vacations

Day Trips in Your Own Hometown

A little time away with the family is important for your relationships and to show the kids what the world has to offer. Fancy vacations and long getaways are not necessary to have a fun time with your loved ones. You can take a simple day trip in your own community, making the most of what your town or nearby bigger city has going on. Here are four ideas for spending time with family on a day trip excursion. They are all great ways to give your kids an appreciation of culture, learning and they’ll see there’s more to fun than video games and television!

 

Bookstore Reading

Many local bookstores have reading groups for kids where the author comes to the store to make an appearance and reads their book aloud to young fans. What a nice way to incorporate the joy of reading into an educational and memorable day! Oftentimes, the author will sign autographs and take photos with the kids. Check out the events calendar at your local bookstores and libraries for upcoming appearances. Your kids will be even more eager to read when they get to meet the author and other book-loving families at the bookstore! Finish the day at the bookstore coffee shop for some hot cocoa and snacks.

 

Museum

There are many museums geared towards children or with special kid-friendly exhibits. A day at the museum is like a little getaway into a world of new findings and interesting things to learn about. Kids love “touch” museums where you are allowed to feel the exhibits and get hands-on with the pieces and sculptures. Art museums often have kids’ sections where the art is actually made by kids. See if there are any classes your kids can attend to create a masterpiece themselves! Natural history museums are always a hit with dinosaur bones, wild animal exhibits and pre-historic men and women. The kids will be having such a blast, they won’t even realize how much knowledge they’re absorbing!

 

Cooking Class

Kids love to participate in cooking and baking, and with a kids’ cooking class, they can do just that. Lots of community centers, religious institutions and cooking schools hold classes just for kids based on age and kitchen experience. Kids can learn to bake pies, create pasta specialties, broil a roasted chicken and decorate chocolate candies. Who knows what your mini-chef will learn to cook? Cooking and baking teach mathematics (for recipe amounts), patience, teamwork and nutrition. The bonus? A delicious treat to taste test at the end of the day. What a great mini-vacation as a day in the life of a chef!

 

Botanical Garden

Explore the beauty of nature with a day trip to a botanical garden. The kids will love seeing all the varieties of plants and flowers and will learn all about how they grow and where they thrive. It’s amazing to see little faces light up when they smell all the glorious scents and see flowers and plants they have never seen before from every country. A trip to a botanical garden is not only fun, but it gives kids an appreciation of the world around us and the care it takes to handle delicate plants and flowers. You may even have a future florist on your hands!

Have you taken a fun day trip with the kids? Where’d you go? We would love to hear more kid-friendly ideas. Read more info like this at All My Children Daycare.

 

By: Melissa A. Kay

Road Trip Car Games

A long trip in the car can make kids a bit stir-crazy. As fun as going on a trip will be, getting there can be part of the entertainment too. Try these 5 car games you can play with the kids that will keep them busy without the use of iPads and video games. They may even bring you back to your childhood!

20 Questions

This game is super-easy and can keep the kids entertained for a long time, especially if you take turns. One kid will think of a person, place or thing and the others must ask questions which require a “yes” or “no” answer in order to figure out what the other kid is thinking of. The goal is to guess by the time you reach 20 questions about the person, place or thing. Parents can join in too. It’ll be interesting to hear what the kids come up with and how they use their thinking skills.

License Plate Game

Keep the kids occupied as they spend time looking out the window for cars. It’s better for kids 7 and up who can discern between the license plates. Here’s how it goes: Give each kid a paper with each U.S. state listed out. When they see a license plate on a car from that state they check it off the list. The goal is to check off all 50 states, but at the end of the trip, the kid who found the most states wins! If your kids are younger, you can play the game by asking them to spot car colors rather than license plates.

Picnic Game

This game is tons of fun and is great for helping kids work on their memory skills. Start with the first child and have her start with the letter A. She’ll say, “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing apples.” The next kid must remember her item, along with a new item starting with the letter B. So, he’ll say, “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing apples and bagels.” The game goes on as such and gets harder as the list grows. See if they can make it all the way to Z!

Scavenger Hunt

Kids love to play scavenger hunt in the backyard, but you can also try it from the car on a long road trip. Make a list of things the kids will be sure to spot out the window while on the road such as schools, gardens, restaurants, parks, and more. The kids will check off the item on the list once they spot something. This is sure to keep the kids busy for as long as you want, based on how long you make the list. Offer a small prize when they complete the hunt, such as a treat at a rest stop or a small toy.

Karaoke

The whole family can have a blast singing all your favorite tunes. You can get a tape of background music, Karaoke-style, or use your iPod to download backing tracks to everyone’s favorite songs. Sing along in the car for hours of self-made entertainment. The kids will feel like they’re the next Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber!

What do you do to keep the kids busy on road trips? Read more information like this on the All My Children site.

By: Melissa A. Kay