Traveling with Kids

Great ideas when Traveling with the Kids!!!!
Found this list HERE!

•Audio books (my library checks them out) or you can download them here
•Ice chest w/drinks
•DVD player, preferably with movies that haven’t been seen
•We’ve been driving our smaller less gas-consuming car that doesn’t have a built-in TV. So, we strap our laptop on an ice chest with a bungee, so the kids can watch a movie. (Yeah, we are THAT family).
•Bag or backpack with coloring books and small toys for each child.
•This site says pack a plastic box for kids personal things and then use the lid as a tray to eat on.
•Lap Desk for writing and drawing
•Headphones for MP3 players and/or DVD player
•Kid’s camera
•Sketch pad/pencil
•Extra change of clothes, separate from luggage. Because if it can happen, it probably will.
•If you’re traveling with a toddler, leave when they are tired. If you leave first thing in the morning, this is their active time and they don’t make the best travelers
•A package of pipe cleaners (to bend, twist and create)
•Pack paper towels, wipes, and a couple of blankets. Remember, we’re talking kids.
•Buy $5 Tape Recorder and ‘Read’ stories to your kids in your own voice
•Put a trash box in the back seat
•Travel Journal
•Sing silly road trip songs
•Travel games from the store (Target has some great ones in the stationary section that are cheap and magnetic!)
•Travel freebies-links to free stuff for traveling
•Play the I spy game with license plates
•Wipe-off white board/marker
•Magnetic sets (paper dolls, fire trucks, found in book sections)
•Snack bag filled with pre-portioned zip-lock bags of non-messy foods
•Kid’s music
•Tin foil for creations
•Play Go Fish
•Make string figures
•Check out these awesome games (like Noah’s Ark, Build a Story and Fooler, Fooler) to play in the car!
•Kids pillow and blanket
•Treasure Jar
•Rest Stop Box-stock with jump rope, frisbee, inflatable beach ball and Nerf ball, according to July’s issue of Parents Magazine.
•They also encourage travelers to ‘crank up the radio, open the doors and have an outdoor dance-a-thon).
•Printable Car Trip Check List
•Child-safety scissors and paper (it worked on a long flight w/my preschooler)
•Invisible markers/Magic paper
•Chalk Cloth Oil Mat
•Moon sand on a tray
•Post It Notes-draw on them, then decorate the car (Women’s Day, July Issue)
•Spill-proof Bubbles (yes, in the car. My toddler loves this).
•Printable Car Bingo
•Stickers
•Band-aids (again a toddler-pleaser)
•Leapster, DS Lite or hand-held game
•Magna Doodle
•Cookie sheet with magnetic alphabet letters
•The following incredible ideas came from MomsMinivan: travel tickets, surprise packages, and more (Actually EVERY idea on this site is amazing!)
•Printable Boredom Busters
•I spy bags/jars
•Ear plugs for when the “how much longer questions begin”