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by Mary Abreu
School’s out and that means it’s time to
load up the car to visit Grandma, hit the
beach or head off to some other vacation
destination. Make the miles fly by – and
reduce the “Are we there yet?” chorus – with
these travel-ready games, activities and
recipes.
Road Trip Tips
Before you leave, check out a map and plan
frequent stops so the kids can get out of
the car to stretch, play and hit the
restroom. Ideally, you should stop every two
hours.
Burn a CD or load up your MP3 player with
songs the kids love (and ones you can live
with). Consider borrowing audio books or CDs
from the library, too.
Stave off boredom by gift-wrapping small
items – decks of cards, coloring books, even
toys the kids already have – and sticking
them in a bag to be passed out as needed.
Pick up a large map (or a map book), some
stickers and a highlighter so the kids can
keep up with the journey in progress.
If you’re going to be in the car longer than
30 minutes, you’ll need to pack perishable
food items in a cooler so you don’t have any
unwelcome food-related illnesses. It’s smart
to have a second cooler just for drinks so
you can keep the food in your other cooler
nice and cold.
Travel Games
Contest Time: Trapped in the car for
hours? Use the time to hold an official
family spelling bee or trivia contest. Write
down words or questions on index cards.
Don’t forget to pass out little prizes like
stickers, trading cards, money or even extra
time in the pool once you arrive at your
destination.
www.kidshealth.org
I Am Going on a Journey: The first
person starts by saying, “I am going on a
journey and I am bringing with me a
(blank).” They then name an object that
begins with the letter A. The next person
must repeat what the first person said and
then must add an object that begins with the
letter B, and so on. Each player must
remember all of the objects in alphabetical
order. www.dmv.org
License Plate Lingo: The goal of this
game is to come up with a phrase using the
letters on another car’s plate. So if you
see the plate LMT 823, the first person to
call out a somewhat logical phrase such as
“Love me tender” or “Lost my tooth” earns a
point. www.familyfun.com
The Car Next Door: Invent stories
about people in the car next to yours. Where
are they going? What’s their favorite food?
What kind of work do they do? Get into lots
of details, such as their favorite color and
what they ate for breakfast. Give them
names, hobbies, pets – the sky’s the limit.
www.familyfun.com
Billboard Poetry: Give everyone a pad
of paper (or Post-it Notes) and a pencil.
Take turns picking out four words from road
signs. Everyone has one minute to turn the
words into a four-line rhyming poem.
www.familyfun.com
Counting Cows: Play as individuals or
teams. First, decide on a point on your trip
where you will stop counting. Then, count
the cows on your side of the road. The goal
is to have the highest number when the
destination is reached. Pass a cemetery on
your side and you have to start over. If
there aren’t any cows on your route, try
counting red cars, mailboxes or phone
booths.
Travel-Ready Crafts
Felt Checkers Game
- Scissors
- Pinking shears
- Two 12-inch squares white felt
- Two 12-inch squares black felt
- 12-inch square red felt
- Black sewing thread
- Needles and pins
- Sewing machine (optional)
- 1/4 yard white “duck” canvas fabric
- 50-inch bright color nylon (or
leather) shoelace
- Glue
Using scissors, cut 32 1-inch squares of
white felt. With pinking shears, cut two 9
1/2-inch squares of black felt, 12 1-inch
round red markers (about the size of a
quarter) and 12 1-inch round white markers.
Arrange the 1-inch white squares in a
checkerboard pattern on one of the 9
1/2-inch black squares, leaving a 5/8-inch
border around the perimeter. Tack the pieces
in place with glue, then hand- or
machine-sew them on.
Sew together the two 9 1/2-inch squares of
black felt with black thread around the
edges.
Make the pouch by cutting the canvas into
a pocket shape (with a straight-edged top
and rounded bottom) that is about 8 inches
long and 7 inches wide. Pin the fabric
together, then sew up the sides.
www.familyfun.com
Aluminum Foil Art
- Roll of aluminum foil, torn into
sheets
Aluminum foil is a perfect medium for
crafting on the go. It’s easy to crumple or
fold into a variety of shapes. Simply tear
off a sheet and hand it to the kids.
Encourage them to use it to make:
- Zoo animals – see how many kinds
they can make
- Make jewelry or dress-up items like
crowns
- Costume pieces like masks, hoods and
wristbands
- Hats, both silly and serious
- Goofy glasses
www.momsminivan.com
Window Gallery
- Washable window markers
- Cotton cloth
Let the kids turn passenger windows into
mobile artwork – just make sure they don’t
block the driver’s view with their
creations. The cotton cloth makes clean up a
breeze, providing a fresh surface for
creating more masterpieces.
www.kidshealth.org
Backseat Travel Tray
-
 Baking
sheet
- Plain white Con-Tact paper
- Magnetic tape
- Dry-erase markers
- Ribbon
- Plain paper
- Markers
- Buttons
- Pocket-style file folder
Cover the cooking surface of a baking
sheet with plain white Con-Tact paper to
serve as a drawing board.
Affix pieces of magnetic tape to several
dry-erase markers. For an eraser, tightly
tie one end of a piece of ribbon to a small
cloth square and the other end to the hole
in the baking sheet handle.
For additional games, draw a
checkerboard, simple crossword puzzles or
bingo-style scorecards of things to look for
(a tractor, a sailboat or a horse, for
example) on sheets of plain paper. You can
even turn buttons into game pieces by
sticking magnetic tape to the backs.
Finally, create a handy storage place for
your games by applying strips of magnetic
tape to the back of a pocket-style file
folder and attaching it to the back of the
baking sheet.
www.familyfun.com
Car-Ready Recipes
Shrunken Sandwiches
- 2 slices ham or turkey
- 2 slices low-fat cheese
- 12 mini crackers, such as Ritz Bits
Cut ham and cheese (six from each slice)
into small rounds the size of the mini
crackers. A clean medicine bottle makes a
good cutter. Place a ham or turkey round on
six of the crackers, then add the cheese.
Cover each with another cracker. Serves two.
www.familyfun.com
Peanut Butter Pinwheels
- Peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
- Honey
- Flour tortilla
- Granola
Spread peanut butter and a little bit of
honey on a fresh flour tortilla. Sprinkle
with granola, roll up the tortilla, then
slice it into bite-size pinwheels.
www.familyfun.com
Gobbledy Gook
- 4 cups oat or crispy rice cereal
- 1 cup chopped peanuts
- 1 cup raisins or chopped dried
prunes or apricots
- 1 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 cup chopped pretzels
- 3 Tbsp. margarine, melted (optional)
Place all ingredients in a 2-quart
sealable plastic bag, seal and shake until
mixed. Serves 6 to 8.
www.familyfun.com
 Fruit
‘n Cheese Snack Mix
- 1 oz. cheddar cheese, cut into
bite-sized pieces
- 1/4 cup whole strawberries, stems
removed, quartered
- 1/4 cup seedless red or green
grapes, cut in half
Place cheese in one side of a resealable
sandwich-size plastic bag; loosely tie pipe
cleaner or twist tie around middle of bag.
Place fruit in other end of bag; seal bag,
then twist pipe cleaner tightly to separate
cheese from the fruit.
Curl ends of pipe cleaner to resemble
antennae of a butterfly.
Keep in cooler until ready to serve.
Untwist pipe cleaner, leaving bag sealed.
Gently shake bag to mix fruit and cheese.
Open bag and enjoy!
www.kraftfoods.com
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