HI | IL | MA | NC | NY | PA | TN | TX | VA | WA
On our recent road trip with the kids from San Francisco to Seattle. I had a particularly bad travel moment. Sick to my stomach with some stomach bug, I begged to stop to use the restroom. We pulled up at a tiny town called Wolf Creek, OR. It was 2pm, the kids are tired of driving and the large breakfast had totally worn off. Every one was cranky (myself included for obvious reasons) and there was no food available except a pretty sad corner grocery and a nondescript taco truck. Brennan who can’t ever get enough Mexican food voted for the taco stand, I was too sick to eat. Besides, it was frigidly cold.
Hungry and frozen, the kids were naturally cranky and whiny. But I instead of being a kind compassionate mommy, I was feeling immensely sorry for myself. I decided to seek refuge in the car while Brennan fended for himself trying to feed the kids on the picnic bench, and strange dog begging the kids for food. It wasn’t long before they packed up and brought the food into the car. I was really grumpy at this point because I was imagining rice and beans in every crevice of our already very dirty car. With a 3 year old climbing on me and food almost spilling at every monent, I declared in frustration, that this was the worst moment of our trip.
Fortunately, although traveling with kids can sometimes be miserable, these moments are often juxtaposed with redeeming moments that make it all worth it. A few hours later, with full tummies (except mine), we got into a conversation about our up coming birthdays. We threw out ideas for our 5 year old’s birthday and after thinking through a few themes – star wars, transformers….suddenly he stopped short and said, “I can’t decide…do I want a party at home with lots of presents or I do want to go on a trip for my birthday. Traveling is so fun…you get to see so many things.”At that moment, I realized that indeed all the moments of pure torture that sometimes accompanies a trip with kids, were indeed paying off.
We travel because we want our kids to realize that the world is much bigger than our home, our town, or just getting neat toys. We want them to appreciate creation, be inquisitive about how things work, and meet people from all walks of life.
Our next stop was Lake Shasta Caverns. It was the first time that our kids had seen a limestone cave with stalagmites and stalactites. The wonder and awe we experienced through the eyes of a 5 and 3 year old was worth the long drives, the muddy clothes, and the 7 piles of laundry that we returned home with.
This was the first trip we did using tips from Trekaroo families and I’m excited to report that the challenging moments were fewer, and the fun times were more. Old Sacramento was indeed delightful, arranging sugar packets (“Toys on The Fly”) at a restaurant did provide the perfect amount of distraction, and the McCould Railroad B &B was definitely unique.
