car trips - ideas for entertainment

[ernalala]

There's been a recent thread on the pros and cons of long car trips (or not).

Since we'll do a 2-week road trip this Summer with some pretty long stretches
(still we'll try to limit to 5-6 hours a day for the longest), I am gathering ideas for entertaining the children (3y5m and 5y3m) in the back of the car. Note that there's a LOT of sibling conflict going on in our household, so next to having them busy/happy in the car, I'd have them fight-free because that can be pretty rough with them. Even car seats may not keep them from hurting each other during conflict. (They also do love each other very much but despite this the constant fighting...)
And I fear of one of them throwing a toy toward the front cabin at one point (there's been quite some toy throwing by the youngest in our house, also aiming at, even injuring others :-( )
Also, lo may have huge difficulty with some transitions, sensitivities. And when HE has a meltdown in the car, that means having to stop RIGHTAWAY or it gets dangerous for all of us.
Also, they're both very active, and interactive kids that can't sit still for very long, really (ı mean have more difficulty with that than the 'average' child.
Last additions just fyi.


So... I thought of:
- cd's with music, children's music and/or stories.
- a sketchbook/notebook to draw in (but what about sharp pens/pencils in a riding car with risk of sibling conflict!, or what else could be used - brand new car so NO staining, pls)
- small manual hand game(s)
- rubicube
- pillow (just for them to rest)
- a bag with some more small toys
- card sets (for children, you know, for collecting and such)
- small calculater (with sound) or small hand computer game (nor really for computer games but maybe ok for car rides?)
- children's magazines, small books/comic strips
- singing songs (but I can't speak/sing much, just got botherspme braces :-)
- spotting things (car colours, clouds, birds, lonely trees, busses, trucks, yk)
- eating apples
- other snacks and some (otherwise not so welcomed by mom and dad) sweets
- regular stops, or at least stops when needed for one or more of us
- promise of buying sth small for themselves on a stop (maybe not a good idea because they may nag about it or want it on every other road part of the trip)
- sticker play, maybe sth like for every 30 min in the car they can paste the next sticker on a (drawn) map/timetable/calendar?
- ball/frisbee or other (active) play during stops, maybe even reading a book/doing a puzzle/playing card game/small board game during stops? Rahter NOT hide and seek :-)

And how to make a picknick on a road trip healthy and fun?
Anyone ideas for easily chewable foods (for me :-) since I got these new braces and can't really bite/chew on anything quite yet :-( ).

WHAT did you do when it would rain(not much chance, but you never know)

..............................????

[snoopy5386]

honestly, if there is any way you can swing (buy or borrow) a portable DVD player I would do that. It is magic when traveling. I only have one, but she is very content to just veg in the car on long trips for quite a while. Other ideas are magnadoodle or travel aquadoodle for drawing, lacing cards, new books (from library), small figurines (if your kids play with those, mine doesn't), post it notes are fun, stickers are fun, decks of cards (just to play with or dump all over), wikki sticks - http://www.wikkistix.com/
can you trust them with scissors (maybe those ones that just cut paper)? My DD loves to cut stuff, especially yarn. We also like magnetic sticker dressup dolls or books.

[trebleme]

Love the wikisticks idea. Those are great fun and no mess. I also like Color Wonder products for marker play. They only work on the special paper and don't mark anything else they may come into contact with (like the new car!) There are plain pads and plenty of character driven coloring books. We took some of both with us recently, and they were a big hit.

Road games can be fun, too, like I Spy or counting particular colored cars ("How many white cars can we find in the next 5 minutes?") You might even want to bring a small egg timer to help mitigate any sibling issues - e.g. you can have a turn until the timer goes off then it's your brother's turn. (FWIW, we're dealing with a lot of sibling conflict right now, too, including things like who gets to sing at the top of their lungs in the car when, and the egg timer has been like a heaven sent respite for me! They never argue with it! )

Also, never underestimate the power of snacks, especially ones they aren't usually given. On a recent 5+ hour plane trip my kids were delighted to be given a lollipop - not a big honking one, mind you, but a little organic sucker from trader joe's. Heaven (and quiet) for about 30 minutes.

