Shelley's Road Trip Activities and Creative Prompts for Road Travel Entertainment

I spent the Friday, yesterday, and today knitting Katy's sweater. One sleeve done. One sleeve half done. The body done. I just need to finish the sleeve and do the yoke.

While driving to Kerr Dam yesterday, my goal was to knit, knit, knit. To keep the children occupied, I made activity books for them.

This may sound ordinary. I mean, who doesn't have tic-tac-toe, battleship, or car bingo ready to go on a road trip? I don't do those kinds of activity books - lest you've forgotten who you're reading.

Welcome to Shelley's Road Trip Activities and Creative Prompts for Road Travel Entertainment. Yeah, they'll never fit that on a cereal box. Let's just call it the "Roadside Creativity Book".

Each child gets a sketch book and a composition book. Keep in mind my children (that write) are 7, 11, and 14. I need to make sure that the assignments can be done on many age levels.

I must admit that the assignments are spontaneous but I will try to recall some of them for you.


Assignments start with the announcement, "Pencils at the ready?" or "Colored pencils at the ready?" or whatever writing implement or craft item they will be using. I don't tell them ahead of time because half the fun is searching through their bags for the correct implement.

Well, I guess that means I need to back up and tell you what's in the bag, huh?

I have 4 children. 3 participate. Those of you with multiples know that while the idea of sharing is important, it's really a good idea for them to each have a bag. That way we're not all fighting over the black marker. (That's ALWAYS the one they seem to be fighting over.) Trust me when I say that life goes easier when everyone has their own black marker. Feel free to quote me on that.


Bag Contents:

• Pipsqueak markers
• Crayola 64 count colored pencils (the tiny ones)
• Mechanical pencils (no sharpeners or shavings in the car)
• Twistables crayons (YES, TWISTABLES!!! This keeps you from having broken crayons)
• Aluminum foil (a cheap roll) one for each child
  
• Colored pipe cleaners
• Small sandwich bag of beads
• Hemp cording (I originally just had "hemp" down there but I know how some of you are LOL)
  
• 4 skeins of embroidery floss
• Scissors
• Clip board (I like the ones that are like a box that opens)

So where are we going to go? Because that's an important question in the scheme of the "Roadside Creativity Book". Let's say we're taking a 3 hour trip to a working farm. That'll be easy (especially since I've done it.)

Pencils at the ready?

Name 10 people that live in the town of "Sourville". (Or whatever small town name that strikes you as funny.)

The thought is that this will take about 10 - 20 minutes. We want first and last names. Since I'm from the South, it is of particular importance for me to point out to the children that many names are really two FIRST names, "Sally June", "Billy Ray", "Ida Claire", etc. (Don't laugh about the last one. I really have known women...)

This sets up the characters of their story that they don't know they're writing yet. Aha! Tricky AND educational. Don't you just love it?!?

I have each of them read them aloud to me (and hubby) when they're done.

"Great job! I feel like I know the town's folk already! Pencils at the ready?!?!"

"Pick one of the names on your list and tell me a bit about him or her."

Another 15 - 20 minutes will go by. They then read them aloud again.

"Jake? Meet "Sally Fay". Caleb? Meet "Johnny Earl". Katy? Meet "Bubba Jenkins". " I announce.

"Jake? Sally Fay just baked you the sweetest sweet potato pie you ever did have." said in my best Southern drawl. "Describe that pie so I feel like I'm eating every bite right along with you." and I bat my eyelashes.

"Caleb? Bubba Jenkins just stole the pie that Sally Fay REALLY baked for YOU. Tell me about how you're gonna' git in your pickup truck and drive down yonder a piece and give him a piece of yer mind." I tell him.

"Katy? Johnny Earl's gonna' ask you to marry him but you can't stand that he smells like pigs. I mean, he IS a pig farmer and all. Let him know that you can't marry a man who smells like a dead skunk on a hot summer day by thinking up things he smells like." I smile.

Katy is giggling so hard she can't breathe. "You smell like a dirty diaper that's been left in the sun next to a fish factory." I hear her saying.

This takes them a bit longer - maybe 30 minutes or so. This gives me time to look around at the scenery and notice things about the landscape for our next "assignment".

I'VE GOT IT! There are signs all over the place that you just don't see in the city. Yellow caution signs with tractors on them, deer crossing signs, those types of things.

When they are finished and have read their hilarious scenarios, I let them know that the Mayor of Sourville just called me and they need some help in city planning. No one will come to work in the middle of a feud between Sally Fay, Bubba Jenkins, and Johnny Ray so they're asking for outside help.

They need a sign to warn people of the dangers of being out in a rural area. Can they help?

"Crayons at the ready?!?!" Sketch pads open furiously. They can't draw fast enough. They are laughing, hiding their pictures from each other, and asking me questions like, "Do they have armadillos here?" (No, they don't, btw.) I think if I were going to draw a sign it would be a yellow caution sign with a dead skunk and those wavy lines coming off of it. THAT'S a smell that lingers, let me tell you! Whew! It smells like a stinky sneaker left in a pile of rotting cabbage near a sulfur spring. (Tell me *I* couldn't have helped Sally Fay along!)

The other items in the bag are for friendship bracelets (that they usually end up giving each other, aw!) and pipe cleaner animals.

The writing prompts are usually a favorite, though.

"Pencils at the ready?!?!" They eagerly look for their mechanical pencils, rummaging through the back seat.

"A haiku about an outhouse."

Roars of laughter and I see them immediately start counting syllables on their fingers.

My children love to write and they love to perform for us. This keeps them (and us) occupied and entertained with something new all of the time.

"Children? There's a new species of fern just discovered. It's properties are known to kill bacteria and foul odors. Perfect for growing around outhouses. I need you to describe it, name it, draw it, and yes, plant it. Trust me. COLORED PENCILS AT THE READY?!?!" And they're off! Drawing pictures, cross sections, seeds, root systems, and descriptions that would make any Victorian botanist proud.

Some "assignments" are more serious than others. Once, when taking a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains, they drew pictures of the mountains in the distance and wrote poems about God. If you've ever been there, you'd have to admit you feel very close to the Creator while atop the mountains in the middle of a cloud.

I'll have them look just at the tree tops and describe what they see (since we typically only look straight ahead as humans.) I'll have them draw the forest floors.

This is usually only interrupted by me yelling, "SASQUATCH! QUICK! WRITE AN ARTICLE ON HOW TO GET AWAY!"

..... "Pencils at the ready?"

P.S. If you put a comment in the comment box, I'll let you know what the aluminum foil is for. ;o)