As you plan your children’s summer vacation, please consider road trips as they can be a wonderful learning experience for them. There are plenty of ways that your children can enjoy themselves while continuously stimulating their minds. Here are some tips which will help you to plan and prepare ahead of time:

Select the destination. Encourage your children to participate with you in this selection process.
Map your destination and determine the number of hours it will take to drive there. Also, determine how many hours you will drive each day.
Select where you will stay overnight as well as what and where you will eat. Make sure that the places you select have child-friendly accommodations and food selections.
Bring lots of snacks and water. Children are always looking for something to eat in between meals so plan healthy snacks on the trip.
Allow your children to bring along their electronic devices with headphones. Be sure to plan how much time they will be allowed to use them each day and have educational activities for them to do on them. Also, include electronic books.
Plan what clothing and other items each child should pack. It is always helpful to have a separate packing case for each child.
Take with you paper towels and wipes. These always come in handy to clean hands and quickly wipe up spills in the car.
Include in your supplies an emergency kit with all you may need in the event of an injury or illness such as band-aids, antibiotic cream, and any other item that your children may need.
Pack for car travel pillows and blankets.
Plan games to play in the car. A friend told me about a game that she enjoyed playing on car trips with her children. It is a game called “yellow car”. Since there are so few yellow cars, the premise of the game is to count how many of them passed on the way to your destination. When one is spotted, you must be the first person to yell out “yellow car” and the person with the highest score at the end of the ride wins. It sounds simple enough, except for the yelling part. At the time, she had no idea how entertaining this ‘simple’ game could actually be!

This game will keep the children alert; activate their eyes and brains to spot these objects amongst everything else they see; and help them keep numerical track of how many they have seen. Little do they know all the learning that is involved!

The links below provide some more helpful information. I hope that you and your family have a wonderful time on your road trips!

For more information, please visit,

https://roadtrippers.com/magazine/ultimate-guide-to-family-road-trips/

https://www.kenarry.com/road-trips-with-small-children/

https://www.thepassportkids.com/how-to-survive-12-hour-car-ride-with-kids/