5 Tips To Keep Your Preschooler Entertained During Long Car Trips

The holidays are fast approaching, and many families will be travelling by road to visit their relatives in nearby and far-flung provinces. Having been used to long road trips while on mission in East Timor with their 2 young kids, Teachermama Tina Rodriguez shares five tips on how to keep little ones occupied during such times. With a little planning, creativity and simple resources, one can help make the trip an enjoyable ride for the whole family!

Tip No. 1 – Make a list of activities to do and things to bring before the trip
This is where your planning skills will come in handy. Try to jot down anything and everything you can think of that may be of use to you during the trip. Of course, this does not mean that you should bring everything but the kitchen sink along with you! Be practical but be prepared for unexpected surprises as well.

Some examples of essential items on your list are:
•    Snacks for the kids (and the adults as well). Make sure that these are travel-friendly and will not pose as choking hazards for the little ones. Also, avoid bringing food items that may transform your car or van into a messy, sticky disaster area. Also, don’t bring too much junk food or sugary stuff, since you wouldn’t want your kids to be bouncing off the walls of your vehicle! Try going for veggie and fruit slices, unsalted peanuts, dried fruit snacks, and healthier alternatives to your typical chips, such as soya chips and natural potato chips. Look for snacks with less MSG in them as well. Most major supermarkets should carry them. Ask the salespersons in the supermarket for help to save time when shopping for such items.

•    Drinking water. Make sure that each kid has his or her own bottle of drinking water (pack extra ones for really long trips), preferably in spill-proof, leak-free bottles. Try to avoid bringing fruit juice or fizzy drinks (soft drinks) as these will just add to your kid’s “sugar high.” Also, spilled fruit juice or soft drinks equals sticky kids, car seats and floors.

•    Wet tissue or wet ones. These will come in handy every time – for cleaning up the kids, wiping up spills, freshening up mom’s face, etc. In worst-case scenarios, such as kids vomiting inside the car during the trip (this has happened to us a lot of times! Yuck!), having lots of wet ones on hand has proven to be a lifesaver!

•    Hand sanitizer and hand soap. To keep germs at bay, always practice keeping one’s hands clean. For the kids, it is best to use non-alcohol based hand sanitizer, as some studies indicate that alcohol can be absorbed into one’s skin. You may want to try out Human Nature’s sugar cane alcohol-based organic hand sanitizer, since this is safer for kids and even babies! Human Nature also has liquid hand soap available in handy pocket-sized bottles, which makes hand-washing while travelling so much more convenient! (You can check these products out at Human Nature’s official website.)

•    Water for washing. Fill up your old mineral bottles or soft drink bottles with clean tap water and put them in the trunk. Use the water for washing hands, bottles, emergency “calls of nature” (when there are no toilets available! This also happened a lot to us in East Timor!), etc.

•    Games and toys suitable for the ride. This will be explained further in this article.

Don’t forget to estimate how long the trip will be so that you will know how many or how much of each item you will need to bring. Peapod (http://peapodbaby.multiply.com) has a nice product called the Trippy Travel Tote that helps organize your kids’ things for use in the car.

 

Click here to read more tips on how to keep your preschooler entertained during long car trips.

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Read on for more tips on how to keep your preschooler entertained during long car trips.

 

And now, let’s discuss the actual games and toys that will help keep our kids occupied and us sane during the trip:

Tip No. 2 – Play games that are fun and can be educational at the same time.

Some suggested games are:
•    Rock, Paper, Scissors (or the Filipino version Bato, Bato, Pick)
       o    Explain the properties of each “item” and why one “wins over” the other. For example, scissor         blades are made of sharp metal/material and can cut paper, rocks are hard and solid and cannot be cut by scissors, etc. Click on the link for instructions on how to play and other fun trivia about this classic children’s game.

•    What Animal Am I?
      o    Our preschooler has been fascinated with animals ever since he was 7 months old, when we started showing him picture books and educational videos about animals. We usually play this game during long and short car rides and it has different variations.
      o    We take turns asking “What animal am I?” Then we give clues about that certain animal that we have in mind. For example, I would ask “What animal am I? I have big ears, a long trunk and I go “aaaaaa” (mimicking an elephant trumpeting). This usually keeps kids occupied for about 10 minutes.
      o    You can vary the game by asking “What animal makes this sound?”, “What is the name of this animal’s baby?”, “What food does this animal like?”, “Where does this animal live?” etc.
      o    Tip: Try to assess your kids’ level of understanding then adjust the “rules” of the game accordingly.

