Saturday, 31 May 2014

Are we there yet?

Our two oldest are now 6 and 8, and hitting that age when they would happily sit on electronic devices for hours on end.

Now I don't have a problem with the kids using them (in moderation) but we have a no computer game rule in the car.



So we have had to come up with a few strategies to keep them occupied when travelling.

1. The sign game.
We have to find a sign with a word starting with A, then B, C you get the picture.






It's Great for there reading skills as they have to call out the word, also the alphabet, and even better it last for ages.

2. My sons favorite - the rainbow game
Starting at red - you have to find cars in the colour of the rainbow.
We started this when our oldest was still at kinder so our rainbow order is thanks to a Mickey Mouse episode.

Red, yellow, orange green blue
Don't forget the purple too


It has progressed now, My kids go through the colours once looking for cars, then signs, then it might be things in the car.

3. The list

We write a huge list of things to find along the trip and give the kids 3 at a time to look out for. We find 3 works well as if one is tricky it keeps them occupied

Some from today's list
Sheep



A blue roof.
This had the kids searching for a while til they realised that all cars had roofs, and they quickly found a blue car.

Wind turbines / windmills


Others they found were
Red car
Dump truck
Sign
Caravan (not ours)

4. An oldey but a goodey. Eye spy. 
Kids love it, although once again they have adapted it to have bonus rounds, when they say I spy in my imagination..... Those bonus rounds can get a bit tricky :-)

5. Finally if all else fails we put on a DVD. As that doesn't count as a video game right.


Another Journey begins

Today marks the start of another travelling adventure with our four beautiful children.

The day starts with a countdown 2200kms til our destination the red centre of Australia.





The children's excitement is rising and ours will be too, once the van is packed, the dishes done and the last minute running around finished.

Some people say we are crazy 4400kms, 2 under 2, and a 6 and 8 year old, a car, a caravan. But they obviously don't know us well. 

Our oldest first trip was at ten days old a road trip from Melbourne to batemans bay, by the time our two oldest were in kinder they had travelled across the nullabor twice, stood on the tip of Cape York and most western point of Australia, travelling to every state and territory in Australia.

I am writing this for anyone who says you can't travel with kids, as well as for my children to look back and see the amazing adventures we go on.