Also, maybe involve your children in each packing their own "fun bag" (in our case a small backpack) in which they can put their favorite toys and snuggle items. Then you can take some new things to sweeten the pot every now and then. A little lap desk for each child, or something stiff to lean on like a piece of heavy cardboard (that they can decorate on the trip, of course, with stickers or crayons!) will help with any art things they want to play with on the road.

Safe travels, momma!

[musikat]

We do long car trips (2 days one way) a few times a year. It amounts to 5-7 hours in the car per day. We do not believe in DVDs for the car so we have always done activities for our three boys (now ages 2-7). At your kids' ages, there are lots of good choices.

You and the previous poster mentioned many of the ones we do. There is also etch-a-sketch, magnetic playsets, felt playsets. Visit your local bookstore, craft or toy store. They all have a lot of good travel choices. My kids have liked the felt coloring pictures (they have travel sizes). there are lots of activity books/coloring books out there. At your older child's age there are some fun puzzle books (like mazes, hidden pictures, etc). We also discovered books on CD. The Magic Treehouse books are a great length for car trips. And your kids should be able to follow the plots at their ages.

Good luck!

[LaLaLaLa]

Just last week we took a bit of a road trip, which involved two 3-hour car trips, on the way there and back, plus between half an hour and an hour drives to stuff every day during the week. I was pretty panicked about it beforehand, as I have a 3 1/2 year old DS, plus DD who turned 5 during the trip.

So, I overprepared. I packed a bag of easy food--bread, crackers, peanut butter, granola bars, fruit cups, juice boxes, those crunchy pea things that pretend to be chips.... basic not-too-messy stuff that I could offer if someone started to get grouchy, and that didn't need to be refrigerated.

I also packed up every I Spy and Where's Waldo book we own, which is several. Do your kids do those books? My DD is in LOVE with Waldo right now, and can spend hours poring over these books. It's worth a trip to the library if you don't own any.

I also presented the kids with brand-new coloring books and crayons in the car, and attached them to clipboards, which was a novelty in itself.

And I went to the toy store and bought a handful of little junky trinkets--tiny little cars, little plastic kaleidoscopes, rubber butterflies, stickers, tiny notebooks, pocket puzzle books, etc. Two of each thing, so all would be even. I wrapped all of these in plain paper, figuring a new toy that needed to be unwrapped would be exciting enough to buy me 20 or 30 minutes at a time. (I didn't need a single one of these bribes, actually, so they are still in my car for a future emergency.)

Each kid was also allowed to choose one CD to bring, which we could put on if things got grouchy. We have a DVD player in our car and brought a couple of movies to have on hand for a super-duper meltdown aversion technique. We didn't use those, either, although we have used the DVD player on other, shorter trips.

And we ended up needing almost nothing this time. DS colored for awhile and generally sleeps a lot in the car. He liked singing along to his music. DD read Waldo books and talked about her birthday. The trip was great, possibly because I overpacked and overprepared and the universe appreciated the attention to detail. Oh, and we also have a minivan and had DS in the way-back and DD in the middle-back. If they had been sitting next to each other as usual, things might have been more explosive than they were.

Good luck; I hope everything goes as smoothly for you as things did for us!

[Surfer Rosa]

We just got back from a 2 week road trip with our almost 4 year old (and 1 year old). All the stuff you mentioned sounds good.
We've managed a lot of road trips without a dvd player, (ie across the continent, monthly trips to visit family 5 hrs away, etc.)...so it can be done!

Here are some things we liked too:
-books on CD (or mp3) = big hit!!!
-I packed a special backpack for her with lots of compartments to explore...and every once in a while I'd put something new in for her to find (maybe a snack, maybe a new activity).
-Crafty things were big hits: sketchbook drawing, a teeny paint set, sticker stuff, felt board (I made a miniature one)
-mini games: memory ones,
-I spy, 20 questions, I'm going on a picnic...playing colour, number, letter games
-Reading books out loud
-snacks that were small and took a loooong time to eat, ha ha. Of course, our car is looking a little rougher now, but it made for a peaceful ride at times, ha ha.
-frequent stops (we tried to limit driving to 2 hour blocks, and when we stopped we found spots with cool places to explore or things to do).

