Category — fun for the road

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!

Get your kids wired on your next road trip! This is an activity that will keep them busy for hours.

All you need are some pipe cleaners, a nail clipper (for trimming the pipe cleaners to different lengths), and some creativity. A pencil or pen might also come in handy to create coiled sections by wrapping the pipe cleaners around it.

For more photos and ideas, check out the full article: Pipe Cleaner Crafts and Creatures

My blogging pals are on Day-3 of their cross country road trip to the Blogher conference in San Francisco. They are heading across Nebraska today on their way to Denver, and it’s a long dry stretch.I have been checking out roadside attractions for them to squeeze in between all their tv interviews.

Road Side America is a great web site resource to help you find something amusing along the road to make your trip more interesting. Just enter the state you’ll be traveling through, and you’ll get a map with all the local attractions marked on it. Yesterday I told them to watch for the giant smiley face water tower at exit 76 in Iowa. Today, the Nebraska map produced lots of options, and I managed to find an eccentric little place for them to have lunch – Ole’s Steakhouse and Big Game Lounge. I am looking forward to a report. … and a photo of my pals in front of a giant polar bear or elephant.

If you don’t have internet access along your drive like they do (they are such techie goddesses), it’s no problem because there is a wonderful book: New Roadside America: The Modern Traveler’s Guide to the Wild and Wonderful World of America’s Tourist.

I just got back from a 1200 mile road trip myself, but looking at all the fun stuff to do in other states makes me crave the road again. No worries though, I am heading out again shortly for another pirate adventure … stay tuned…

UPDATE: They made it to the steakhouse and game lounge. Read all about it.

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Diapers and gas! Just what every minivan-mom needs for the next fill up. Here are two sweepstakes I found that give you a chance to fill your tank and pad those bottoms.

Win Free Gas – Take a survey for a chance to win a gas card worth $1500.

Win Free Diapers for a Year – Connect with other moms at CafeMom. Join now and win a FREE* year of diapers! “For a limited of time only.” (*offer good through June 15!)

Good luck. I definitely want to hear about it if any of my readers win the gas because I’ll be calling you to carpool my kids around town for the rest of the summer. I’ll let you enjoy diaper duty on your own.

Playing cards is one of my kids’ favorite things to do when we are on the road, or waiting at our airport gate for our flight to board. I’ve uploaded some printable instructions to MomsMinivan.com with the instructions for playing some fun easy card games when you are on the road or in airports.

So, if you’ve forgotten the details of how to play Old Maid or Crazy Eights, here’s your chance to brush up. As a mom, the funnest part for me is watching one of my kids try to keep a “Poker face” when he/she has just drawn the Old Maid from someone’s hand!

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Momsminivan.com now has Battleship! Download these printable pages for your next road trip and then listen for the classic line from your backseat, “You sank my battleship!”

Using these battleship grids, kids take turns firing upon their opponent until they sink all of his ships. It’s normally a two-player game for kids who are old enough to read numbers and letters, but you can also play in teams. This is a GREAT game for the car — a road trip version of this game of war ships!

I also posted a javascript version of Battleship online so you can practice playing against the computer to get yourself warmed up for battle!

See the entire article and printable pages at http://www.momsminivan.com/battleship.html