In addition to your coolers packed with snacks and drinks and bags with cuddy blankets, video games, DVD players and iPhones, bring along language learning and interactive activities to make the most out of your next road trip! So turn off the movie and Nintendo Ds and give your child what they want the most….you!

One of the best, most socially interactive things you can do while in the car is simple…..talk about what you see! You can make this as simple or as complex as you would like, depending on your child. If your child is nonverbal, MUSIC is key. Sing about what you see: “I see a cow, a cow, a cow….I see a cow….eating some grass!” You can model labeling what you see and model the environment noise: “Car….vrooooooom!” “Sheep….baaaa!” Comment about what you see. This can be a:
-One-word label: “Tree.”
-Directing attention + label “Look! Tree!”
-Securing attention + directing attention + label: “Mommy, look! Tree!”
-and more: “Whoa Mommy, look at that BIG tree! Cool! I bet birds like to sit on that tree!”
The best thing you can do is model the language. Your child will hear the model and visually see what you are referring to. Don’t forget to point (if it’s safe). Once they hear several models, they will begin to catch on to the social communicative intentions behind commenting about what you see and sharing the comment with another person, a very important skill.

MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC! Don’t forget to bring along child-friendly music you can sing along to with your child. This is a wonderful social interaction and your child will be learning all the language within the songs. You can also work on requesting (“more Row Boat”; “Different song!”; “Turn it up!”; “Sing Mommy!”, etc.) Some of our favorite children’s artists are Laurie Berkner, Larry Groce & the Disneyland Children's Sing Along Chorus and of course Raffi.

Try making fun scavenger hunt, bingo cards or lists in advance! You can custom make any type of lists or visual bingo cards depending on your child’s interest or what you want your child to learn about. For instance, if your child loves transportation, go online and find images of all the auto makers’ logos. Your child can cross off each logo once they see the car on the road. You can make it as detailed as you want (colors, types of car such as convertible, truck, SUV, etc.). You can do the same with animals, license plates (print off a USA map so your child can work on geography, visual spatial skills and more) and the alphabet (look for words that start with all the letters in the alphabets on the signs you see). Don’t forget to make it interactive by taking turns “Mommy’s turn to find license plate”; commenting, “Look cow!” Brown cow!” “Three more animals to go!”, etc.

Card Games and Travel Games! They have gotten really creative with making some games transportable like Hungry, Hungry Hippos, Flippin' Frogs, Kerplunk, Connect Four and tons more. I had the travel version of Monopoly Junior as a kid and I was in love with it and thought it was ridiculously cool (because it was)! These are perfect for initiating and responding to turn taking, reciprocal and cooperative play skills, conversation and tons of academic and cognitive skills like predicting, cause and effect and math. Don't forget about Go Fish, Uno, Old Maid, War, Slap Jack and any of your favorite card games.

Story Books and Books on CD! Pack as many books as you can. Pack a variety of books with simple illustrations. Books are filled with language and visuals and when you read with your child, this is one of the best social/joint attention activities you can do together. Don’t just read the words or ask questions, comment about what is going on in the illustrations. You can also sing about the pictures……you don’t have to read the book word for word.

Activity Books! We LOVE Highlights magazines. They are filled with hidden picture activities, jokes, mazes, tracing activities, word puzzles, drawing activities, same/different activities and more! Practice turn-taking, “Look, Dad! I found the + object” and engaging in conversations about the activities. Crossword puzzles, Where’s Waldo, I Spy books and word finds are all great ideas. There are also tons of wonderful “Travel Activity” books you can find that are filled with fun stuff to do (see links below). Be sure to make it interactive!

You can pack photo albums that contain pictures from previous trips or the family members/friends you will be visiting. This is not only a great way to prepare your child for what will happen next, but it’s also a great visual to use when working on conversation and talking about past and future events.

Links to some fun travel activity books:

“License Plates Across the States : And Other Travel Puzzles and Games”
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/License-Plates-across-the-States/Tony-T...

“Miles of Smiles”
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Miles-of-Smiles/Laurie-Calkhoven/e/9781...

“The Everything Kids’ Travel Activity Book”
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Everything-Kids-Travel-Activity-Boo...

“Best Travel Activity Book Ever!”
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Best-Travel-Activity-Book-Ever/Rand-McN...

“Where’s Waldo? The Ultimate Travel Collection”
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Wheres-Waldo-The-Ultimate-Travel-Collec...

Enjoy making your time in the car fun and social!

~Laura & Amanda
KidSpeak, LLC
www.kidspeakdallas.com