Travel Activities in a Binder- Schoolhouse Review

Several years ago at a homeschool convention I ran across a product called Preschool Activities in a Bag. The idea was to compile gallon size Ziploc bags with various activities a preschooler could get out, play with, and put back. I thought that was a brilliant idea but since I didn’t have any preschoolers at the time I didn’t pick it up. Until a few weeks ago, I thought that that was the only products Activity Bags made were for preschoolers. I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. Activity Bags has science, travel, math, and reading activities in addition to two preschool books. Each Activity Bags product can be compiled individually or in a swap. A swap is  coordinated by one person and each participant makes multiple copies of one or more activity. The coordinator redistributes all the activities so each participant gets one of each activity back. A coordinator handbook is available free on the Activity Bags website for those who don’t own the science or preschool books.

I was offered a chance to test Travel Activities in a Binder. Travel Activities in a Binder are perfect for long car trips or other trips where elementary age children need to be kept busy. Most of the activities seemed to be geared for grades 2+  although there are a couple that a younger child can do, especially if she or he can read.

Unlike the other Activity Bags products, Travel Activities is compiled into a binder rather than Ziploc bags. Each activity is printed on cardstock and inserted into page protectors. A zippered pouch with dry erase markers and a piece of cloth are also placed in the binder. Thus the entire product is contained in a binder for the car and nothing gets lost. There are many activities some of the types of activities include  tic-tac-toe and some variations, mazes, bingo searches, drawing activities, and hangman.

During the review period, our family drove approximately 1,000 miles round trip over the course of a weekend. Needless to say, there were many hours in the car that needed to be filled. I have always packed a couple of toys/surprises for the kids to look forward to on long trips. This trip was no different except for one thing- I had made the binder! Due to user error on my part, my printer  had some difficulty printing pages on both sides- I should have changed the settings to cardstock. As a result of my struggles, I only printed one binder for the trip. The binder has such a variety of activities that it kept my children happy for many hours. The children would take turns with possession for one player games and then would pass the page inside the page protector back and forth between the middle row and back row of the minivan so they could play together. Having the pages in a 3-ring binder really made the games accessible no matter the seating arrangement of the players.

Travel Activities in a Binder comes as an eBook download and retails for $15.00. Once printed and compiled, it will provide many hours of play and entertainment. I was very glad to have our binder on our trip and will be making another binder.

The other crewmembers reviewed both the Activities in a Binder as well as the other Activities in a Bag products. Be sure to check out their reviews by clicking the banner below.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.