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As some of you know, my 8-year-old switched to a new gymnastics gym a few
months ago. The new place is amazing but it's also a lot farther away than I'd
like, which means he's now spending an extra hour a day in the car at least
three times a week for practice.
And he would play on my phone for ALL of that time if I let him.
Luckily, I gathered a collection of fun things we already owned and a few that
his grandma happened to give us at just that right time that have occupied him
for hours in the car before he even thought to ask me for my
phone. With the holidays and possibly some road trips coming up for all of
you, I wanted to share them!
I'm still shocked by how long my kids will quietly focus on this book. The
pages are thick and good quality; it goes a lot of places with us and isn't
worn and tattered like most things around here (including me). There are 10
pictures in the book which doesn't sound like a lot, but my kids have been
working on it for months and still aren't finished with it. My 8-year-old
takes it with him on car rides and my fidgety 12-year-old brings it to church
so she doesn't jump out of her skin while sitting still and listening. One
caveat: this book isn't the best for kids under 6, who will probably have a
hard time with the smaller stickers.
Shashibo Shape-Shifting Cube
When my mom sent me a link to one of these last Christmas and asked if I
thought my kids would like it, I shrugged and said "Maybe." I thought it would
be a novelty they'd get tired of quickly, but they literally loved their
new Shashibo cube to death (it eventually frayed at the edges after being
played with daily for over a year). It was well worth the investment, and I
think everyone in the house picked it up and played with it sometimes, even my
husband and I. When we're totally stumped on a birthday gift for one of the
kids' friends, we've sometimes given Shashibo cubes, since they're something
unique and different that works for both boys and girls from any age, 6 to
teenager.
Good old word searches. My kids do lots of them at school already, but I guess
when you've got your own book it just feels special, so as long as I bring a
pencil in the car they're happy to work on the next puzzle for 20-30 minutes.
Here's one on Amazon for kids
ages 8-10 and another
for ages 10-12 with
100 themed puzzles each, but honestly you can walk into any dollar store and
find a word search book your elementary schooler would probably be delighted
with.
Sudoku Books
Any Sudoku book will keep my math-loving 3rd and 5th
graders occupied for hours. (If I were to argue with them, I'd point out that
Sudoku isn't arithmatic but pattern recognition, but I won't because they're
so happy with it.) As far as puzzle books go, I prefer ones like
this one that have
multiple difficulty levels, because kids can skip around depending on how
deeply they feel like thinking that day, multiple siblings can use it, and
nobody gets bored or frustrated with a book that's all too easy or way too
hard.
Travel Tangram Puzzles
When I was in elementary school, I remember bringing home a set of Tangrams
and spending a lot of time playing with it. Part of the fun of parenting is
introducing your kids to your old favorites, but I especially like these
because of the magnetic backs of the pieces! They're great to play with in
the car. The kids can do whatever they want, or they can open up the spiral
flip-book and copy the designs. My only suggestion is to get a big Ziploc
bag to store everything together; the manufacturer apparently didn't think
of a good way to keep it all contained between uses and you don't want to
lose pieces.
This Rand McNally Kids' Road Atlas been one of my kids' favorites for a
while. Every page features a different state with various maps, facts,
activities, and puzzles on each one. It's really well-designed for kids,
especially ones who love maps, geography, or state capitals. My
8-year-old loves to flip through it in the car on the way to gymnastics and
back (bring a pencil!), but if you're taking a cross-country drive or flight
soon you should probably bring a copy of this along because this book was
definitely made for it.
Cubebot Micro
This little 4" tall robot was a stocking stuffer for one of my older kids
years ago, and it has since passed down to the younger siblings and my
8-year-old currently likes to play with it as we drive. The infinitely
positionable cubebots come in 16 different colors (ours is neon green) and
are beautiful in their simplicity: they're just cubes and elastic cords, no
batteries or breakable parts. And they're made of wood, not plastic, which
means ours is still around and hasn't cracked yet from being thrown and
tossed by our boys.
I'm not exactly anti-screen, but given the choice I'd rather that the
kids go offline in search of things to do for fun in their free time. Especially now that they're in school, where they're using tablets
and Chromebooks all the time for educational purposes anyway. These
activities have kept my 8-year-old and his siblings busy in the car now that
we're driving more than we used to, and I hope they will for yours on your
next car trip, too!
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