Long Road Trip w/ Little Kids - need entertainment help

[mommylawyer]

What do you do to entertain your little ones on long road trips?

 

I have a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and a 20 month old. We'll be in the car for 10-12 hours. Any suggestions, besides watching countless movies (I'll only let them watch 1 or maybe 2 if the movies are short), listening to kids' music (would drive DH crazy), or just eating the whole time?

 

Thanks!

[Sophia]

My three youngest were all greatly entertained by a v-pocket.

I had a variety of games so they could switch out.

They all had to take turns, so no one had too much screen time.

My just turned 6 y.o. also had crayons and paper and colored alot.

 

I have older children who helped entertain them also.

It really was not bad at all, the youngest fussed more at having to stay in his carseat for so long, but then I would sit next to him and read out loud, talk about passing scenery,etc., and he was fine.

 

have fun!

[Sasharowan]

Picture bingo for the 5 and 3 yo. Take a soccer ball or something so they can run around everytime you stop. Small toys they can play with in their seats (new ones doled out during the trip if possible).

[King Alfred Academy]

We have taken frequent road trips (12-14 hours to see my parents) with our boys...they are now 7&5. We don't have a movie player in the car so we keep busy with other things.

 

Somethings that work for us are...

 

Stopping at Playlands or parks. It adds a little bit of extra time to the overall trip, but it does wonders for getting the wiggles out.

 

Small cookie sheets with magnets.

 

Cookie sheets also double as a writing/drawing desk.

 

Small dry erase boards work well...for the older one who knows not to write ON the car with the markers!

 

Lots of books!

 

What about books on tape that the kids AND grown ups wouldn't mind...Beatrix Potter, Winnie the Pooh, Mary Poppins, The Wind in the Willows, Dr. Seuss, ect.

 

We are moving from TN to N. CA in a month and I have created an activity book for both boys that includes...really cool coloring pages, car bingo (with pics of the items...momsminivan.com), blank paper for drawing, maps of the different states we are going through and our route, information and coloring pages about the states, ect.

 

I am also planning to give them a roll of aluminum foil to create things.

 

Hope this helps! Have fun!

[Ferdie]

I vote for the countless movie idea.

 

Also, my boys love to play with action figures in the car and my dd loves a pad of paper and colored pencils.

 

We all listen to books on tape. I think Hank the Cowdog was a hit at that age.

 

Have fun!

[Lolly]

What do you do to entertain your little ones on long road trips?

 

I have a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and a 20 month old. We'll be in the car for 10-12 hours. Any suggestions, besides watching countless movies (I'll only let them watch 1 or maybe 2 if the movies are short), listening to kids' music (would drive DH crazy), or just eating the whole time?

 

Thanks!

 

My first advice is to stop to eat at places with playgrounds. The adults can sit and eat while the kids play. The kids get it to go and eat in the car.

 

You are wise to limit the movies. I've found that they tend to make the trip more cranky. Realize that crying often means "I want to go to sleep." If I let them cry for a little bit, they usually crashed pretty fast into a nice long nap. If I stopped and let them run around or put a movie in they just got a second wind.

 

Toys: I liked to get cheap new stuff and have it wrapped for them to open every 5 hours or so. Coloring books/paper and colored pencils are good make sure you have a pencil sharpener. (Hot crayons melt in a parked car. Only use crayons if you can keep up with them! You don't want to find one under the seat all melted into the carpet later!) Camp type song cd's are great. Everybody sing along... One of the favorite toys for my girls was a Barbie head to brush. They also liked to just play Barbie or horses or doggies with their dolls. Of course, you could substitute boy type action figures if you have boys. (Poor ds usually just played with the barbies too.) If dh was with me, I would paint the girls' nails while he drove. Pretty stuff like flowers on top of the color. (Use a toothpick to make dots.)

 

Food was always popular. The salty stuff is best for cars. it doesn't leave a sticky mess and helps inhibit the need to pee.:lol:

[Jen500]

I always save the movies until we really need them...usually by late afternoon. Stop at every rest stop and let the kids run for a few minutes. I make each child their own bag with new, special toys and activities. Small electronic games, silly putty, books, lollipops. We play car games, like see who can spot a red car first. I let the kids eat in the car, rather than at rest stops, so they can use the rest stop as active time.

