ADHD & Attention Deficits, Fun Activities & Games
Things to Do on a Road Trip With Family: Movement Break Ideas
If you’re fortunate enough to travel this holiday season and looking for things to do on a road trip with family
We wanted to offer a selection of our movement break videos for you to bring along! A lot of the parents we work with are starting to ask about advice on how to satisfy their children’s sensory needs in travel situations.
Kid’s car entertainment has changed quite a bit in the last 20 years. Gone are the days of removing the back row of the Astro Van, lying down a twin mattress, and piling with your siblings around a 10” VCR player that runs off the 12V power adapter.
That’s how my family survived the 10-hour car rides to Grandma’s house! Of course, safety and seatbelt laws prevent that now!
So, if you have a child who struggles on a day to day basis with hyperactivity issues, how on earth are you going to expect him or her to sit nicely in the back of the car for a whole day without meltdowns, tantrums, or worse?
I strongly encourage families to plan out a pit stop every two hours or so. And if there are no playgrounds within sight, no worries. You can simply pull off into a rest stop or gas station and pop on one of our movement break videos on your phone or tablet.
The specific exercises in the videos are designed for the classroom to help kids settle back down quickly and boost their emotional self-regulation, and we think they’ll work just as well for settling back into the next leg of the car trip.
And we all know how distracting it can be to have wiggling, giggling little ones behind us while driving. Add in a meltdown and some whining, and even the driver will need a moment of regulation to make sure he or she is able to focus on the road.
“According to a 20-year review of fatal crash data, children in vehicles can distract drivers and increase the risk of accidents.
Another study suggests driving with a child is 12 times more distracting than talking on a mobile phone while driving. Yikes!” – taken from the website of Say Insurance.
Those are some statistics worth taking seriously. So please have a look at their tips for driving safely, and have a look at our tips for keeping the little ones engaged and emotionally regulated by using movement breaks every 2 hours.
Movement breaks are one of the easiest things to do on a road trip with family that will optimize regulated behavior and sensory needs.
Here are a couple of previews from the CoordiKids Courses that you can use at pit stops this holiday season.
And for more tips on keeping the kids happy on long car rides, see my other article: The 10 Best Tips for Long Car Rides with Kids