Category — fun for the road

More fun ideas for the road — check out this video of some travel games you can make with paper plates!  Make them in the car, or make them at home to bring on the road with you.

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It’s time to share some of YOUR favorite car travel activities!

“We enjoy passing around a fake mike, as we take turns being the solo singer to the radio or cassette tunes! Sometimes we will unexpectedly lower the sound to make the singers voice really stand out.”  (Lin)

“A great car activity for children ages 5 (with adult help) and up, is to make a pot holder on a weaving loom! My 3 sons, ages 5, 10 and 12 all three enjoyed picking out their own colors and designing their own pot holder to give as gifts to grandparents and friends when we returned home from our trip!  They also make neon colored material for the weaving looms. You can buy a whole bag for under $2!” (Johna)

“Whenever we hit the road, we are always sure to grab a bottle of bubbles.  We turn on the car fan, hold the bubble wand in front of the vent, and voila! A car full of bubbles.  The bubbles generally go straight toward the back of the car, and are barely a distraction to the driver.  This is great fun in traffic, when we not only amuse ourselves but so many drivers alongside us.  And their happy grins
are a great amusement in themselves!” (Elaine)

Thanks Readers!  Keep sending in your ideas!  ~~Laurel (Roadtrip Mom)

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This is a photo of the scariest thing I have ever seen on the road. What’s scarier is that it’s inside my own minivan! This may look harmless to you, but you are not sitting in the middle of this heart clenching scene where I was when I took the photo and was completely white-knuckled. Don’t see what I’m talking about? Look harder…. It’s….

…… MY TEENAGER behind the WHEEL!

That’s right. His driver permit was obtained today.

Learning to drive is such a huge rite of passage, for the teen and the parent! Is any parent ever ready for this? I swear it was just last week when he was in kindergarten.

Seriously though, I am signing him up for a Driver’s Ed road training class, and he is taking a safety course as well. Not only that, but he told me himself that he plans to be a “good driver”. I guess we all were new drivers at some point, and I’m not going to last very long if I hold my breath every time I hand him the keys now, am I? It’s time to cowboy up and accept the fact that this day has finally arrived.

ATTENTION DRIVERS OF NORTH AMERICA: A new driver has taken the wheel. You have been warned.

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Here’s a truckload of turkeys going down the highway in South Carolina, April 2009. I took this picture with my cell phone while on a road trip a few months ago.

Roadside oddities abound, and occasionally they are on the road instead of along side it. Read more about where you can find strange and wonderful roadside attractions to help make your road trip smooth sailing in my new article Roadside Oddities.

Speaking of turkey — Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers. I am so thankful to have had so many loyal readers over the years who helped not only make my website a huge success, but also a wonderful resource for traveling parents everywhere. I could not have done it without you.

A MomsMinivan reader, Barbie, posted a picture (above) on her blog Mamaology showing how to re-use the printable bingo cards from the printable car games page on Momsminivan.com.

She wrote, “I made some games from a website called… momsminivan.com. The Bingo game above is from there. You can print it out for free, place it in a ziplock bag and use dry erase markers to check off the items you find, then erase it and use it again. I plan to give lollipops to the winner of the games.“

These bingo cards are the perfect size to fit into a quart sized freezer bag. The dry erase markers work perfectly on them. Fantastic! Thanks for sharing, Barbie. I hope you had a great trip with all of your adorable girls.

One of my readers recently sent me this game that her family plays. They call it “Virtual Hide and Seek”. It’s a great game for the car that only requires your imagination.

Pick a place inside your house to hide, and imagine you are there. You can be any size, so you can hide in the silverware drawer, inside the toilet, in the dryer, wherever you can imagine! The others ask yes/no questions only, such as “are you in the kitchen” until they narrow it down to the room, area and then….find you! Kids love this game because it’s so fun to hide in places you’d not really fit into.

You may have to clarify no hiding between walls and in plumbing!   (Submitted by reader, Beth K. Thanks!)

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Someone finally put all the fun printable car activities into one big fat ginormous printable book. It’s the Ultimate Road Trip Games book, that you can download and print. I love it!

It’s over 140 pages of stuff to do in the car. Print just the pages you want, and as many as you need for all your kids, and print more for your next trip.

A few activities are similar to the printable car games that I have available on MomsMinivan, but they have taken them to a whole new level, and included many many more, in an easy printable format.

We’re excited about the “secret mission” game. This one sounds just right for my school age children, and we can’t wait to play it on our next trip. None of the activities require any extra materials other than a pencil and the printed sheets. Use it over and over for every trip you take.

Overall, I think it’s terrific! It’s definitely worth the purchase price, and I feel really good about recommending it to my readers. You can find it on their website at Ultimate Road Trip Games!

Meanwhile, make sure you stock up on printer ink! Here’s a place I love to get mine – use the coupon I found for a discount! 15% Off Compatible Inkjet Cartridges – use Coupon TAK658W
(Expires 09.30.09)

Happy travels!

My cousin Kirsten is taking a road trip with her kids this weekend in Oregon and found some great new products she recommends! They are called “Flip to Win”

Here’s what she says:
We got Hangman and the Travel Bear Hunt – and both are good. Memory looks fun. There are No parts to lose except the pen on Hangman (which has a clip to store the pen when it’s not being used).

Here’s More:

• These fabulous, travel-style games bring new fun and convenience to old family favorites
• Innovative flipping pieces won’t get lost
• Includes one game board with erasable whiteboard, self-storing marker and eraser
• Great for the road and at home

Sounds great! Definitely worth checking out “Flip to Win“.

Thanks, Kirsten! Have a great trip!

~ Road Trip Mom ~
Momsminivan.com

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Shiver me timbers! September 19 is International “Talk Like a Pirate Day”! The creators of this wonderful day have their own website at TalkLikeAPirate.com. If you’ve been reading me blog over the last year, you already know that I highly recommend talking like pirates as a valid method for making a road trip much more enjoyable. You can do this any day of the year, not just this Friday. If you aren’t familiar with these methods, then check out my pirate road trip article so you too can Make Like Roger and Have a Jolly Good Time in the Car. And fer even further inspiration, here’s a video featuring the basics of the 5 A’s of Pirate-speak. Now get going, ye scallywags!

One of my readers sent me a message noting a US plate that is missing from my printable license plate game sheet. My dear reader noted that although Washington DC is not a state, that it should still be included in the list. I’m inclined to agree.

So, I have added “Washington DC” to the checklist of all the states for the license plate game! Now before I start getting bombarded by readers asking me to add Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands, etc. I have also added a check-box for “bonus points” for spotting a plate from a US territory or other country.

Now, Go! Play! Enjoy!