Enjoying the Journey

In our goal-oriented, faster-is-better society, it’s often hard to sit back and enjoy the journey. And with all the technology available in today’s vehicles, we don’t usually have to try. But looking out the window on a car trip can be just as interesting as playing SuperMario for the umpteenth time.

Don’t believe it? Try it! Write each of the following prompts on a slip of paper and put them in two bags: one for “On the way there” and one for “On the way home.” When boredom strikes, have kids pick a slip and do the activity on it. Try these examples, or think up your own:

On the way there:

• If you could design your dream travel vehicle, what fun and cool things would it have inside? Draw a picture of it.

• Look at a road map and make a list of the Top 10 weirdest town names.

• List five things you’ve never seen before that you hope to see on this trip and tell why.

• Keep a list of all the different license plates you see. How many states or provinces can you find?

• Draw the shape of the most interesting cloud you can see from your window.

On the way home:

• Design an advertisement for your favorite place we visited.

• Tell one new thing you learned about your country (or state or province) as we traveled. Why did you think that was so interesting?

• Tell one thing you saw that you’d like to learn more about after we get home.

• Write a poem about your favorite part of our trip.

• Draw pictures of the smallest thing you saw and the biggest thing you saw.