Keeping Kids Occupied on LONG Car Trip

The "I Spy Bags" are very good for keeping kids occupied
If you want to know more about them contact me at ____@____.com. Laconda

a balloon (on a shorter string so it doesn't bop you in the head) really worked for us)

Have a great trip!
M.

Christine,

My husband and I take long trips each summer with the kids (now 7 and almost 5) and we have learned a few things along the way:

Leaving late is great for the kids sleeping in the car - then I stay in the car with them while hubby checks us into the hotel and then comes back out with the key so that we can get into the room. Then hubby goes and gets any bags that we couldn't carry in with the kids.

Crayons are tricky to clean off if left in the car to melt. Washable crayons and markers do wash out of most things.

Plan to stop every two hours or so at rest areas for potty/diapers. Stretching is good for everyone, too. We try to plan where we are going to stop along the way by checking rest areas on maps. (We don't have GPS)

Try not to go to gas stations for potty stops - their men's rooms usually aren't clean.

McDonald's has the cleanest bathrooms that I've found.

Bring more snacks and water than you think you need.

Have fun! Sing goofy songs...play eye spy...look for car license plates. Enjoy the wedding! Kids make everything more fun!

Hope this helps! D.

I have 3 kids and we have travelled a lot by car and also plane. The kids are used to it and enjoy it. I would keep DVD a minimal. It helps a little but then the kids get more agitated later. Sing, listen to fun songs, have nice talks, enjoy the family time together to talk about fun and interesting things and the places you are driving by. Observe the scenery. Play I spy, and stop every now and then for a break. Let the children walk or run a little, climb a tree. Keep snaks, like carrots, fruits, crakers and water available.
Books, a teddy bear as well as crayons are also good.
Enjoy the ride as quality family time. Your kids and you will love it.

We travel to Canada at least once a year and the trip is roughly 6 hours, depending on how many potty stops (and how long). The first time we made the trip our youngest was about 18 months. I packed an activity bag for each child, toys, books, coloring crayons, things that they enjoyed. For the most part they did really well. My mother-in-law was with us that trip and she thought it was a waste of space in the car in the beginning. Two hours into the trip she was impressed. The second time we went, again I packed the same bag but added an iPod to each of their bags (my husband and I had upgraded and they got the old ones). That worked out even better (especially at border crossings). We're going over Spring Break again and it will be our first trip with the portable DVD player. We traveled at night the last time we went, and although it worked out good they did not sleep as much as we thought they would. They ended up staying up much later than they would have if they had been home. However, they were very relaxed. I think if they didn't realize where we were going, and were not so excited (they love the cottage) they would have slept earlier.

One last tip. For your oldest son limit the amount of beverages he gets. Keep the cup, or sports bottle, up front with you and when he's thirsty allow him a small swallow. This will reduce the number of restroom stops. I also keep snacks in the front seat for when they get hungry. Then we don't have to stop to buy snacks. For your younger son keep toys handy that you can reach back and give him for when he may drop one on the floor. Good luck and have fun!!!

I do a goody bag with a new treat/toy/activity planned for about every hour. Also, make sure you have lots of snacks/treats and plan to stop about every three hours.

Good luck!

Christine,

When my husband and I drove down to Florida a few years ago with our 4-year-old son we planned one long stop a day at something fun. For one of our stops we went to a huge children's museum and we all had a great time. If you have time to look over your route and do a search for sight-seeing opportunities this may help to wear out your kids and break up the long hours of driving.

I also packed a bag of fun activities, books on tape, good children's songs that don't get stuck in adults heads (I recommend Dog Train and Philadelphia Chickens) healthy snacks and water.

The biggest problem we had was the car becoming trashed from the moment my son started unpacking his bag of activities to about a week after coming home. It took quite awhile to find all the crayons and pieces to his toys, but if you can find a good over-the-seat organizer and help your son practice putting his toys away in the organizer while running weekly errands it should help.

Good luck with your trip!

-C..

p.s. Having a portable training potty also helped tremendously!

May family makes a similar distance trip a couple times a year. I find it helpful to stock up on a few new things at the dollar store before we go for our 4-year-old. For babies, I think taking breaks is important, to let them stretch out, which I imagine you'll be doing anyway for potty breaks. One time, when our daughter was about one and very fussy we stopped and had a picnic at a rest stop for about an hour and the fresh air and play time helped a lot, even though we "lost some time" getting there. You might also try a new mobile or mirror that attaches to the car seat to bring out if your baby son gets bored.

