melissel Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Next week is our big road trip, our first with the kids (6 and 3). We've got colored pencils and paper, some little books where you paint with water on the pages, a little tea set, a few small dolls, a couple of lap desks, some small blocks, some other little doodads, books (but I'm a little worried about carsickness), audiobooks, a DVD player, and a laptop. I'm thinking I'll pack lots of snacks (crackers, cheese, fruit, trail mix, etc.). We have an emergency potty. Am I missing anything? Do you have any tried and true ideas for keeping kids happy in the car? TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 I know you have snacks and a travel potty, but I'd seriously consider stopping at a fast food joint with a play place to let them burn off a bit of energy for half an hour or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remudamom Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Dimetapp. Can't you see their noses are running?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Leapfrog pad? Is that what it's called? It's hand held and has great games. We have the one for books, too, but honestly my son could spend hours on the little game thing. It has phonics and other "educational" games. You can also hook up ear buds or whatever so you don't have to hear it. For our first really long trip, we got a dvd player for the car. My little one was 18 months, and Sponge Bob got turned on (I hate it!) but over that ride...I learned to love him. It's much easier to hear an annoying Sponge Bob than a screaming baby! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted November 21, 2008 Author Share Posted November 21, 2008 I know you have snacks and a travel potty, but I'd seriously consider stopping at a fast food joint with a play place to let them burn off a bit of energy for half an hour or so. Oh yes, we're planning on stopping every few hours, if we can. Dimetapp. Can't you see their noses are running?? :lol: Actually, their noses ARE running! But no, you've obviously never seen my DD6 on cold medicine. Holy cow. It's like the Energizer bunny on crack. She's one of those kids where the med has the opposite effect. Yeesh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Me Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Dimetapp. Can't you see their noses are running?? Hee hee hee! :lol::lol::lol: This was my first thought, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnetteB Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Haven't they changed all the labeling on cold/cough medicines to older ages for children? I have happy memories of driving down I-5 with bubbles floating out the car windows. We have 9 little fish on the back of our van and people driving by us would stare. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 We did a 2.5 week road trip when our daughter was 5. Something she enjoyed was a magnet playset. She had one that was Barbies you could dress up, one that you made silly faces, and I think one that had a fairytale background with various characters. Those along with a rimmed cookie sheet were pretty fun for her, so that she could play with them on a larger surface. Here's an example of the one with the scenes http://www.beyondplay.com/ITEMS/L392.HTM. I think I've seen them at Toys R Us. I've seen the Barbie Magnetic Fashions at Target http://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Magnetic-Fashions-Playset-Magnet/dp/0794406734 go to somewhere like Amazon and google "magnetic games" or "magnetic playsets". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 When we are heading on a long trip, I go to the dollar stores and buy up some new, but cheap, toys, activity books, treats, etc. I fill bags that I hand out every couple of hours. After the second time, they realize more might be coming. They get excited every time. Yours are young, so you might want to hand them out closer together. I am so blessed! My children travel GREAT! We have family as far as 10-11 hours away, so I am so thankful. We traveled 12 hours in one day when our dd was 4, and she didn't complain one time. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readwithem Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Would they listen to books on tape? We have Little Bear read by Sigourney Weaver - I love it :) I think we have Frog and Toad as well. Too bad you're leaving next week, I'd mail them to you. You might check your library to see what they have for preschoolers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teamturner Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Yes, I was going to mention getting some inexpensive new toys, sticker books, etc. I've also gotten those peel and stick foam things in the buckets and let them make cards for whoever we were going to visit. Also, pipe cleaners are good for shaping into different things. Get a big bag of them and let them make bracelets, letters, etc. We always do a lot of books on tape and music cd's and each child had his/her own. Plus, if they want to listen to the same thing but you and dh do not (lol) you can get one of those splitter things for the cd player. We usually pack a lot of their own toys to play with in the car plus to play with when we got to where we were going (relatives house w/o toys usually). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 I have found that the more things we take to try to "entertain" the kids, the more they complain about being bored. It's like they go from thing to thing to thing and then say, "I did all that!" when we point out all the things we brought for them. Our formula for success: audiobooks and frequent stops. I either load up my ipod with audiobooks and StoryNory stories or I let the kids pick some books on tape/cd from the library. We stop at a rest stop every two hours for about 15 minutes. The kids run around and play with sticks and buckeyes and leaves. They get a snack after we have been traveling for an hour. Works for us (and creates much less mess in the car). Oh, and we also play a lot of car games, such as "Find every letter of the alphabet on a sign," "I Spy," and "20 Questions." Good luck! Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace is Sufficient Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 ...or even if they're still sold, but my kids would spend hours with a certain type of book. The books are large with hard covers and buttons to push. The back cover is wider than the front cover and the buttons are on the back cover, so they're on the right side of the book. (I don't think I'm describing this very well... sorry) Some of the books are just songbooks, and the buttons play songs, others are stories and the buttons supply sound effects. Another similar thing are the small children's keyboards which often have pre-recorded songs or sound effects depending on which buttons are pushed, in addition to playing notes like a regular keyboard. Blech... I don't think I'm awake enough to try and describe things we used that long ago. Hope this is somewhat intelligible and helpful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 :lol::lol::lol: Hey, were you the momma on the Pan Am flight to Frankfurt with me? Dimetapp. Can't you see their noses are running?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer in MI Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 When we are heading on a long trip, I go to the dollar stores and buy up some new, but cheap, toys, activity books, treats, etc. I fill bags that I hand out every couple of hours. After the second time, they realize more might be coming. They get excited every time. Yours are young, so you might want to hand them out closer together. I am so blessed! My children travel GREAT! We have family as far as 10-11 hours away, so I am so thankful. We traveled 12 hours in one day when our dd was 4, and she didn't complain one time. Have fun! We did this when we drove from MI - CA - MI one summer. Our youngest at the time was 2. We had a different surprise every day that they could open after we'd been on the road for two hours. A couple things that worked really well were packing peanuts (we had a "war" with these - it made a HUGE mess, but it was SO worth it!), pipe cleaners (they made spider webs across the back seat), paperclips (they made necklaces), window markers (I think they were just dry erase markers), packing bubbles (you know - the type you can pop?), etc, etc. My kids travel really well too. Now, we've discovered less is more. We've been to FL a couple times with the baby. We split the drive into two days - but she does fine just with books and a DVD player. We do stop often and let her run a bit though. Have fun! I love long car trips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 we road trip often. we did finally get a travel dvd and I will say it can be a lifesaver...we only use it when we really need to push through(traffic/time) and will only turn it on then. so it's not a done deal every trip...but it's in the car if we need it. and sometimes we need it ;) but stops. we try to stop every two hours. just walking for 10 minutes gets their muscles out of that dead feeling from sitting...so we stop and walk around and look at the junk in the stores, lol. if a walmart is at the exit we walk there. but we walk. we used to do the play areas but they need about 30 minutes there or it's just a tease....so we don't do those often. rest areas are our favorite place to stop. we tend to carry our own drinks/snacks. we make them run around the trees! seriously. my dad did this when i was young. so I make mine experience it too. and people always comment, how ingenious ;-) ten times around usually does the trick....best for when I don't have time to spend 10-20 minutes somewhere, lol. but in the car we take books on tape, travel games(bingo, tic tac toe(magnetic), magnetic drawing boards, small hand toys(my daughter takes barbie, my son a ninja turtle) ..... I make the 8 hour trip to my dad's alone now...so you may be surprised how well it goes we are about to do 1200 miles in 8 days with 4 cities.....and they are excited! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMomof4 Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 The very best travel idea I ever received was to get fun magnets - we have paper doll magnets, pattern blocks, letters, etc. and use them on a big cookie sheet (with edges). The cookie sheet can be used for a desk to color on and the edge keeps colors from running too far, but something about playing with the magnets really made my kids HAPPY! Just make sure your magnets stick to the cookie sheet before you set off down the road. Yes, speaking from experience there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquirrellyMama Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 I know you have snacks and a travel potty, but I'd seriously consider stopping at a fast food joint with a play place to let them burn off a bit of energy for half an hour or so. :iagree:When we drive to Florida (from Iowa) with our kids we usually stop at McDonalds to let the kids play. I wish there were better restaurants with playlands. We have found parks before but we usually travel in the winter or early spring when its cold for half our drive. I think you have a good list. We didn't have a dvd player and our kids were occupied for 2 days each of 15 hours of driving. They were 9mos, 2 and 4 the last time we went. Good luck! Kelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Wisc Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 (edited) The best trip we ever had was the one we purchased plastic totes and filled each of them with a new good-sized Lego set. These were never allowed outside of the car. The children begged to take them into the hotel rooms, but we just said no--and then when