Long Journeys More Enjoyable

With a little preparation, lots of patience and a bit of planning long trips can be fun and hopefully stress-free. 

If you are in the car with enough space for toys and games, get a plastic tub, small enough to fit in the backseat, but bit enough to store favorite items.  A lid on the top will keep things contained and organized.  Fill the box with things like books, a magnetic doodle board, wipe off boards, and animal figurines!  I used to attach magnets to the back of puzzle pieces and place them on a cookie sheet for puzzle fun without losing pieces!

Long airplane rides were more the norm in our family and to survive the journey, I used to wrap up toys and allow the girls to open them, one by one, every hour.  I usually wrapped up their old toys but they loved to rip open the paper and see the surprise inside! 

Snacks in the car or the plane can be a bit difficult, so get a plastic fishing tackle box, with a snap tight lid, and place different types of snack food in each section.  Kids prefer to choose what they will eat and the tackle box is a fabulous way to keep things neat and organized!  If you have more than one child, giving one tackle box to each child will avoid arguing and fighting over food!

Finally, don’t forget some classic ideas such as music CDs or books on CD.  We love listening to favorite children’s stories on CD in the car.  If you bring the book with you for your child to “read along” with at the same time, it makes for an even more enriching experience.  Often the public libraries have many of your favorite books on CD so instead of buying one, why not borrow those for the ride?  

Travelling with your young child is a perfect time for working on his language and cognitive skills with no distractions of the TV, phone or computer so take advantage of this time together!