Dear Dr. Debbie,
We’re planning a family camping trip that will involve about a four-hour car ride each way. What are some suggestions for entertaining and keeping the peace for a four-year-old and seven-year-old and Daddy and me?
Getting There and Back
Dear G.T.a B.,
Use the same strategies for taking care of children’s needs when you’re at home, keeping in mind that you’re all stuck in the car together. Ask the children to think of things they can do while sitting such as drawing in a coloring pad or reading (or looking at) a book – if that doesn’t make them carsick. Keeping within daily limits for screen time, a long car ride is the perfect opportunity to use a handheld device to watch a video or play a game.
Songs and Games
Here are some of my favorite screen-free car activities for this age:
“Down by the Bay” is a fill-in song that requires naming animals and adding a short phrase that rhymes. For example, “Did you ever see a horse – on a golf course? Down by the bay!” Your younger child might simply name an animal and others take turns to come up with the rhyme.
Road Sign Alphabet keeps young eyes focused on looking for letters on signs in alphabetical order. Your four-year-old might need a quick review with the A-B-C song. I like to add the American Sign Language handshapes as we sing it! If no one knows it yet, the seven-year-old could master this before the trip.
“I’m Going on a Picnic” is also alphabetical. The first player says, “I’m going on a picnic and I’m going to bring (something that starts with the letter “a”). The next player repeats this and adds something with the next letter. See if the players can keep going to the end of the alphabet, remembering all 25 things previously listed as coming along on the picnic. Of course, it’s a cooperative game, so everyone can give hints if needed.
“I Spy” is a fun car game if the older players can remember to only choose objects that can be seen from the four-year-old’s perspective from their car seat. Likewise, “Twenty Questions” will be fun if players stick to objects that will be easy for the youngest player to think of.
Keep Them Moving
The physical needs of children include intervals of movement throughout the day. While chair dancing may work for some, for a while, check ahead for interesting places to stretch your legs along your route.
The website for Visit Maryland has a variety of suggestions, depending on which direction you’re traveling. If you’re heading north on Rt. 95, take a quick diversion in White Marsh to get on Rt. 1 to see a property marker from 1810 that warns anyone against moving it. Looks like the warning on the so-called “Hoodoo Marker” is still working after 115 years. If you’re passing through Cambridge on Rt. 50 on the eastern shore of Maryland you can stop at the Spocott Windmill and check out the one-room schoolhouse. The Salisbury Zoo is small compared to the zoos in Baltimore and D.C. so it’s perfect for a short stop only minutes from Rt. 50.
Heading west on Rt. 50 or Rt. 66 into Virginia? You might want to check out Dinosaur Land in White Post.
Going to Pennsylvania? Hands-on House in Lancaster currently has walk-in admissions, no reservations necessary. Look for other children’s museums on the Association of Children’s Museums website. Shameless plug – you can purchase a Reciprocal Membership from Chesapeake Children’s Museum and your admission to other museums in the network will be half price!
Use the internet to scope out parks and playgrounds on your way to break up the hours. Otherwise, major highways will have rest stops with picnic tables and restrooms that can provide much needed relief from a long car ride. Challenge each other to do a dozen jumping jacks and other calisthenics to get the oxygen moving through the bodies and keep the moods positive.
Timing is Everything
It’s always best to keep children on their usual 24-hour schedule to get the best out of everyone. This means timing your travels around meals and snacks at regular intervals and, as above, plan for at least one 15-minute stop after a couple of hours for the bodies to move around.
Given that packing up, going to the bathroom one last time, and trying to remember the thing that you’re sure you’ve forgotten might get you on the road later than you had planned, build plenty of extra time into the itinerary. For a four-hour car trip, you’d be safer, schedule-wise, to set a five-hour expectation in case of a traffic jam, road repair detour, or taking a wrong turn, to be able to still set up camp in daylight.
Same advice for going home: plan a stop or two and allow plenty of time for the journey and for unloading the car once you get there.
Happy travels!
Dr. Debbie
Write your question to Dr. Debbie! Please include age(s) of your child(ren) and other details about the situation or concern.
Deborah Wood, Ph.D. is a child development specialist and founding director of Chesapeake Children’s Museum, located at 25 Silopanna Road in Annapolis.
Summer hours for CCM are from 10 am to 5 pm daily including the Fourth of July. Online reservations are available or call: 410-990-1993. Walk-ins are welcome. Each Thursday there is a guided nature walk at 10:30 am. Art and Story Time with Mrs. Spears and Puppy the Puppet is on Monday mornings at 10:30 am. On Saturday, June 28th, CCM is bringing crafts to the Summer Block Party at the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum, at 84 Franklin Street in downtown Annapolis from 9 am to 5 pm. In the case of extreme heat, children’s activities will be inside.