[Kuovonne]

It's about a 20 hour trip to drive to the grandparents. On the most recent trip the girls were 4 and 1 1/2. We didn't bring any movies and only a little music. The only mid-day breaks we took were to get gas and eat meals. We brought lots and lots and lots of snacks, and handed them out more or less on request, but in super-tiny portions.

 

We also brought several toys for each kid and set up the car so that all the toys were always within the kids' reach. Then I told the 4yo that she could reach everything herself, so she was in charge of entertaining herself. The biggest hit was color-wonder markers and a whole pad of blank color-wonder paper. Also good were a Leapster, little figurines like you get in a fast-food kids meal, a soft stuffed animal that doubled as a pillow, and a laminated map of our route.

 

The next time we make the road trip, I am considering downloading a ton of books from librivox to my ipod and having us listen to them.

[Ohio12]

I second the playland idea.

 

We take a couple big trips like that a year with a 3 and 5 yo and although I am very conservative about tv at home, I do let them watch a lot on the trips. I try to get some educational stuff and take a few 30 minute breaks so their eyes don't bug out, but really it is just one day of tv. No biggie and it means peace for you and DH!

 

also, did anyone else say books on tape?

[Sarita]

My kids are exactly the same ages as yours, and we just had a long car ride to and from vacation last week. A few things that were big hits (besides the movies and frequent snacks, of course) were...

 

stickers (books for the big girls, ds just sticks them all over himself)

tin foil and pipe cleaners (for making "sculptures")

cookie sheet and magnets

ponyville/littlest pet shop (figures, not all the teeny-tiny accessories) (and cars/little people for ds) that I gave to them in shoebox-sized plastic containers (with lids for storing!)

books on tape or music cd's

atlases of their own, so they could follow along the route

 

Enjoy your trip!

Sarita

[KatieJ]

Dollar store toys are cheap and you can throw them away when the trip is over. I would keep a bag of new stuff by me and hand them out every few hours or so.

We also kept a rubbermaid container of toys that would only go in the car on road trips. Gumby, travel games, little cars for the boys..stuff like that. Think small and soft so no one gets hurt when something gets pitched aroudn the back seat.

My girls were into Strawberry shortcake (they are 31 and 26 now) so they got a new strawberry shortcake doll one year, with a carrying case.

 

Lots of small snacks..Handing out drinks about a half an hour before a planned stop. My kids still talk about the Easy cheese, salami and Ritz cracker snacks I would make as we were driving down the road. It takes time as I could only make one at a time and everyone got excited waiting for their turn.

 

WET Wipes!!!

 

 

We did a lot of Adventure in Odyssey tapes, each with their own head phones.

 

We played the Alphabet game...by the hour!

 

Find a version of I spy you can play with younger kids to keep them watching out the windows.

 

WE played the license plate game...keeping track and writing down all license plates from different states. We always tried to get all 50 before the road trip was over.

 

We rotated seats in the Suburban..I would put one of the older girls in front seat with Dad and I would take a turn in the back wiht the boys, (I could often catch a nap then whiel they napped)

 

I made organizers for the back of the front seats, but you can buy them nowdays...keeps things organized and available for the kids.

 

Last idea, we drove at night when the kids were more apt to sleep!

[dirty ethel rackham]

It's been a while since our kids were that little. However, here are our favorites:

 

Books on tape.

New doodle pads and brand new crayons. Magna doodle is a good thing when you are worried about dropping things.

A box of new toys - soft quiet toys with lots of textures for babies with kids.

Books on tape. Some for the whole family and some for just the kidlets (short stories that can be turned off.) Jim Weiss is great for the littles - has some fantastic shorter stories.

Interactive Books - puzzle books, sticker books, touchy-feely books, spot books, dot-to-dot, etc. (Usborne has some great ones - PM me.)

snacks in small quantities.

Stop about every 2 hours to RUN around. Love the idea of a soccer ball. (I need to stop every 2 hours or I will need constant Prep H for the next 3 weeks.)

When they are tired, I like to sit next to them and stroke their hair and whisper a nice story to them - something familiar. My favorite "go to sleep story" has been the story of how they came to our family, including the day they were born. The kids would go to sleep with smiles on their faces.

