Now that spring is here, the weather has warmed up, and we are about to be on-the-go quite a bit. Since the kids will be in tow, we need to find ways to avoid meltdowns and ensure peaceful travel for everyone. We love our adventures, but being in the car for long periods of time can be super boring for the littles. Having something that they can play with in the car is super important to everyone’s sanity, and since I don’t like them zoning out to tablets, I whipped up a super cute road trip busy box that is full of low-tech fun! It was made for trips, but it also works at home or any other time you want screen free time as well.
I have always loved road trips, and love the freedom that they give you because the adventure is just as important as the destination! When I was little, we went on all kinds of road trips and my sister and I counted license plates from each state, played tic-tac-to, I-spy and so much more. I loved our trips, and even though we were in the car we had a great time watching the world along the way. It was one of things in life that I will always look back on and miss now that I’m older – that freedom and excitement of our family trips before I knew anything about the world. Summer trips will always have a special place in my heart, and I hope that my kids grow up feeling that way too!
Now, let’s get to this box of fun! The great thing about it is that what goes into the box is based on your child’s age, needs, and etc – you can customize it for any occasion, and it is super wallet friendly. I made all the paper games myself, and since they are laminated we can reuse them which is pretty cool! I really wanted to make sure each activity brought something educational to the table, so I chose things that gets the wheels in their heads turning – using their senses, strategizing, and letting the creativity flow are great ways to stimulate their amazing minds!
The first activity in my busy box is a “Build A Bug” kit that is great for creative expression. It has a few blank bug pictures that I printed on cardstock along with a glue stick, crayons, pipe cleaners, plastic eyes, puff balls, stick on jewels, and a few other decorative items. Kids can use their box top as a surface to decorate their bugs, and cleanup is a breeze with everything fitting neatly in a sealable sandwich bag.
We all know kids get hungry after a few hours in the car, so no busy box is complete without a little snack! We love Goldfish crackers around here, so I added single packs to our box to be used as both snacks and game pieces for some of the activities. They are easy to clean up if they get dropped, so I don’t have to worry about spills. I love that these crackers are always baked with real cheese, and contain no artificial colors or preservatives.
Our next activity is my tried-and-true Road Trip Bingo, because you can’t have a road trip without Bingo, right! Print out your own by heading over to this post and clicking on the image. I would recommend printing at 40% if you are using it on a road trip so it isn’t too big, and covering it with self laminating stick on sheets to make it more durable.
I also included some laminated tic-tac-toe games that I made, which is one of our family favorites.
In addition to the paper activities, I added in a pack of plastic animals, a couple of toy cars, some small building blocks, and a top/bottom animal matching game. Everything fits inside the box, so cleanup is easy!
