Desperate for something to entertain the children on our upcoming road trip, I wound up shelling out some serious cash this weekend for the double-screen in car DVD gadget; spent time organizing playlists after a download of Pixar and Disney Princess tunes; found an audio book version of the first Harry Potter from my library; and searched the house for my iTrip gadget - which still somehow eludes me. So, why am I still nervous with 16 hours between my house and my destination, and more significantly - 16 hours back?
Toddlers. 32 hours round trip. Of course I'm worried!
This is my best attempt at a solution. I got inspired by my vision of an "I Spy" with pictures game, since my 4 year old is still a bit too young to Spy things that begin with a specific letter, and decided to have the kids go on a Road-Trip-I-Spy-Scavenger-Hunt-With-Pictures! While this is highly un-original with a quick check on the Net (there are several I Spy picture books available for sale), I realized that it is also highly simple to make myself, and much easier to customize.
Instructions:
Just draw pictures, and make a book. (See photo for examples of pictures)
Customize it for the things your kids are certain to see - easy things for littler ones and harder for bigger kids. If you aren't able to visualize an easy way to draw something, Google Images will help - just say something like 'tractor doodle' or 'windmill doodle' - and mimic the simplest art that pops up. Simple is a huge factor here so this project doesn't get out of hand.
My vision is to have them put a sticker or make a check mark on each page they find, and we'll try our best to get them all. If your kids are old enough, or budding artists - have them help find and make the doodles - they'll know what it is if they've done the doodling!
Here's a list of all the things I've doodled so far:
- Speed limit sign
- I-40 sign
- Route 66 sign
- a pottery pot
- an adobe house
- a cactus & a cactus flower
- palm trees
- an oil rig
- a windmill
- farmland
- a cow
- a horse
- a lizard
- a snake
- a big sprinkler for farmers
- a farm house
- red rock formations
- a truck pulling a boat
- a big rig
- a motorcycle
- a red beetle bug car
- a blue truck
- mountains
- mesas
- lightning / storm clouds
- a rainbow
- sun rays
- a sunset
- birds on a telephone pole wire...
- and I think I have some more ideas, too!
If you want nothing to do with the drawing part - collage it with magazines or take pictures of toys and other drawings from your kiddos books and print them out.
All I can say is - if you are making this book, may the road trip angels smile upon you!
Happy Travels!