[Tutor]

Definitely stop at playgrounds for 30 minute energy burns. Because it's summer, school playgrounds are a good bet or just find parks along your route where the kids can run around (maybe have some break time toys in the car that they can play with outside... balls, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, etc). Often, these little break spots have provided unexpected treats that are talked about at least as much as the ultimate destination.

 

A metal baking sheet with magnetic letters, numbers, and shapes is fun. Plus, if they have paper to draw on, they can hold it down to the sheet with the magnets so it doesn't fall and it provides a flat drawing surface. I also prefer colored pencils to crayons in the car. Every time we brought crayons, we'd find melted ones. Yuck!

 

Books on tape are fun and the kids can draw pictures about the story. Family games like taking turns looking for things that start with letters of the alphabet or amounts of things (1 street light, 2 tractor trailers, 3 cows, etc), I spy, travel bingo, etc are fun. We always give our kids US maps and they color in all the states we drive through or look in the atlas to try to figure out where we are and when we hit the half-way point. (I like the printouts from momsminivan.com)

 

The older two could maybe take turns playing with the baby in the car. Hopefully the baby will sleep a lot. :001_smile:

 

Have a fun trip. We love road trips.

[Philothea]

We love road trips too.

 

My favorite thing to do, in addition to all the stuff to bring...

 

is to not give them anything right away. Let them look out the windows and see the big world around them, talk about landmarks, history and so on.

 

Who can be the first one to spot a cactus? What kinds of animals are those? What is the name of the river we are crossing?

 

I usually wait until my kids ask for something or start getting really antsy. We make a 12 hour road trip twice a year, so this has worked well for me. We did it with a small bag of ponies and a coloring book that didn't get used!

[NevadaRabbit]

*several silly dollar-store items, gift-wrapped, to be doled out at intervals

*silly putty

*cookie sheets and magnets, felt-board stories

*Color Wonder tablets and markers (they don't mark on anything but the special paper)

*Divide the one-way mileage of your trip by 50. Run a heavy string across the width of the car and hang that many clothespins on it. Every 50 miles pull off a clothespin (helps with the how much further how much longer are we almost there questions). You could look at the map and label the clothespins with either mileage or landmarks or "stop to eat" or "we're here!!" etc.

*audio books

*when all else fails, duct tape (kidding!!!) :smilielol5:

[Laurie4b]

A few suggestions:

 

We found that the ones who had grown out of a bottle thought it was a hoot to have one for a trip.

 

I would go to a thrift shop and buy a set of cheapo new toys. Dole them out one by one. They don't have to be something you'll keep, but the novelty is a great entertainment assest.

 

Books and songs on CD were popular with my kids when they were little.

 

Have a bag of treats (ie junk food they don't normally get, LOL!) that you dole out every so often.

 

Use google and plan in stops at parks, etc. along the way. It will help you and dh, too.

[Jacquelyn in NC]

We do a 12 hour trip to see my in-laws twice a year, and have since my kids were born. I second the idea of a cookie sheet -- for coloring, putting their food on, and playing with small toys. Books on CD are usually a hit as well, but it took until they were about 4 or 5 until they could really get into it for the duration of the story. A few other ideas:

 

silly putty or clay (just make sure it gets cleaned up at the end)

pipe cleaners in all different colors

books from the library that they hadn't yet read

dollar store toys are GREAT

post cards -- on the way there they can write a note to a friend they left behind, on the way home they can write to someone they saw on the trip (if you are going to see family)

[Goldilocks]

On our last long trip I wrote activites on index cards. Many of the activities have been mentioned, but also:

- puppets

- create a story and write and illustrate a book (just pieces of paper stapled together)

- sing songs

 

Then DH would let us know when we had gone a certain number of miles (25, I think) and we would change activities by drawing another index card. It worked well because we didn't just pull something out when everyone was getting cranky.

[StephanieZ]

Also, I *would* let them watch as many movies as they can stand. In fact, I buy new DVD series each year when we go to Florida (1000 miles/16 hrs). And, we drive overnight on the way down. We do *very* little tv/movies at home (no tv, just DVDs -- maybe 5-10 hours per month) but I pretty much let them watch as much DVDs as the wish on long car trips. It is *great* and I think if my brother and I had had movies in the car growing up, we'd have gotten along a lot better! (No happy car trip memories for me; just lots of fighting in the back seat!)

