Change of plan...

[Jedo_03]

Original proposal was either the Kimberly's or Qld Nth...
Minister for Travel and Tourism has 'anounced' that next year's big trip will once again be 'up the middle' - with the added bonus :oo: of having the company of daughter and two g'kids...
Well - I hope they appreciate the awe of the Rock, Kings Canyon, Katherine Gorges, the Marbles, Mataranka, Darwin, Adelaide River crocodiles, Jabiru... I know I will...
What bother's me is the l-o-n-g distances (and time in the vehicles) that the little tackers will have to endure... They have 2-screen portable DVD's, gameboys, colouring books, wordsearch, CB's...etc etc... but...
How do other's keeps their kids entertained on long-hauls..??
Looking for ideas
Jedo

[ss_11000]

20GB Mp3. maybe a movie or two.
otherwise, i go to sleep:D

edit...last time i travelled ( long dist ) was to orange. approx 4.5-5 hrs cant remember, but i read harry potter. so like midge says, books are good to.

[bitingmidge]

Toss out the DVD's, colouring books, gameboys.... you're there to have some time as a family, not as a bunch of nerds with thumb cramps and things going beep every thirty seconds.

Get a bunch of talking books and enjoy them together, interspersed with the odd game of spotto, and play the numbers game... like spotto, but you have to count up to say ....100. Believe me you can go for hours out there without seeing a number, or think you can till you start playing the game!

On one trip from Brisso to Grafton we listened to Kay Cottee reading the story of her circumnavigation (all the kids were in primary school at the time). After five hours or so, we arrived, and they whinged because the story hadn't finished!

Our biggie was "The Princess Bride", the darned thing would get played day after day after day, even though we could recite all six hours or whatever word for word.

So, do yourself a favour, download a bunch of mp3 books, ban any form of electronic game, and start enjoying your family!

cheers,

P
:D:D:D

[Big Shed]

Great advice Midge. We love talking books and so did the kids when they were still at home.
Must say I have never downloaded an mp3 book, so where do I look? (Showing my age here!:()

[Jedo_03]

Oops...
Aye, forgot the MP3's - they both have one... and the movies are covered with the portable DVD... and if the little B's sleep during the day they'll just be a mischief at night and not go to bed...
(actually - getting them the double screen DVD wasn't such a smart move as what tends to happen is that one wants to watch Terabots or Batman and the other one wants to watch Barbie or Saddle Club... which ends up in a screaming orgy of increasing crescendo... sholdha bought them one each...)
Jedo

[bitingmidge]

Jedo,

When I said MP3's I meant to play through the car system! BAN iPods too, BAN anything that'll give them an excuse to withdraw and be their own person. The minute they fight, tell 'em they've stuffed it for everyone, no music no books for half an hour...... they'll learn to love you eventually, trust me!! :D

And trust me on the Princess Bride too. It spans all ages and gender!

Big S,

I found many links a year or so ago, but can't grab them in a hurry. There are numbers available as free downloads.

We hit the road earlier this year with about 50 "conversation hours" downloaded from the ABC, along with a few dozen science shows, and half a series of Denton's Enough Rope. Hundreds and hundreds of podcasts are available through the iTunes store for free. (Download iTunes for free at Apple.com.... there is a PC version).

You can buy MP3 books too through iTunes, or do a quick Google search.

In the past, we've just borrowed books in tape or CD from our library. Hunt around, there's gazillions of them.

cheers,

P

[Jedo_03]

Aye - well, also got talking books... good range to be had the ABC shop... and they DO occupy them (g'daughter more than g'son - who is less attentive and a darn sight more 'fidgety' than his older sister...
I think I know what you mean by Spotto... we've played similar in the past but spotting roadsigns - and another version where they have an alphabet grid and can cross out the first letter of place names they pass through or see on signs (x's and z's are hard ones...)
Another thing we do (we have GPS) is 'Geocaching' - that is interesting as long as the next one is less than 100kms away...
Worst thing the guvment did was erect distance signs every flaming 5kms.
They can both count admirably in 5's (and 6's, 7's, 8's and 9's - all learned rote on shortish (3.5 hours to Mildura - 7 hours to Adelaide) journeys) and it's no longer a case of "are we there yet" - more "Gee... Still 495 k's to go...)
It's not for the sake of trying... I've worked with 1000's of kids over the last 27 years in allied health - so I know the territory... Just looking for fresh ideas...
cheers
Jedo

[Jedo_03]

Hi Midge
Yeah - we have the plug in thingys... and everything is played through the car system... talking books, dvd soundtrack... mp3's (cept there's usually an argument about WHO'S mp3/tune/song/talking book should be "on air")... I have even rigged a karaoke system up so they can sing along to their fave trax... (yeah - a mic each...)
I'm running out of ideas...
Broken Hill to Darwin is a helluva long way...
Jedo