Rainy days and car trips with children can be a frustrating time. With a little planning, these situations can be an enjoyable family time. Rainy days at home are a great time to do arts10:11 AM Tuesday, November 16, 2004 and crafts with your kids. Create and keep a Rubbermaid container or two with different kids of art supplies. One can be for younger children with crayons, glue, construction paper and safety scissors. Older children can use just about anything like paints and craft kits. There are plenty of books and ideas on the internet with projects for all ages. Get a head start on holiday decorations or presents.
Baking in the kitchen not only gives the kids something to look forward to, it is a great opportunity for math and science. Measuring, mixing and following directions teach children that sometimes certain steps must be followed in a particular order or the result is not good. After baking comes decorating, see what kinds of creations your kids can make. While eating the baked goods, play board games or work a jigsaw puzzle on the table.
Road trips require a little more planning because there is general less room in the car and kids are confined to car seats and seat belts. For babies and young children whom are rear facing, bring a colorful blanket with pictures or cartoon characters. This can be draped over the back seat to give them something to look at. Small toys once thrown may be hard to pick up from the floor so find a safe way using elastic or ribbon to attach the toys to the seat or car. Reusable stickers or magnets on a board are a great attention keeper. Do not forget to keep a couple of spare diapers or wipes in the car in case the regular bag is forgotten or lost.
Purchase travel games for longer road trips that are magnetized. New activity books and boxes of crayons are great because they have not been used. Take these and other travel items and wrap each thing individually in a paper bag. Place all the paper bags in a larger bag. Since the kids cannot see what is in there, they will be excited and more likely to play with it for longer. Tell them that after so many miles or length of time, another surprise will come out of the bag.
Other car games can involve the whole family. I Spy is a popular car game. Pick out an object that everyone can see and give clues to identify it. The first person to figure out the object gets to be the new spy. Using the alphabet is a great way to help children learn their letters and words. Find objects or words on a sign that begin with each letter. Use letters on a license plate to make funny sentences. The last letter of one place like Dallas can lead to the next word being Shreveport and so on.
Take your regular breaks at different places like a post office for one-cent stamps to play with or small stores with items for window shopping. Parents can also rent a DVD or video game player for the car but do no rely on this by itself. The player can break or the kids get carsick from the motions. Bring a Frisbee or ball to play with when the rest stop has a nice area so everyone can brun off energy.
