About Lisa Oppenheimer
As a writer and mom, Lisa Oppenheimer has been lucky enough to make a career combining the two things she loves most: family and travel.
Wandering the planet with her husband and two daughters has led her to fully appreciate both the challenges and the joys of family adventuring. Her most important piece of advice: remember, it's a vacation, not a job.
In addition to articles for Fodors, Parenting, Family Fun, Nick Jr. and Family Fun Magazines, Lisa has written several books on travel, including two for Fodor's "Around the City with Kids" series.
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TRAVEL FUN
Activities for the Road . . . or inAir
Websites
momsminivan.com
101 Car Travel Games & Road Trip Ideas for Kids
Classic Road-Trip Games
FamilyFun: Fun Travel Games to Relieve Kids' Boredom
Activity Ideas
Sticker Detective
Hide a sticker inside a magazine or book and ask your child to play sticker detective. Pass the magazine back and forth for a while, taking turns finding the hidden sticker. Giving clues is optional!
Fortunately-Unfortunately
Use your imagination and get silly in this word game. For example, you say, "Unfortunately, there's a lion in the car." Your child says, "Fortunately, he doesn't eat travelers."
Find 100 __________
Choose a color or an object and then count them until you find 100 of that item. Popular items are American flags, statues, rivers, water falls, churches, red cars, etc. A competitive variation has each person choose a different item or color of car that passes you, and have a race to 100.
Family Videos
Instead of bringing along the usual movies for a portable DVD player, try some original television viewing. Watch home movies of your family instead! It's the perfect time to chat about the old times, laugh and reminisce.
Custom Made Activity Book
Print out puzzles, games, and activity pages. Create a book using a three-ring binder. Visit DLTK's Crafts for Kids, where you'll find dozens of free word games, mazes, and puzzles. Click here for a directory of online games.
Scavenger Hunt
Test your skills of observation. Compete against each other or work together as a team to spot all the items on your list. Look for one or two at a time and work your way down the list. Each time your team finds something, everyone gets a treat, such as a lollipop. Here is a scavenger hunt list for the plane.
Crazy Creatures
Create strange-looking people, animals or monsters by folding a piece of paper into three equal sections. One person draws the face in the top section, then folds down the paper so the next person can't see it. That person then draws the midsection of the body, folds down the paper, and passes it to the third person, who sketches the legs in the bottom section. Finally, unfold the paper and name your creature.
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Deborah, Jared and Molly on Family Vacation |
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