[Althetrainer]

Road trips

We don't do a lot of long road trips. The longest one we've done was 5 hours when little man was very young. He slept a lot in the car, of course. When he got a bit older, I used the portable DVD player. That worked very well for us. As soon as he started school, we gave him a Leap Frog Leap Pad. He enjoyed it a lot but of course it was a bit annoying to us (parents) kept hearing "touch the green GO circle" LOL. But that's still a lot better than "Are we there yet?" every 5 minutes.

When our son turned 5, I gave him a digital camera and taught him how to use it so he could take pictures along the trip. The camera also has a short video with sound feature for him to make "movies" using his stuffed animals. But his favorite thing was to make movies of himself doing monologue! They all turned out like "Blair Watch" but he just loved watching himself and his stuffed animals on his camera over and over again. We gave him a 2G memory card so he could make all the movies he wanted. When the card became full he deleted the less then perfect movies so he could start over again. We just had to make sure to pack a lot of AA batteries for him to use.

Our son is 7-1/2 now and he has inherited my old Sony camera and he still carries it when we travel, never gets tired of it. I tell him that he's in charge of the pictures and he can decide which ones for posting on my Facebook and which ones to use for his journal and story books (he is an early reader and writer).

I think the best way to entertain children during traveling is to teach them how to observe the environment. Our son's two favorite things to do (other than his camera and books) are watching clouds and reading license plates. We ask to him sound out the license plate of each car that passes us. The goal is to find the most hilarious plate of the trip. From time to time he will tell us what he sees in the clouds: a dinosaur or some sea creatures and how the "battle" changes as the clouds move.

Of course, nothing can keep a child entertained for a very long time so making frequent stops and having small snacks are two big keys. Taking short breaks is not only good for the kids also to the parents sanity. Best of luck!

[guestmama9972]

My kids are 7, 5, and 17 mo. We did a 2 week trip in June that involved a few long days in the car.

We took paper, markers, scissors, and tape for the older ones. They each had a stuffed animal to play with and, since they play well together (when they aren't fighting!!) they did just fine. We had books on CD from the library and we listened to some of those. We own an i-pod touch that has games on it and they took turns with that, as well.

The baby was another story. She was terrible in the car! Awful!

[columbusmomma]

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[lauradbg]

We recently went to Michigan from Illinois--about a 5 hour trip--with my 11 and 8 year olds. I made a scavenger hunt for each state we were going through.

find 4 birds
hear a train whistle
hear the sound of laughter
litter on side of road
red winged blackbird
the smell of tar
a lake
a river
a smokestack
a factory
sand
a cow
a horse
a cat
boots
a phone
a purple flower
an 18 wheeler
speed limit sign--what is it?
a red car
a white mini van

I made longer lists, but that's the idea.

The kids loved it. It made the time go much more quickly for them--they were experiencing the travel and seeking out what they needed to find so it wasn't passive and boring.

You could easily make age appropriate lists and lists that are relevant to where you'll be.

[hottmama]

We drive 5-6 hours each way to visit our hometown several times a year, and have also driven to NY (10 hours). Here's what we take:
-cd player, audiobooks, headphone splitter, 2 sets headphones (my 3.5yo doesn't listen to this for more than an hour at a time but my 6yo will listen the whole drive!)
-Leapster-- if you do video games these are great. The games are really educational and fun. We have two. My 3.5 yr. old can tell you all sorts of things he's learned on there.
-magnadoodles (we keep 2 in the car, not just for roadtrips but all the time)
-notebook and crayons
-small toys (we have taken animalz/schleichs, tech decks, hot wheels, playmobil guys)
-snacks (granola bars, veggie booty, apples, nuts, trail mix)
-water bottles (but no juice/milk or they will chug it down and have to pee right away!)

Also while it is safer for one of them to be in the center, we put them both outboard for road trips so they can't really reach each other (from their carseats). They can still hand each other stuff but can't injure each other if they get in a fight.

