I promised I would report back on the all the fun games and activities I put together for our road trip. Here are the things that were hits with the kiddos.
#1 I highly recommend the cookie sheet for the kids. I bought these at the Dollar Tree and used a paint pen to decorate them with the girls' names. They loved being able to use it as a flat surface for coloring, eating their snacks, or playing with the different activities. Towards the end of the trip, Ella was asking for it when we got in the car. I have to say it was a lifesaver in keeping crayons and other little things in her reach throughout the trip.
#2 The girls really liked the Road Trip Rodeo cards. We didn't do as many as I thought we would during the trip because we didn't need as many pit stops as I thought we would on the drive. The girls thought these were so funny and loved completing the tasks. Emma and Charlotte took turns reading the cards and instructing everyone on what to do. They liked taking charge.
#3 The magnet squares I made were definitely a favorite with the girls. Emma and Charlotte used them to spell out words and Emma even tried creating a crossword puzzle. Ella was entertained lining them up along her cookie sheet and played with them for a long time on more than one occasion.
#4 This isn't very creative, but I bought a handful of different movies and wrapped them in tissue paper. The girls got to pick a new mystery movie and unwrap it. They thought this was fun and the new movies were a good distraction on some of the 10-12 hour driving days.
#5 I'm going to be honest here and say that I was a bit envious of these glitter bags I made for the girls. They had so much fun doodling designs or just mashing their hands in the gel. Something about them was very soothing. After about a week, a few of the ziplocs started to leak a little, but nothing insane. It was worth it for the time these amused them in the car.
#6 Part snack - part activity, the marshmallows and toothpicks were a lot of fun for the girls. They built all kinds of different contraptions out of them and ate a few along the way. This is a very cheap activity - a bag of mini marshmallows and a box of toothpicks is about $2.
#7 These little magnet activity boards that I picked up for $3 at Michaels were a huge hit. I regretted not getting one for Ella because she was extremely envious of the other girls' magnet boards. They played with these for days and they are still around now.
#8 Ella enjoyed playing with her busy book. I had to control my urges to instruct her on how to engage with each page and just be happy that she was entertaining herself with it. She enjoyed shoving her hand as well as all the pieces in the book into this glove that I sewed on to one of the pages.
#9 Another really cheap and easy activity was the handful of pipe cleaners I gave each of the girls. In no time, they had created an assortment of crowns, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and other things.
#10 One of the last things I gave the girls were some sticker books that I found for $1 at Walmart. They had fun putting the stickers on the different pages as well as on each other, the car windows, and anything in sight. I wasn't so thrilled with the car windows, but I was pretty thrilled with the quiet time.
Just in case you are wondering, Charlotte and Cristina did get all these things too! They sit in the far back seat in the minivan, so it was hard to get a clear picture of them engaging with the different activities. Ella sits right behind me in the car, so it was easiest to get pictures of her.
In terms of things that didn't go over as well, the girls weren't too excited about games where they had to engage outside of the car. While I love the license plate game and the alphabet game, they weren't that interested. They preferred things that kept their focus in the car, although they did enjoy when I gave them the camera and they were able to take pictures of things we passed along the way.
