Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Pack the Car with Snacks & Fun

It's one of those days.  I'm getting in the car in time to get to school #1 before the bell to pick up a kid - and for the next five hours will be making a circuit around the county from dentist appointments to after-school activities to school pick-ups to church.  The kids are in rotation as I drop one off, pick up another, go back and get another - you know how it is.  And the schedule is tight, so I don't really have a bunch of time to stop and pick up a snack for that one, roll through McD's for a smoothie for that one - who will tell the others that they got something from McD's and then I've got to stop again.

We should be home in time for dinner (so, yes, it's a crock-pot day, too) but in the meantime, I will have a carload full of folks who are soooo hungry.  The snack bag to the rescue!
Snacks for the hungry ride.
I carry a snack bag for these long, car-ride days.  Not just for the sake of snacking while bored, but because they probably will be legitimately a little bit hungry - the kids eat lunch rather early in the day and have athletic activities after school.  I pack non-perishables, then I can leave it in the car until it needs replenishing.  Cereal bars, crackers, water and juice.  I will bring along grapes (an easy, no-peel, no-mess fruit), too.  And yes, there's even stuff for me - don't we always forget ourselves?

Other stuff to keep in the car for the after-school mini-roadtrips?  School supplies and entertainment.
  • Pencils & erasers for the kid who forgot theirs and needs to do homework
  • Flashcards, even though they don't use them in school, but it's still a good way to study math facts and spelling words.  You can have them write their spelling words on index cards when they first get their list.
  • Books that they are supposed to be reading for school. Or fun reading just to be entertained - my son loves those amazing facts and greatest record books.
  • Small toys or games - Or pieces of a game, like the cards from a Trivial Pursuit game.
  • Playing cards - they can play when sitting and waiting
With all of this time in the car, there is also all the wrappers and paper and trash that inevitably finds their way into the car door handles (which my kids think are convenient little trash cans that a car fairy comes and cleans out), onto the car floor, and in between the car seats.  I saw an idea - on Pinterest, in Real Simple, who knows - to use a plastic container for a trash can.  The flip-top kind you use for cereal or sugar in your pantry.  I happen to have two empty ones and I just happen to have two rows in my car.  Let's see how that works out.

Share in "Comments": What else do you carry in your car?


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