 

I think overnight driving is way underrated. I love it and we did it almost every time until the kids were all over 2 (and so could watch movies!!).

 

Junk food is good, too. I think you've got all my basics on your list -- the only suggestion I'd make it to loosen up the rules for those few rare trips to make it easier on all of you.!

[mommylawyer]

Thanks for all the GREAT advice! Now the car portion of our trip doesn't seem so bleak...

[muffinmom]

I think you've gotten some great advice here!

 

One thing I can add that worked for us when ds was little was to take his ride-on toy in the back of the van. At every stop, no matter how short, we'd let him ride around on it--he took it quite seriously and flew around many a rest area! He really got the wigglies out of his legs by doing this. And it was something he could look forward to. We also talked to him a lot about the trip--what the next city would be, things about it. He has developed quite an interest in this kind of thing and maps.

[kls126s]

that my kids love - Band-Aids. They both love them, so I buy a cheap box for both of them and they stick them all over themselves. They are pretty easy to clean up and make lots of laughs and fun.

 

Otherwise we do a lot of the things already mentioned - books on tape, snacks, dollar store gifts doled out, magnets on cookie sheets, Color Wonder books, etc.

[EKS]

You know, I've found that the *less* I bring in the way of toys and videos, the better the kids behave. I discovered this one time when I forgot to bring anything and they were perfect. We routinely go for 12 hour drives.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I found with my kids (at that age) that the less "entertainment" we had, the better they were. We used to drive back and forth between California and New Mexico a lot (several times a year), and I tried various things because I thought I needed to entertain them. Well, if I got new books, or little toys, or various games, they would just sit there, holding them, while staring out the window. I eventually tried taking nothing new. I just let them each pick something from their room to hold, and that trip went better than ever! Since then, I've never bought anything special for a 12 hour trip. After about an hour, they just enter into a "zone" of sorts, and stare out the window, or play with their fingers, or sleep.

 

We never watched movies. Dh was dead set against them. We do listen to stories on CD, but I can only tolerate about an hour of that because it puts ME to sleep (not good, since I'm driving). |oO zzzzzzz Then, I play MY favorite music and sing along. That way, the kids get some culture (John Denver is culture, isn't it?), and I get to stay awake! :)

 

Anyway, for a one day trip, I wouldn't worry about entertaining them. Just let them sit there and let their imaginations run wild. (that's what we did when we were kids).

[Liz CA]

What do you do to entertain your little ones on long road trips?

 

I have a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and a 20 month old. We'll be in the car for 10-12 hours. Any suggestions, besides watching countless movies (I'll only let them watch 1 or maybe 2 if the movies are short), listening to kids' music (would drive DH crazy), or just eating the whole time?

 

Thanks!

 

I used to draw a simplified map and mark cities or landmarks we would be passing through with a different color.

Something like this: The green circle is the mark for the large horse pasture on the way to Grandma's house.

The orange circle is the sign for the large house with a tower, etc.

 

Once ds could read, we handed him a large scale map of the area and asked him what town would be next. He had fun pointing us in the "right direction" and was excited when we passed through a town that was also on his map.

 

Other must have's were: Edge-a-sketch or something similar.

Books on tape (went from CA to ID listening to

"Odyssey" by Focus on the Family.

Counting cars of the same color. Every member in

family gets a turn at picking the color.

Spend an extra 5 minutes analyzing why there were

more cars of a certain color than others. :lol:

Memorize a few fun songs you can all belt out (until

the driver faints).

I drove home from a good many Christmas trips to

the tune of "Frosty the Snowman" and others.

Make a chain for the two older ones out of colored paper. Each

link represents a mile - or five or ten miles. They can see how

the chain gets shorter and how fast you are progressing.

(Not to mention YOU can see how the chain gets shorter and

that may help you keep your sanity.

 

Tell yourself that eventually you will be there! :001_smile:

[JaniceO]

I'm a horrible mom :tongue_smilie:. I just let them watch movies the entire time. My kids can't draw, read, or play handheld games in the car because at least 2 of them get carsick.

 

For our next car trip though, I plan on getting a bunch of books/stories on cd and educational music and listening to that some instead of just constant movies.