Christine,

My family and I moved here from TN a couple of years ago so I'm very familiar with keeping the kids entertained on the long drive (10-11hours). :)

The DVD player is a great idea. Choose a new video or check it out from the library. Something new always seems to hold their attention. We also have an etch-a-sketch and a small magna doodle that we keep handy. Also, think of any small toys that your children like to play. Pack snacks but something without alot of sugar or your son will be bouncing around and drive you crazy - speaking from experience. :) Also we have found it's easier if you pack small plastic cups to put their snack in. If your son is in a booster he can put his cup in the cup holder while eating and you don't have to keep reaching him food every 10 seconds. If he's finished with sippy cups find a plastic travel mug to hold his drink.

I find my children travel best if we leave at 5-6am. Most of the time they're still sleepy and will nap for the first few hours. We find it's harder to get them to sleep on an evening journey...probably because they're excited too. (Bedtime at our house is 8pm but most of the time they're still awake at 10 or 11pm if we travel at night).

I hope these suggestions make your travel easier.

Have fun!

C.
Mom of 2...daughter 7 and son 5

Just load the ipod with lots of good kids music- they have them at the library!
I drive to the UP (10.5 hrs) at least twice a year to see my family and my daughter has been going with me ever since she was 2 months old. (She's about to be 4!) I have never drove at night because it wipes me out & I know I'm crabby if I don't have enough sleep and then I can't deal with her- so I have always drove during the day! Just plan on stopping, play i-spy and plan on sitting in the back for a while if your husband is driving so they are getting lots of attention! Singing their favorite songs 100 times helps (them), too! Have a safe trip!

Hi Christine,

I would try to interact with them as much as possible. When we travel on long trips with our daughter, that seems to work best. If I interact with her for a good amount of time, then it seems she's ok to look at a book or just chill out on her own for awhile.

I would factor in extra time for your drive. If it NORMALLY would take you 8.5 hours... figure 10-11 hours with kids. Honestly. You're going to have to make potty breaks, gas stops etc... We always find it helpful if we allow some run time at least once on a long trip. But inevitably you will make a stop, change a diaper and then 10 minutes down the road.... it NEEDS to be changed again. Murphy's law or something. :-)

It used to take my husband and I 8 or 9 hours to drive to his parents house. Until we had a baby. Now... 10 or 11 horus.

I think your ride over will go fairly well, since most of it will be at night. They should sleep. The ride home, go into it knowing the last couple of hours most likely are not going to be plesant. They are going to be SICK of being in the car and just want OUT.

Bring some music they like, sing songs, play interactive games with them and I think you can minimize the trouble.

Have a wonderful time!

We recently drove back from Florida (22) hours with a 5yr, 2yr and 1yr old and I was very nervous but it went a lot better than expected. If you can do it, I STRONGLY recommend leaving about and hour before their normal bedtime and driving straight through then you don't get the "I'm tired," "I'm hungry" and "are we there yet" too much. Also traffic is lighter and you are less likely to get in a jam.
Otherwise you have good ideas with the dvd, books, crayons. The library has joke books and road trip books I think with different games in it.

Ditto on the snacks and frequent stops. We always bring out Magnadoodle with us. That way you can write on it and pass it back and forth very easily to play different games (ie., hang man, quess which letter...). Another idea is to bring a cookie sheet with letter magnets or other magnets. You can buy some pretty cool story magnets too. This used to occupy my kids for a long time and the cookie sheet is big enough to stick all the magnets to & keeps them together. We also have a portable DVD player and depending on the length of the trip, you can rent new DVD's for them to watch. YOu can also check out the Crayola Color Wonder or Color Surge products, they are a lot of fun too. Good luck to you and have a fun trip!

Sounds like you have it all planned pretty well.But my advice is to make sure and get and stretch at least twice. I have heard of people and kids being paralyzed after long car trips.

Try getting a couple of books on CD to play in the car for the kids - keeps my 2 riveted on long journeys. They have them at most libraries so you don't need to buy any either, just borrow them and most have a pretty good selection for kids too!

Hi C.,
We have taken many road trips and my kids have always done really well. Just plan on making alot of stops. We usually try and map out which rest stops are nice with a park or just a nice park right off the highway. That way they can get out and stretch their feet and run a bit. I always go and get some new toys or games (we have a leapfrog) so they have something new to distract them awile. As long as you don't have to high of expectations then you'll be fine. Good luck and have fun.
Chris

Sounds like you've made very good plans. Stop often. I've taken many trips longer than this with small children. I'm sure it'll work out.