Entertaining the Traveling 8 Year Old

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Yesterday I listed our new and favorite road tripping toys for a 2.5 year old toddler. For my 8 year old step-daughter Gracelyn we handled things differently. I wanted to have new fun toys for her to play with, but I also wanted to make this road trip and educational experience. Gracie has a love of learning and workbooks and the teacher in me loves that about her!

For Gracie we packed:

·         Her Nintendo DSi Console - Blue . This was fun for the first day or two but quickly became a chore to manage the power cords and headphones, to remember to plug it in at night, and also to remember hide it in the car and not entice smash-n-grabs. I don't think we'll bring this on our next big road trip.

·         Books including:
  and  

·         Journal. Just a simple little 5x8" spiral bound cute journal for writing notes.

·         Hangman - Melissa & Doug Games

·         Fun colorful Paper Mate pens

·         a folder with these printable games:

o   License plate game and  battle ship game,  

o   Word search.

o   Animal crossing signs

o   Scavenger hunt

o   ABC signs

o   4 different "True or False" quizzes, which I'll share on later posts.

The folder with the printables was so fun to plan and put together but perhaps more fun for mom than for child. Dad and I called out the majority of license plates and scavenger hunt items, and the ABC Sign game ended up being Mom (driver) and child against Dad. With Gracie in the backseat and Dad in the front seat (and a faster writer), he had an unfair advantage. Will we do this again? Yes, but probably not until Grady is older and able to do it with Gracie in the backseat. Next time we'll use a hard back 3-ring binder or clipboard for easier writing as well.

Have you used similar roadtrip printables before? Did they work well for you and kids?