Monday, July 28, 2008

Car Riding

As mentioned here, my girls are not great car riders. If either of them naps - it is maybe 20-30 minutes. We do have a dvd player so we let the girls watch 1 movie - usually 30-45 minutes (longer if I am driving by myself). I just don't love the idea of watching movies every time we go on a car ride longer than a couple of hours. I would like it if they could entertain themselves a little.

I read a couple of great ideas here and decided to put together a couple of things for the girls.
For Lucy I made this doll. After reading some suggestions on Chasing Cheerios I bought 2 cookie sheets for the girls to use as trays. I attached magnets to the doll and clothes. I ended up making one for Norah too (even though it is a little babyish for her), knowing that one always wants what the other has.

For Norah I put together a bag of letters and picture magnets . She sorted the pictures and put them with their beginning sound. (Lucy had a bag, too - she just moved them around on the tray).

These activities kept the girls busy for quite awhile. I'm already thinking of other activities to take on our next ride. My only issue is that I had to keep handing them their bags and help pick up before the next activity. If I am driving and Kevin isn't with us, that won't work. Any suggestions on how to store everything so the girls can handle themselves?

1 comments:

Peterson Party said...

I put all of our car activities in a backpack for Arin (she's 2). Then, I put the backback on the seat next to her and leave it unzipped. Since she is in her carseat, of course everything has to be close by, but this allows her to get her own activities. Usually after the trip, there is cleanup to be done. Sometimes the stuff just gets dropped on the floorboard when she goes for other projects, but it's worth it to me to keep her entertained. This is one game that I made her for the car and it kept her entertained for a while. http://thepetersonparty.blogspot.com/2008/08/gift-wrap-magnets.html