Summer On-the-Road Survival Kit + Free Paper City Printables

LE and I are spending more and more time away from the house now that the sun has decided to stick around Madison. There are a few extra things to keep in the car for impromptu park visits, outdoor naps, and play stops.  Since John and I switch cars back and forth a fair amount in the warmer months (we both prefer the one with the sun roof), we needed a solution to make the switch easy.

My favorite way of keeping things organized with all of the extra stuff for LE during road trips is by using a big clear plastic bin, labeled with the contents inside the lid. While we're away from the home, we use the bin as her play center and then when it's time to go, we can always make sure that we leave with everything that we arrived with.

It only made sense to create a bin to transfer from car to car. filled with  the summer surplus. That way, we'll always have our Summer On-the-Road Survival Kit with us without going through the effort of taking out everything one by one.

Here's what our kit includes:

• small blanket to cover the grass for picnics or outdoor naps
• towel for after we splash in the water or get dirty
• swim diaper-- you never know if the splash pad calls our name when we're out
• sunscreen
• first aid kit
• point & shoot digital camera
• snacks
• umbrella to shield the sun at picnics or naps
• book 
• token toy
• bucket
• insect repellent wipes
• diaper clutch
• sunhat

What would you put in yours?

If LE were a year or two older, I'd be inclined to keep paper cities with us, too. Not just for the summer, but really any time that there's a possibility of being away from the home with limited entertainment.

Have you seen the paper cities at Made by Joel? He has free printouts for cities, people, helicopters, cars, etc. The kids color them in, cut them out (or you do), crease them to get it to stand, and then they have a super portable city to play with! He has a lot of inexpensive, creative ideas for imaginative play time. You should go check it out if you haven't already.

All paper city photos are from the Made by Joel website.


Here's where I linked up!