Alphabet BINGO for car trips

Ah, the fun of car trips with little kids… “Are we there yet?” “I have to go to the bathroom!” “I’m hungry.” “She’s crossing the line!” “No, that’s mine!”

We’re about to pack up and trek across several states to visit some extended family. This is our first road trip with children that will be longer than 6 hours in transit, so I’m brainstorming things to do in the car with them aside from turning on the DVD player.

Here’s one I came up with that will be easy to make and fun to do, and your kiddos will learn something along the way!

Using any paper you have handy (be resourceful and use the backs of scratch paper!), draw a BINGO board – a 5×5 square with 5 rows of 5 squares each. You don’t have to measure or be precise — this isn’t going to be graded. Write one letter in each square. Find a washable crayon or a sheet of small stickers (those garage sale dots would be good or the really inexpensive sheets of “Way to Go!” stickers that teachers use). Toss it all in a big ziploc bag or envelope, and pack it in your bag of car activities.

You can play Alphabet BINGO any way you’d like. You can have your kids look for any letters they see, specify billboards, signs, or license plates, or even identify real things they see that start with the letters on their boards. Have them call out the letters they see and say out loud the sound(s) the letter makes. Be sure to bring along some extra paper because they’ll have so much fun playing this that you may need to make more boards while on the road.

This can extend further for kids who can write their letters. Let them help make the boards!

When you’re on that road trip this summer, or even just a short drive across town, whip out the BINGO boards and start playing!

Getting to know you! Photo albums for kids

If you dig around in those boxes in the back of the closet, you’re almost guaranteed to come across some old 4×6 photo albums and that stack of holiday photo cards (& birth announcements) that you couldn’t bear to throw away. Pull those goodies out and dust them off… I have a project for you! There’s that old saying:  “Out of sight is out of mind.” Well, don’t let those loved ones be out of your child’s mind. Put those photos to good use!

Start by organizing the photo cards into categories — family, playgroup friends, neighborhood friends, friends that live far away, etc.

For your very young child, cut the photo cards so that they’ll fit in the photo album. If your child is 3 or older, I encourage you to draw a line on the card where you’d like your child to cut, and hand the safety scissors over to those little (and likely very eager) hands.

Use blank address labels or small pieces of masking tape to label the FRONT of each photo with the names of everyone in the photo. Use clear, block letters so that your child may (or may someday) read the names.

Slide the photos into the sleeves of the album, maintaining the logical order you’ve established.

Read through the photo album frequently with your child, and encourage him or her to “read” it to you. Keep it somewhere accessible for your little one to browse through whenever he or she desires.

You’ll be amazed how much this book will help your child to be comfortable with your friends and family who live far away when you’re all together for those short, infrequent visits. He or she will also start to recognize names, and you can guide your child in sounding out the names.

So, here’s a way to consider the value of this project:

• That old photo album: $2.99 ten years ago
• Those holiday photo cards everyone else sent to you: free to you, but a lot of $$ to them
• The look on Great Aunt So&so’s face when your child seems genuinely happy to see her in person for the first time: priceless!