Road Trip Round Up!

This week we are off on a family vacation which includes almost 20 hours in the car round trip so I knew I had to think up some fun entertainment for the girls.  In addition to the normal array of books and coloring apparatus I made a few activity sets.  First I made some felt boards by gluing felt onto cardstock.  I then cut out various scenes and attached some of the parts while leaving others lose for the girls to manipulate.  I made Octopus Addition, Turtle Subtraction, a Brown Bear Brown bear story board and a Goldfish Tank.  Each set was packed in its own gallon ziploc bag and they packed flat in the car so didn't take up much space. Each piece of felt cost $.29 at JoAnn's and I already had the cardstock and bags so this was a very cost effective project.

I also hit the dollar store to see what inspiration I could find.  I ended up with another packable project that was very inexpensive and effective ie. kept the five year old busy for quite some time.  I used foam shapes from the dollar store, a pack of chenille stems and some pony beads in their own small ziploc.  I put everything in another gallon ziploc and had an in-car sculpture kit.  You "sew" the chenille stems through the foam and add pony beads where wanted.  This could end up being very elaborate because different shapes can be linked together by the stems.  This project helps to build creativity and fine motor skills.   I snagged this picture as the five year old was just starting her sculpture.

What road trip entertainment have you tried?