[limabean]

We're looking forward to doing a long road trip like that, but we're waiting until our youngest is more like 5 to avoid many of the pitfalls you mentioned in your OP.

We do an 8-hour drive to visit my mom a few times a year, but we make sure that we stay there for at least 4-5 days so that the kids have several days to recover from the drive before we have to make the long drive home.

Two straight weeks of having long drives nearly daily would just be too much for them at this age, so although DH and I are looking forward to it, we're just putting that type of trip off until it will be more enjoyable for the whole family.

[HappilyEvrAfter]

We do a lot of road trips and thankfully mine is pretty good in the car...some things we do have alreadly been mentioned...

..but I second the digital camera. It kept him busy for 5 hours (rechargable battery + car charger) and some of the pics actually came out pretty good towards the end.
A plus was that I finally got to be in some of our vaca pics! Lol. I'm always the one taking them.

- Dvd player is helpful is your ok with that. We do redbox movies so we can change them along the way if needed and don't have to lug a whole bunch of already seen ones around.

- He recognizes the license plate from our state so we hunt for plates that are the same as ours or learn new ones. This has been a favorite lately. Texas has been a favorite to find recently.

- And I build in time for stopping at interesting places along the way...those with big cow statues or gigantic chairs, etc. Some have become a tradition to stop at.

Hmmm, can't think of anymore...he actually pretty good at listening to the radio with me and incessantly chatting. Lol.

[suabel]

We've traveled by car a lot with my kids (at least one 14 hour drive to FL a year, plus several eight hour trips a year) and you've gotten great suggestions. I'll highlight what has worked for us.

*DVD players are awesome. We don't currently have a portable one but our youngest is six, so we are okay with other things. It was invaluable in the preschool years, though.

*FOOD, doled out in small increments. I am more lax on trips with nutrition, so I pack a fair share of granola bars, sugarless gum, baggies of Goldfish, etc. We stop along the way and vacuum out the car at a service station as needed!

*The pp who mentioned wrapping up trinkets is onto a good one. I did that a few times when my kids were younger and they loved it. I hit up the dollar store a few days prior to the store and wrapped up tiny animals, lollipops, small books, etc. and handed them out on the hour. Bought me lots of peace.

*Bring a ball or frisbee for rest stops. I'd actually feed my kids while driving and save the stops for physical activity. They didn't want to sit and eat and then get back in the car and sit some more. I keep a small ball and a frisbee in the back of my car at all times, actually, just for impromptu games.

*Consider night driving if you are up to it. This way the kids sleep. My husband drove through the night to FL while the kids and I slept. Then he took a nap when we got there while I took the kids swimming or something.

[TEAK's Mom]

Last month, we took a long road trip through B.C. the Yukon, and interior Alaska with my two dds 7 and almost 5. My girls both get motion sick if they read or play video games in the car, which limits many of the common distractions. The items that saved our proverbial bacon were the ipod shuffles the kids got for hanukah last year. They each had play lists full of books and music that they selected. There was no fighting about what to listen to next and dd2 could indulge her desire to hear the same song ten times in a row without anyone else getting hives.

I'm bronzing those things when they wear out.

[reezley]

I'll only add one more idea to all the great ones you already got. My kids (2 and 4) have enjoyed doing a CD of active/motion-type songs to get a little "exercise" in the car. We have a CD that has a bunch of songs like Wheels on the Bus, Here We Go Loopdy-Loo, Hokey Pokey, Teddy Bear Teddy Bear Turn Around and such, and they can follow along best they can while strapped in! If you can find something like that, could be fun for a break.

[blue heron]

When we go on a road trip I pack our 2 boys' little back packs with stuff that's mostly new to them. All the kinds of stuff people have already mentioned. I keep an eye out all year for stuff at the thrift shop and yard sales etc.

One thing new I did this trip is bought to little plastic storage containers with all the little sections. (Flat with a lid that opens up) For older ds I filled it with legos because that is his passion these days. I also brought him a low sided plastic bin to work in so all the pieces wouldn't get lost. For younger ds I filled it with little plastic animals and little cars and other small toys. He's all about imagination these days.

They know when we go on a road trip that there will be something exciting in their back packs and they look forward to it.