A couple of years ago I made some personalized books for my kids for a long car ride. They were a hit and still go with us on long drives. An add on that I did the following year was a laminated map. That was a WINNER! I took our starting destination and ending destination. Then some major points of interest along the way for the kids to find. They were able to use their dry erase markers to trace our path. And then they knew how far away we were. A lot less “Are we there yet?”
I made a mock up of the one I made:
For those that are newer to 30days,
here is my original post from 2009. My how time flies!
{where we end up after the 10 hour drive}
So what do you do when you have a 10 hour-ish (give or take an extra potty break or a speeding ticket on the way) drive to beautiful southern Oregon? You dread it. And then you get busy trying to create something to entertain the kids after they’ve watched 3 straight Pixar movies in a row.
Here’s solution number 1:
custom car books
I have 2 out of 3 almost done with less than a week to go
(which is WAY good for this procrastinator)
I gathered pictures on my computer and
using PSE7, I created this fun, interactive book.
For my 3 year old I did some tracing, matching and coloring.
For my 7 year old I did cursive tracing, favorites and car games.
Only my 9 year old to go- he’s the tricky one. ;)
Laminated them up.
Next I will bind them at Kinko’s.
I’m bringing along dry erase markers from them to trace
and color on their books (and erase and repeat, I hope).
{Click on pictures to enlarge}
the 3 year old’s
the 7 year old’s
I also plan to make cool car bags to organize all their junk stuff for the trip.
Think crayon roll/journal keeper/tote bag.
Of course I will post about it when they are done.
Hi Mique, I just adore this idea… especially as I live semi-rurally – on the outskirts of the city – it takes me about 30 minutes to get to the nearest supermarket, and if I need to go into the middle of town, more like an hour – just enough time for the littlies to get ratty… I am looking forward to putting together my own ‘Boredom Books’!! Thanks so much for the inspiration! H xo
brilliant! how was Oregon this year?
Thanks for the comment back :) I was thinking of looking for these “presentation booklets” next time I’m at on office supply store (link below) for my version of these booklets – assuming the page protectors inside are durable enough and will work with dry-erase markers, or at least vis-a-vis markers (transparency markers). This way the pages could be printed on cardstock (for stability) and the page protectors could be taped shut until I decide to change them up :) Thanks for the inspiration! If I do this, I’ll blog about it and link you credit :)
( http://www.live.avery.webcollage.net/server/shoplet/avery-product-content/si?ws-action=http://www.live.avery.webcollage.net/_wc/pc/overview/47671.html?channel-product-id%3dAVE47671%26wcpc%3d47671%26format%3dpopup%26tab%3doverview-7374ed7f%26tab-caption%3dOverview%26tab-code%3doverview%26tab-var%3d7374ed7f~MarkupType!document!PresentationFormat!html!enable-reporting!true,http://content.webcollage.net/shoplet/product-content-page?channel-product-id%3dAVE47671%26wcpid%3davery-47671%26report-event%3dproduct-button-click%26usemap%3d0 )
I love those! I once made a book like that for my kid brother (6 years younger than me) to teach him “school” and he LOVED it and used it for years. I should make some for my girls(5 and 8). We visit family frequently – an hours drive from our home. My, how our car entertainment has changed over the years! The biggest problem is that they get dropped and scattered and steped on or spilled on on long carrides and the weeks following where I kept forgetting to clean out the toys from the car. So I’ll have to make these. I especially love the “count the cars” page where you count the colors. and it would probably be good to include maps of our frequent trips so they can see where we are. Thanks!
Jenny- thanks for the comment. We visit my family a few hours away- it hadn’t occurred to me that I should make a map going down there for the same reasons even though it’s not nearly as far. The laminated books are still in my car but a map would help. You’re right- the worst is they get dropped and kind of thrashed but having them laminated in their own individual colored binders has helped with that.