As school vacation times arrive, many grandparents will be hitting the road with their grandchildren. If you're planning a road trip with your grandkids, you'll want to pack some items to help your pint-sized passengers while away the hours. Here are our recommendations.
Road Trip Survival Kit Essentials
- Car seat or booster seat. Familiarize yourself with the car seat laws for every state you'll drive through. Some states require car seats until children turn five years old, while others also require booster seats for children until they reach eight years of age.
- Extra clothing. Pack an extra outfit for each grandchild and place it where you can reach it. This will make emergency changes go quickly and smoothly.
- Special pillows and stuffed animals. Children of every age love bringing comfort items from home on road trips.
- Cleaning supplies. Pack hand sanitizer, extra toilet paper, baby wipes and trash bags. Keep them in the passenger compartment of your car, not in the trunk.
- Healthy snacks and drinks. While you'll probably stop at a restaurant or picnic area for lunch, you'll quickly discover that young children need a snack every couple of hours. Healthy foods like raisins, fruit leather, apple slices and trail mix are easy to eat and don't require much cleanup. If you serve drinks in boxes or bags, remind your grandchildren not to squeeze their drinks. Tip: If you're traveling with very young children, skip the grapes and other choking hazard foods.
- Travel games. Many classic games come in travel versions, with magnetic boards and game pieces. You can also buy auto bingo and other classic travel games before your trip. Bone up on classic road trip activities, such as the alphabet sign game, "I'm going on a trip and in my suitcase I will pack…" and Twenty Questions. You can also print out travel games for older children. Tip: Be sure any travel games you buy are age-appropriate. Games with small pieces are not suitable for children under age three.
- CDs, DVDs and hand-held games – with chargers. If your grandchildren own hand-held electronic games, such as Nintendo DS or PSP, allow them to bring them on a long road trip. Having an "electronic babysitter" along may not be completely educational, but may save your sanity after two days on the road. Pack some favorite CDs (theirs and yours) and include DVDs if you or your children own a portable DVD player. Remember to bring car chargers and extra batteries.
- Drawing paper. Your grandchildren can draw, play tic-tac-toe and hangman and write letters to friends, among other things, with a stack of drawing paper. They will enjoy having the paper to doodle on in restaurants, too.
- Maps. Give older grandchildren their own map of your travel route. Have them trace your journey and look for nearby towns with unusual names. Ask them to calculate the miles until your next rest stop and show them how to interpret the symbols in the map's legend. If you don't have a map for each state you'll visit, stop at a tourist information center near the state line and pick up their free maps.
- Surprise toys or snacks. Savvy grandparents travel with a surprise toy or special snack, one that their grandchildren don't know anything about. Just when you and your grandchildren have run out of road trip patience, you can pull out your surprise.
Items to Leave at Home
- Crayons. They melt if left in the car for any length of time, even in winter. Provide colored pencils instead.
- Chocolate. This, too, will melt quickly. Substitute healthy snacks, pretzels and cheese-flavored crackers.
- Legos and tiny dressable dolls. Important pieces will get lost and you will never find them again. It's better to bring toys with larger components.
- Balls and projectiles. Store balls in the trunk and bring them out during rest stops. Young children cannot resist throwing objects that are meant to be thrown, even if they are traveling in a car. Help your grandchildren avoid temptation by putting throwing toys out of sight.
- Obnoxious musical / noisy toys and CDs. This is a judgment call. Your grandchild's favorite toy may ring or beep, but you may decide that it's better to put up with the sounds than take away such an important item. On the other hand, how many times can you really stand to hear the Sponge Bob theme song on one road trip?
