There is a simple little thing that I started doing in the car during road trips that makes my girl laugh uncontrollably. I have, over the last couple months, kept wallet-sized photos of my niece and nephew tucked away up in my sun visor. They were given to us while visiting my brother’s house sometime last year and never quite made their way into our home. What started as sheer laziness and forgetfulness is now a staple of every sunny day journey. The pictures will probably never leave the car now!
Every time the sun is shining in my face while driving, I pull the visor down and there they are, smiling down at me. Nowadays my girl watches my motions and immediately wants this goofy game to begin but in the beginning she did not know what I was doing. I would just start talking to her cousins as if they were in the car with us and she would crane her neck to see what was going on in the front seat. She was very intrigued and maybe even thought I was going a bit batty!
Your kids are likely to crack up laughing when you act surprised that their cousins and friends have come along for the ride. Pretend to have conversations with them…ask if anyone else is with them (and out comes their brother or sister from behind their photo). This simple little trick is great creative fun for you and your kids and is a good way to occupy a young child or toddler while driving.
This can also work with baseball cards or pictures of your child’s favorite animals. Anything to liven up a car ride is worth a try in my book, especially when the activity can be a springboard into imaginative play. More recently, my little lady will ask for the pictures and pretend to make her cousins walk around the backseat and up her side window. She presses them against the glass and shows them things we are passing by outside, like school buses and cows on a farm, and talks to them as if they were sitting right next to her. It is really cute!
Of course, if she really starts to think they are sitting in the back with her, then we may have a problem!
What does your family like to do while on road trips?
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