•    I Spy
o    This is a classic travel game that can also help teach your preschooler his letter sounds (phonics), colours, etc. The game goes like this:

• One person in the car looks around and chooses an object. The guessers are given one clue: "I spy with my little eye something that is (then say the first letter of that object’s name, or the object’s colour, or another clue of your choice)".
• The guessers then try to find out the name of the object. Whoever guesses correctly gets to choose their own object and says the “I spy” line.
• For example: “I spy with my little eye something beginning with the letter P.” (Answer: Pillow.) To make things a little easier for our little ones, we usually add other clues, like “something beginning with the letter P, and it’s soft, and we use it in the car when we’re sleepy, etc”
• Important: Set the rules before playing the game to avoid the kids throwing tantrums or feeling that the game is being played unfairly. Example: Players can’t choose something that we pass by too quickly; objects must be within the car or far enough in the distance to be within sight for a few minutes.

There are a lot of other games and activities that you can do to keep your kids entertained on road trips.  

Here are some helpful links:
•    Momsminivan.com
•    Fun Roadtrip Games Info
•    27 Free Gamse to Keep Your Kids Entertained on a Road Trip

 

Click here to read on for more tips on how to keep your preschooler entertained during long car trips.

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Read on for more tips on how to keep your preschooler entertained during long car trips.

 

Tip No. 3 – Listen to kids’ music and sing along whenever possible.
Bring some of your kids’ favourite music CDs to play in the car. If you don’t have a CD player in your car, then download the songs into your mp3 player or mobile phone. Make sure that the batteries are fully charged, or if you can afford it, invest in a car battery charger to make sure that you can play music continually, especially during road trips to the “far-flung” provinces.

Sometimes we don’t listen to our son’s type of music, but listen to our own selection of songs to widen his “musical repertoire”. However, we must make sure that the lyrics and themes of these songs are appropriate for young children. Soundtracks of classic movies such as “The Sound of Music” and “Mary Poppins” may be a good choice too, as are the musical soundtracks of favourite Disney movies. You may also opt to listen to classic nursery rhymes in English and Filipino, or maybe even Spanish! What’s important is your child will enjoy the ride!

An add-on activity to this could be for you to turn off the recorded music and sing your own songs from memory. Make a game out of it by asking your children to “fill in the blanks” to your song when you don’t mention a certain lyric. Or hum a tune and ask your kid to guess the name of the song you are humming.

You could also try singing loudly, or softly, quickly or slowly. Or maybe even make up your own silly songs. Be creative and let your child just enjoy the time you have together in the car.


Tip No. 4 – Provide varied activities
The preschool years are a perfect time to introduce sticker books, colouring books, activity books and simple story books to your kids. You can ask your child to choose which among his books he would like to bring along with you on the road. Peapod again has an innovative product, the Squiggle Art Center which helps keep your little artist occupied in the backseat.

You can also bring along a bottle of bubbles (perfect for toddlers too!), magnets, small puzzles, magnetic drawing boards and the like. Ask your child to choose her favourite stuffed toy or doll to bring along for pretend play in the car. The key is to involve her in the preparation so as to prevent temper tantrums later on (“Mama, why didn’t you bring my toy train set?” “Anak, remember you chose to leave it because it’s too heavy for us to bring.” “Ah.. Ok po, Mama.”).

Give your child opportunities to take a nap or have some quiet time in between each activity in the car. Remember, well-rested kids are less prone to meltdowns and tantrums later on. Make sure also to have regular toilet breaks to avoid “accidents” happening in the car, which may stress out every passenger onboard.  

 

Click here to read on for more tips on how to keep your preschooler entertained during long car trips.

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Read on for more tips on how to keep your preschooler entertained during long car trips.

 

Tip No. 5 – Listen to audio stories
I personally recommend this to all parents, regardless of their children’s age. Listening to audio stories is usually not a trend among today’s kids, who are usually stuck to their electronic gadgets like PSPs or mobile phones. However, if we want to instil a love of learning in our kids, then we can start by instilling a love of reading and a love of books among them. One of the ways we do this with our own child is by letting him listen to audio stories in the car, at home and in other venues where he needs to be occupied (for example, at conference venues where we would be busy attending to the details and needed him to stay in one place).

There are some wonderful websites that provide downloadable audio stories for children, and even for teenagers. After downloading them to your computer, you can transfer them to your mp3 player or I-Pod or cellphone. This usually keeps our Tim entertained and quiet for about 30-45 minutes, sometimes even longer.


Here are the links to our family’s favourite sites for audio storybooks:
•    thestoryhome
•    storynory.com
•    kidsaudiobooks.co.uk
•    storyteller.net

This is also a good way for your child to expand his vocabulary, and get used to different ways words are pronounced, as some of the storytellers speak in other accents like British or Spanish.

The abovementioned are just a few of the things one can do to keep little ones occupied during long hours of travel. Again I stress the importance of involving your kid in preparing the things to be brought and the activities to be done. This helps build up her confidence and enables her to be empowered to make her own choices, which are important aspects in every child’s life. Even as young as preschool-age, children need to know that they are not only loved, but also respected by the people around them.

I hope these tips will be of help to all of you readers out there! If you’d like to get in touch with me, feel free to e-mail teachermamatina@gmail.com  Happy travelling everyone!


Photography by Ocs Alvarez