I’m glad you found The Trip Clip® blog! I’ll post here about new activities and clipart, fun ways to use The Trip Clip products, and about life as a Tech Mom. I love to hear from others, so leave a comment any time!
Mazes are wonderful entertainment on the go, and The Trip Clip makes it possible to print hundreds or even thousands of unique mazes that are just right for your child! Simply refresh the page and a new maze will be generated on the fly. You can also easily change the difficulty setting for your mazes. Start with Beginner, and work your way up to Extreme!
If you want to print lots of mazes fast, use the Activity Book option.
There are lots of opinions out there about whether or not kids should do chores, which chores are appropriate, and whether or not kids should get paid for them.
I think the most important thing is that kids do as much for themselves as they can. Sure, many times it’s a lot easier to just do it myself. But as much as possible I ask mykids to do any jobs they’re capable of. I want them to learn to take care of themselves so that they’re not the kid at college who doesn’t know how to do laundry, or the young adult who doesn’t know how to cook pasta.
I’ve also been very surprised by how much my kids enjoy helping around the house (once I get past the initial resistance, which happens every time I initiate a new task). I think they feel good and important and capable when they can do some of these jobs. I recently taught my 14-year-old how to wash dishes (I know, way too late, but I’m trying), and he told me he thought it was a very good thing that he knew how to do that now! I agreed with him.
To get you started, here are chores that are appropriate for a 4-5 year old.
This list is intended for reference, to give you ideas of what things a child this age can do. Remember that if these tasks are new to your child, you’ll need to introduce the tasks slowly, and teach your kids the individual steps involved so that they can practice and improve! I like to add new chores one at a time to their of daily or weekly to do’s so that I don’t overwhelm them. Sometimes it takes weeks in between adding a new task before they’re ready for another one to be added on. It’s a process!
If you need to make some changes to this list, you can easily edit it here. Click on the text next to any picture to change it, or drag and drop items on and off of the list or to a new position in the list.
If you have a kid who plays sports, you know how much time and energy goes into trying to make sure they have all the right gear at every game and practice. A great way to make this easier for everyone is to have a packing list. Print it out, hang it on the wall, and a whole bunch of mental energy you usual spend trying to make sure you’ve remembered everything can be spent instead on trying to figure out if you washed that particular pair of socks, or where those shoes landed after the last practice!
Truly the best thing about the packing list, though, is the independence it can give your kids. When they have a list to work from, they can take control of their own gear in a way that just doesn’t seem to happen when the list is in your head. Give it a try, you may be surprised by how well it works!
If you need to make some changes to this list, you can easily edit it here by purchasing the Packing List Activity. Click on the text next to any picture to change it, or drag and drop items on and off of the list or to a new position in the list.
Airport bingo board is a great way to fill the time between security and boarding the plane. This is one of my kids’ favorites Trip Clip Activities.
You can also edit the board, and print a new one for each trip. Try it with a kid-sized clipboard from The Trip Clip to make your trip even smoother!
If you like this, you may also want to check out my blog post about great ways to learn new things at the airport: Learning While Traveling.
These activities are great for keeping your kids entertained while celebrating the holiday.
Click here to print them for free!
Chores Bingo is a great way to mix things up and make chores more fun. Unlike daily assigned chores, this bingo board lets kids try — and learn! — different jobs. It works surprisingly well for spreading the work load and keeping it interesting.
A picture packing list is a great way to teach your kids important life skills! For younger kids, make the list for them and let them collect and pack the items themselves (just be sure to double check their work!). For older kids, have them make their packing list themselves, and then go over it with them to make sure they’re not forgetting anything.
Packing lists are also great to help you get out the door for daily or weekly sports practices. A good checklist can be a life saver for kids and adults!
If you need to make some changes to this list, you can easily edit it here by purchasing the Packing List Activity. Click on the text next to any picture to change it, or drag and drop items on and off of the list or to a new position in the list.
