On The Road: Spot the Signs!

Living in a city, I travel with Ethan on the car almost everyday, either sending him to the preschool, going for family visit, on a road trip or just a nearby grocery shopping. For a perfectly normal toddler who is so curious in almost anything and everything, it's impossible to expect him to sit still and keep quiet throughout the whole ride. So whether I'm traveling with my big guy or alone with my boy, I have some activities to keep him occupied throughput the ride.

Some usual activities that we enjoy doing on the car ride:

• Singing Songs. Songs like wheels on the bus, Old McDonalds had a farm, Alphabet songs, If you are happy etc, songs that come with hand motions often keep LO excited.

• Chit chat about his day. When I pick Ethan up after work, sometimes we talk about his day, like what he did at school, who are his friends, what are the new things he learnt, what he had for lunch etc. It's our little mommy and son moment and I get to understand his day better too.

• Spotting Road Signs. After Ethan turned 2.5yo, I started teaching him to read signs and he was really proud that he can correctly named a few of the road signs. Can you tell what are the following signs? Well, Ethan knows and he often remind me to slow down if I exceeded the maximum speed limit displayed on the sign. :)

How does LO benefits from this?

1. First of all, it keeps the LO happy and therefore parent can better focus on driving. It's definitely a win win situation. :)
2. Learn different types of vehicle, signs which enhance LO's general knowledge.
3. Understand the basic rules of driving, such as no speeding, follow the traffic lights etc. These are essential skills which may come useful later part in their lives.

Tips!

I bought a set of Travel Bingo which comes with 4 sets of cards - Vehicles, Town / City, Signs and Country. It comes in a set of 2 board, each with 4 interchangeable cards. This is how it works:

1. Each one of us holds a board with the same card insert with all tabs opened
2. Whenever we spot an matching object on the road, close the corresponding tab
3. Whoever have matching row of closed tabs first, wins the game.

If you are up to it, buy some card boards and design your own inserts. :)

However, if your LO has tendency of throwing things, please do not introduce this Travel Bingo game until much later or it may poses danger.

Be a Fan