Helpful Mom

Did you know that you can use McDonald’s website to locate all their locations with playlands along your way.  Go to their website and click on Restaurant locator, then on McDonald’s trip planner, put in your beginning and ending zip codes and viola!  Poof a list of McDonalds along your way and if you read the chart it will tell you which ones have a playplace or playland.  I took this info and input it into Mapquest to get directions from our home to McDonalds to our destination.  Easy as that and now we know exactly when we’ll be stopping and where so the kids have a goal to reach.  We’ll give them a half hour to play while we eat and then get them food they can eat in the car.  That will keep them occupied for a while.

Along the way driving to your destination you should think of the drive as part of the trip.  I know we are trying to get there as quick as possible so we can get out of the car and start the fun.  But we should try to make it part of the fun and enjoy it along the way, make a memory or two.  In order to try and do this and keep our sanity I pack things for even our stops along the way.  We try to stop every hour and a half to two hours to get gas, food, potty break, and most important let the kids run around.

If you are stopped at a basic rest stop there are simple ways to have fun.  I keep chalk, bubbles, and punching balloons in my glove box at all times.  (You never know when your car might break down with kids in the car)  All these items are small and portable.  Kids love to draw and if you can get them to play hop scotch, or act out a story.  My girls love to act out Jonah, by drawing a boat, a whale, dry land, and Ninevah, then jump from the boat to the whale, to dry land, to Ninevah, and over and over again.  It’s a simple way to teach them Bible stories and use their imaginations while stretching those legs, just use your imagination.  Bubbles, who doesn’t like bubbles?  Kids love to blow them, kids looove to chase them and try to catch them.  I even keep a small bottle in my purse for those moments in a long line when you need a distraction.  And punching balloons can be blown up, played with, deflated, re-blown up, etc.  I’ve also packed jump ropes and very basic kites.

When plotting our route I will also look for parks we could stop and take a short hike.  Once we stopped and took a 20 minute hike into a park to see a pair of beautiful waterfalls.  And I will also check out McDonalds website to search for where the ones with play areas are along our path.  That way we can plan on stopping at those spots for lunch or dinner and let the kids run free.  Usually we’ll eat our meal while the kids play, and then when it’s time to leave we’ll go buy the kids their meals and let them eat in the car.