Car Ride Activities Set 2

In order to prepare for a long car ride with two young children I made as many simple activities as I could think of to pull out in the car. If any of you need to go on a trip with young children you might try these. They would be great activities at home too, but these are pretty portable and so I save them for the car trip.

Car Ride Activities Set 2

Button Snakes

I cut two 10 inch long pieces of ribbon. I sewed a button on one end of each ribbon and a 2 inch by 2 inch square of felt onto the other end of the ribbon. Then I cut a lot of additional 2 x 2 inch felt squares in a variety of colors and snipped a buttonhole into the center of each square. The idea is for the children to thread the squares onto the "snake" and back off. Patterning is optional.

Usborne 100 Things for Little Children to do on a Trip

I bought the Usborne 100 Things for Little Children to do on a Trip card set. I sorted out the easiest cards that I thought my little ones could do (2 and 4 years old) and put the rest away for the next trip. About 1/3 of the cards made the cut. I provided them with dry erase markers and an eraser made from felt and let them draw on the cards and attempt to do the activities.

Geoboards with Shape Cards

My children have never used geoboards before, so I picked up a couple of inexpensive geoboards on Amazon. I used Microsoft publisher to make up some simple shape cards to pass out to the children along with their rubber bands to give them ideas for things they can do with the boards.

___________________

Happy New Year everyone!

If you like these activities, you may be interested in more.

• Car Ride Activities Set 1
• Car Ride Activities Set 3
• Car Ride Activities Set 4
• Car Ride Activities Set 5
• Car Ride Activities Set 6
• Car Ride Activities Set 7
• Busy Bags Revisited

Car Ride Activities Set 1

In order to prepare for a long car ride with two young children I made as many simple activities as I could think of to pull out in the car. If any of you need to go on a trip with young children you might try these. They would be great activities at home too, but these are pretty portable and so I save them for the car trip.

Car Ride Activities Set 1

Matching Nuts, Bolts, and Washers

I bought five matched sets of nuts, bolts, and washers (ok, my husband did, but who's keeping track?). I pushed the five bolts up through a piece of cardboard and taped small magnets to the bottom side of the same piece of cardboard to hold the washers and nuts onto the finished project. I then taped another piece of cardboard onto the bottom to make sure none of the pieces got lost. I traced around the washers to give the children a visual cue as to where to store then when they're working and as an additional matching game. I put dots to show where the magnet storage locations were for the nuts. I kept all the loose pieces in a baggie when they were not actually playing with they toy, but the magnets helped keep the pieces from getting lost in the car when they were playing with it.

Matching Pole

I made four of these. One for each child on the way to New Orleans and one for each child on the way home. I wrote letters on dot stickers and scattered the same letters on a paper towel roll. The idea is to stick the letter sticker onto the matching letter on the pole. I did the same thing for Ava, except for hers I drew simple shapes instead of letters.

Threading - Decorating Can

I took a clean old can (in my case, Carnation Instant Breakfast) and stuck those same circle stickers on the lid and punched holes in the lid/stickers for threading. I cut pipe cleaners in matching colors into thirds for threading through the holes into the can. I covered the outside of the can in white construction paper and then contact paper. I put stickers in the cans so the children can decorate their cans (Cars for him and Hello Kitty for her). So the activity consists of decorating their can with stickers and then threading the pipe cleaners into the matching holes. In the dark, glow sticks can be placed in the can (or threaded if they are the right size) and then the light will glow up through the holes in the lid making stars on the ceiling of the car.

If you like these activities, you may be interested in more.

• Car Ride Activities Set 2
• Car Ride Activities Set 3
• Car Ride Activities Set 4
• Car Ride Activities Set 5
• Car Ride Activities Set 6
• Car Ride Activities Set 7
• Busy Bags Revisited

The Weekly Review: Week 41

This week's brief Weekly Review is sponsored by the holidays and being hundreds of miles from home. Wish us luck on our 12-14 hour ride home tomorrow.

Website of the Week

Another great website I discovered recently is Art Projects for Kids which is a blog written by an elementary school art teacher. Again, I just went months and months back in her archives finding tons of great art projects to do with my little ones.

Highlight of the Week

Family. Really, that is what the winter holiday time is about for me. We had two wonderful days spent with both parents focused on the children and with hours and hours of bonus grandparent time. Then we traveled to spend even more time with extended family. Yes, I enjoyed choosing special gifts for special people and watching them open those gifts, but mostly I just enjoyed the time spent with family. I watched my son spend hours building his first big Lego set with his father. I played music with my own father (Dad on the piano and me on the children's new glockenspiel). Ava was delighted with her new big girl backpack and carried her new Hello Kitty stuffed animal around in it everywhere. We sat down for two big family meals and the children are old enough that the focus was on lively conversation rather than just the mechanics of feeding two small children. It was all lovely and I hope you all had amazing holidays as well.

Ava and Michael this Week

Michael is long and lean and looking so much like a little boy these days rather than a big toddler. He's taken to talking to his sister like I do. I didn't realize how often I say, "Ava, baby..." until he starting copying me. Wow, that sure sounds condescending coming from a 4-year old. Ava lets me get away with it, but whenever her brother tries she corrects him saying, "I'm not a baby."

Ava got a kids camera for Christmas and loved it. At first, she just held on to it clicking the picture button as quickly as possible. Then she noticed the viewscreen and would get about half an inch from her intended target and attempt to take pictures that way. After a while, I noticed her slowing down and really watching her viewscreen. She'd start up close, and then back away actually framing a shot before taking her picture. She would then switch to the review pictures mode and check out the pictures she had taken to see the results before taking more. I think I have a budding photographer on my hands.