they came back out to travel further, they were excited about getting back into the car! LOL! Jean Edited November 21, 2008 by Jean in Wisc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 I know you have snacks and a travel potty, but I'd seriously consider stopping at a fast food joint with a play place to let them burn off a bit of energy for half an hour or so. The only place we ever travel to is about 10 hrs away. Instead of stopping at a fast food joint, we stop at a huge Cabelas store that is about halfway through our trip. Dd loves looking at the mounted animals that they have there, and the store is big enough to burn off some energy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 If car sickness is a worry, do keep saltines, water, ginger-ale and bags handy. Bubbles went a long way at rest stops for us when mine were little. I also bagged up treat bags filled with lots of little things to open when the ride got long. Tape was always a hit with my ds:001_huh:. We also collected rocks along the way or sticks, leaves what ever to compare. Have a safe and happy trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBC Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Dimetapp. Can't you see their noses are running?? If you decide to sedate them, make sure it doesn't have the opposite effect. When my dd was 3 I gave her Gravol hoping she would nap on a very difficult plane trip (difficult because there were fires in CA, the air traffic control tower was evacuated, and we had to sit and wait on the tarmac for 3 hours before we could take off). I now realize that dd is very sensitive to coloring in candy. I guess they put the same kind of coloring in some of those kid friendly medicines, because she went a bit nuts.:eek: Lori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quad Shot Academy Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 We travel quite a bit. I go through all of the kids toys and pick out ones that they used to play with a lot, but have forgotten about and ones that seem especially suited to the car. I also go to the dollar store and Target to get some cheap new toys. I buy a pack of tissue paper, wrap each toy and mark it with a name. I let them open 1 toy each hour, on the hour and have a little snack each hour on the half hour, so every half hour they are getting something, unless they are napping. I keep dixie cups that I scoop up nuts, raisins, pretzel sticks, cheese puffs . . . I save the DVD player when a meltdown is imminent. I also get books on tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieJ Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 We are doing a 700 mile trip on Monday with our 2 grandsons..oldest one is just 2 and the baby is almost 4 weeks! A 10 hour trip will likely turn into 12. We used to travel all the time with our kids, but grandkids, well, it will be a new experience for us. Our 18 yr old and his girlfriend will also be in the truck with us and our 20 yr old and his girlfirend following behind. It. will. be. worth. it.. Magna doodles with their magnetic doodlers is another thing. My oldest daughter did this trip in last year a couple of times with her kids who are now just 2 and 5. ( We are all headed her to her house) She said she wrapped all the little toys she got her kiddoes so it took a tad longer to open them up. Another thought on the magnetic stuff..I used to use a covered cake pan, that way when the magnets were not in use, they had a home. Silly Putty seems rediculous, but my kids loved it and it really doesn't stick to anything. I have a rubbermaid of "junk" I saved from our road trips that I plan on looking thru for our road trip. I know there are a couple of old Toy Story figures in there, and probably even a Gumby or two! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celly B Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Travel DVD players and books/stories on tape work great for my kids. They also like having magna-doodles to draw on. My mother-in-law also gave me the idea of having a bag of inexpensive goodies to open every couple of hours: small dolls and cars, gum, small pack of crayons and notebook, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted November 21, 2008 Author Share Posted November 21, 2008 Thank you, everyone! Excellent ideas here! I love the idea of bubbles for rest stops. We always have bubbles here but they rarely play with them anymore. That will be novel, for sure. The rest of the toys we have for the trip have never been introduced--I hit a huge charity sale a few months ago and stocked up--but the cookie sheets and magnet playsets are a great idea too, and our Marshall's has a few of those. The trip should be about 10 hours, but we're planning 2 hours worth of stops to let them run. My mom will be driving the route as well, so we're planning to let the kids switch cars periodically to keep things somewhat fresh, because they love driving with her. I think it will go better than I'm afraid it will, but I want to have all bases covered and make sure I have enough ideas left for the ride back too. Thank you all, and keep the ideas coming if you have them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ack25 Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Did anyone mention to remember to bring your kids' pillows and two throwblankets? It made such a difference for my kids to have their pillows accessable for the car ride. On our last long car ride, the kid got bored of their toys quickly. Books on tape/CD, pillows, rest stops, snacks...those were our real life savers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peek a Boo Posted November 23, 2008 Share Posted November 23, 2008 these are great -- I'm going to need to review them next month when we head to OH/MI for xmas! i'll post a 'meet-up opp' post later..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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