Screen-Free Travel with Kids…How to Keep Your Sanity
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In this podcast episode, we discuss how Jen and her husband drove over 10,000 miles with their three littles ones across the country, 7 and under… 100% screen-free travel in the car. And believe it or not… all while staying mostly sane.
The summer of 2022 our family of five took off on a cross country 4-month trip pulling a 29 ft travel trailer behind our Suburban. My husband and I tend to be a bit old school in terms of technology, not to mention the onset of tantrums and meltdowns when said technology comes to its end… so there was never a question in my mind that during this trip, there would most likely be no screens in our car to keep our kids entertained.
So here are the handful of tips that I can impart to you from personal experiences and learned (aka, painful) lessons.
In this episode on screen-free travel we’ll discuss:
- Why and when we need to give ourselves a little extra grace
- Our top 8 tips for keeping screens to a minimum that work.
- How we stay off screens in the airport
Resources from this episode:
Playaway audiobooks – I feel to buy these, they are so expensive. Check your library first! Ours has them to take out. They are so convenient, though, because you don’t need anything but a pair of headphones to plug into them.
Yoto players and cards – the mini would be ideal for travel. The neat thing is you can use them as a speaker or plug headphones into them for the car.
Headphone splitter – if you have more than one kiddo listening in on an audiobook, but you want to listen to your own thing up front, get a jack splitter so they can all listen in together comfortably.
Sparkle Stories– We adore these stories. We have been listening to them for years. There are original stories for all ages. “Explore a world of 1,400+ original audio stories for children ages 3 to 9+ — specially crafted to entertain and enrich your child’s developing mind.” If you want to try them free, they have free episodes on apple itunes!
The good and the beautiful book list – each of these books are:
- No disrespectful or inappropriate behavior made to look funny or acceptable
- No unclean language
- Selections with wonderful writing of the highest literary value
- Character-building themes such as bravery, hard work, kindness, and respect
Spotify – pick and choose what you listen to, when you want it! Try 3 months free
Brainquest activity books – our kids loved doing these in the car, at a restaurant, on the plane, while I’m trying to get them to get ready for school :-p They’re well loved.
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Cover Art by Amanda Leigh of A & A Photography
Music by FASSounds from Pixabay
