Traveling with children can be challenging, especially when they are forced to sit in a car for hours. These road trip tips will break up the monotony and keep everyone entertained. Having a good selection of activities can mean the difference between fun and disaster.

Road Trip Tip #1 / Travel Coupons

Make ahead travel coupons for school age children. They can redeem their coupons throughout the trip. Suggestions might be; pick the music on the radio for 30 minutes., ask someone to tell a story, choose a treat at the gas station, get to select DVD.

Road Trip Tip #2 / Reward Prizes

Gift wrap small trinkets or toys and use them throughout the trip for good behavior rewards.

Road Trip Tip #3 / No Talking

This is a game that will have everyone laughing, and you’ll have a little bit of peace and quiet. Set a period of time where no one can talk, instead children must pass notes on pieces of paper back and forth to carry on a conversation.

Road Trip Tip #4 / Yoga at Rest Stops

When you stop for bathroom breaks let the kids do some basic and silly yoga poses. It will be fun and a good way to stretch before getting back in the car.

Road Trip Tip #5 / “A” to “Z” Game

Start naming an animal that starts with the letter “A’ and have everyone take turns listing other animals for the rest of the alphabet.

Road Trip Tip #6 / Scavenger Hunt

List things that you might see on your trip. Suggestions might be; tire on the side of the road, station wagon with wood panels, brightly painted houses.

Road Trip Tip #7 / Scotch Tape

Buy a roll of scotch tape; they’ll spend hours unrolling it, sticking it to themselves. And the best part, no mess clean up.

Road Trip Tip #8 / Backpack of Treats

Pack a backpack of treats that include a variety of healthy individually wrapped snacks. Every hour or so pass the backpack and let everyone pick a snack or two to munch on.

When you’re traveling with children remember to relax and enjoy your time together. It probably isn’t that often you are all together for a long period of time. Enjoy your trip and “click it” to be safe.

Screen-Free Week (formerly TV-Turnoff) is the annual celebration where children, families, schools, and communities turn off screens and turn on life.

Screen-Free Week is a wonderful way to help children lead healthier, happier lives by reducing dependence on entertainment screen media-including television, video games, computers, and hand-held devices.  By encouraging children and families to unplug, Screen-Free Week provides time for them to play, connect with nature, read, daydream, create, explore, and spend more time with family and friends. 

Please visit www.screenfree.org to join the fun and to download your free Screen-Free Week Organizer’s Kit.  It’s packed with fact sheets, great suggestions for screen-free activities, pledge cards, and more!

In the classroom, teachers use a variety of incentives and rewards to encourage positive behaviors. At home, parents can use this to their advantage too! Incentives help boost your child’s self-esteem as they reward effort and acknowledge accomplishments. Children are motivated to keep trying if they feel like they are making progress toward their goals and have a reasonable chance at being successful.

How to use reward tickets:

1. “Catch” your child doing good things. Write what he or she did well on the back of the ticket.

2. Collect tickets in a plastic jar or an empty decorated box.

3. Allow children to redeem tickets for small rewards or special privileges.

4. Create a special place for your child to keep redeemed tickets to serve as a reminder of all the great things he or she has accomplished.

If you don’t want to use tickets you could substitute star stickers or even marbles for older children to reward for positive behavior.

Provided By Tommie of http:/tommiestools.blogspot.com/

What’s a toy that consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears,

LEGO’s are new at School Crossing, and more are arriving almost daily. Coming into our stock are these LEGO categories’:

• DUPLO
• BRICKS & MORE
• CITY (FIRE, POLICE, TOWN)
• DINO
• CREATOR
• SUPER HERO
• NINJAGO
• CARS
• STAR WARS
• PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
• HARRY POTTER
• HERO FACTORY
• TECHNIC

We are very excited about having LEGO as part of our offerings. Keep your eyes open for a LEGO Building Contest we will sponsor this coming fall, entries will be displayed in our window with lots of prizes and awards.

3^rd Annual Run the D.O.G. St. a 5 K race and I mile fun run, Saturday, April 14, 2012.

School Crossing is partnering with Colonial Sports by sponsoring the Kids 1 Mile Fun Run. The race begins at 7:00 am before the 5 K main event. The scenic course runs through Historic Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg. Proceeds from this event support AVALON; a center for women and children. Currently 300 children have signed up to run. Each participant receives a backpack, T-shirt and finishers medal.

To register go to: www.thecolonialsports.com/events Cut off for registration is April 13^th at 6:00 pm.

Can you believe it? It’s already time to celebrate Dr. Seuss birthday! The NEA’s Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

Virginia SOL Coach

Reading, English, Writing, Math, Science, History, Virginia Studies, Civics & Economics, Geography

It’s that time of year when we need to make room for brand new products and merchandise, especially with the 2012 New York Toy Fair buying show coming up in February. That means we got to make room for new stuff, so we are having a “CLEARANCE SALE”! We have lots of merchandise that is on clearance, some items discounted well beyond 50% off. Games, toys, radio controlled, dolls, doll houses, plush, Thomas items, the list goes on and on and on. Save Big, First come, First served!!!

All clearance items are final sales, no return, no exchange. Clearance merchandise is only available at our stores, not available at our website.