soonermomma Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 We are leaving Thursday for a family vacation for the first time with the twins. We will have a 9 year old, a 6 year old and three year old twins. My parents are going as well, so we will have two kids in each car. The drive is around 6 hours. We will have a dvd player in each car and plenty of snacks. What else do you recommend to keep two three year olds occupied for that long? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 When we moved from Georgia to Michigan with dd who was 27 months at the time we had a dvd player, snacks, little toys to play with (like happy meal toys and hot wheels cars), coloring books, crayons, plain paper and story books with lots of pictures :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 We are leaving Thursday for a family vacation for the first time with the twins. We will have a 9 year old, a 6 year old and three year old twins. My parents are going as well, so we will have two kids in each car. The drive is around 6 hours. We will have a dvd player in each car and plenty of snacks. What else do you recommend to keep two three year olds occupied for that long? I don't have twins, but here are some things that worked for my son when we travelled and he was 3. Pipe cleaners vtech Alphabet Apple A stuffed animal CDs of songs to sing together Books to look at. can they do the Thread a string through a hole type thing? Poke-a-dot type books Stickers and paper to stick it on to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 We've done long car trips since the kids were babies. Each carries her own bag of stuff for entertainment. They have pretty much always had a clipboard with paper, colored pencils (they have always preferred their own drawings to coloring books), a doll or two, a stuffed animal or two, a book or three, a water bottle (sippy cup when younger), and snacks. We also get books on CD from the library and listen to them. They didn't have pillow pets when my kids were younger but now we have them and they are nice to have in the car for snuggling or napping. For 6 hours we would also definitely have a break or two. Oh, and dh once made a laminated map for each of them of the route, so when they ask where we are we can tell them and they can find it on their map. He put a few funs things on there; if we were doing it again I would add as many little landmarks as I could think of (we travel the same route down to CA over and over and know it well). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyJoy Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 (edited) We've taken several long trips with DS lately, and what works well for us is: "special" snacks he doesn't get often like juice and fruit gummies and Disney Cars Cheez-its. a new book with lots of pictures--he especially loves those oversized board book ones with photos of real things and these Little People books with tons of objects/animals to identify. little toys that he already owns that I wrap with giftwrap for him to open CD of songs to sing together a piece of rope with a small loop at the end. He gets nearly endless entertainment out of "fishing" and "bandaging" himself and his stuffed animals with it a few bandanas for "hiding" and various imaginary play ideas stickers and a piece of stiff posterboard a soccer ball to kick around at breaks--we always look up some parks on our route so we have a great place to stop Edited August 20, 2012 by AndyJoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasharowan Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 One thing that helped my guys on long trips is rotation. If you start with the twins in one car and the other two in the other car, stop after 1.5-2 hrs and stretch, then have one of the twins ride with an older kid. That way they get some variety and none of the kids get too tired of each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug's Mom Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 A magna doodle. Dd still grabs one when we're going on a long drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeidiKC Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 My biggest and best tip is to EAT IN THE CAR! Don't waste your time at a rest area (or restaurant) eating. Eating a meal in the car will kill 20+ minutes. Then they will need to go to the bathroom 40 minutes or so later, so that is the perfect time to find a rest area. Then run them around (or find jungle gym), chase, etc. for 10-15 minutes. Your time at a rest area is much better spent this way than sitting around eating. Also, even if you do stop and get out to eat...they will still need to stop again to potty after a bit. So you're stuck with stopping twice within an hour. I liked to bring little manipulatives for little ones to hold/play with. When my kids were older 3s, they liked to listen to audiobooks on CD or playaway (from library). That would also work with the CD player in your car. I found the earlier in the day we left, the better it was for the kids. Just like at home, the later in the day it got, the more cranky they got. With 3yos, I assume they'll take a nice nap, too. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigitte Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 My twins were 3 when we moved from CT to NC. The first leg of the trip was 10 hours and dh was driving our van with the pets and I had the twins in the car with me. Magna Doodles, snacks, books, coloring supplies, and books on tape were their entertainment. We didn't (and still don't) have dvd players in the car. We survived just fine and you will too (especially with another adult in the car). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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