Suggestion for a 14 Hour Drive with a 3 Year Old.

I would try packign some crayons and coloring books (I know even my 4 yr old only stays into it for about 5 mins though), my 4 yr old absolutely loves to listen to music on an mp3 player. i bought him a kid-frienly one, and you're able to download all their favorite songs, that is one things he actually uses longer than 5 minutes.

Hi I have a suggestion I took a 14 hour trip with my daughter at about that age and my Aunt came up with a fabulous idea she went to the dallor store and bought 14 little toys some were from around the house too. She wrapped each one and put them in a sack. She told my daughter that if she behaved on the trip then every hour she could open a new gift. It was amazing! We set the timer for an hour at a time and instead of focusing on the long car ride she focused on one hour at a time. Then when she opened her new toy it would occupy her for almost the entire hour until the timer went off and she got a new toy. The trip there and back was a breeze. Good luck to you and Merry Christmas.

My daughter loves to have her favorite stuffy, crayons and paper, books, a movie, snacks and drinks.We play I Spy (look for objects along the way). We play ABC Shout Out (Someone IDs something starting with A, and then B, C, D, etc. Anyone shout out, not turns. The winner is the person who says the Z item.); she's 7, so that might be too old.

Make frequents stops to run around. We used our first long trip as a potty training experience. "Can't potty in the car," seemed to have some power. We stopped every time she said she had to go potty. What we learned was she could ID the Denny's signs and wanted to get ice cream.

Stephanie

Both my kids (5 and 2.5) absolutely love their story reader. We bought ours 2nd hand a couple of years ago before taking a cross country trip and my kids still use it almost every day. I keep all the books and cartridges in a mesh bag for the car so they don't get lost and then only need to be bothered when they want to change the story. The books are pretty long and they "read" them pretty slow, so one book lasts quite a long time. For some reasons my kids never seem to get tired of listening to the same stories over and over again. We only have 9 stories with ours but it doesn't seem to matter to the kids. Other activities my kids enjoy on long trips are silly putty, colorforms, the traveling aquadoodle pads that can be "colored" over and over again. I also agree on having lots of snacks handy. I portion out snacks for my kids in the snack size ziploc bags so I can just hand them back to them. Also I bring things like smarties and fruit snacks. My kids enjoy unwrapping and slowly eating the smarties and the fruit snacks are just in case of an emergency. They are like crack to my kids though, so they will behave if they know that will be their reward. Also lollipops are time consuming, but can be messy if she is prone to biting them. If you can find the sugar free ones they are harder to bite/chew and better for her teeth too. I have had a hard time finding them though. The last toy that both my kids love (and fight over) is a little vtech laptop that has a bunch of games on it. They start really basic (so the 2 yr old can actually play them) but they get challenging enough for my 5 year old too. I think it was less than 20 dollars at walmart or target, so inexpensive too. We save the movies as a last resort, but almost always need them since my oldest finds it difficult to fall asleep in the car. Good luck on your trip. Getting stuff from the dollar store is great too, but sometimes it is hard to find stuff that won't break the second your child plays with it, so it can also be disappointing if the toy breaks right away.

we stave off the movies for as long as possible. As long as our kids are comfortable, we let them read books, play with toys, they have leapster leappads that they play, and when all else fails, movies. Snacks and also mp3 players help. 3 may seem young for an mp3 player but they have some pretty inexpensive ones out there that you can upload maybe 200 songs onto. That also works great for my 4 and 7 year olds.

We give our daughter (we started this when she was 18 months old) a bag, backpack or a square box and she can put whatever she wants to take with her in it. I offer suggestions on things to bring but ultimatly the decision is hers. I then take a separate backpack and I put in her leappad or leapster, a coloring book and crayons, her DS, and her MP3 player (dad's hand-me-down). We also pick3-4 movies she would like to watch and that are not too annoying for on the road and put them with the dvd player.

She has her "box" of toys next to her and I put the other stuff behind the opposite seat, and pull it out when/if needed. Depending on what time we leave, she will usually play for a bit, talk with us, then pass out for a bit. If she starts getting frustrated or anxious, I pull something out to distract her.

Hope this helps! I drove with her from San Jose to Colorado and then from Colorado to Texas this summer, and had minimal crying or anything from her. My nephews, on the other hand, were not such good travelers, and took turns crying/screaming the entire drive from CO to TX!

I'm momma to a wonderful 6 yr old and loving Auntie to a 4 yr old and 2 yr old!

We make regular 8-hour drives with our kids. Each of our children packs a small backpack with two or three small toys of their choice. Then I add in their Leapsters and crayons/paper/coloring books (especially brand new coloring books!). We also bring a selection of movies to watch. At about 3 years old, they also loved having the Magnadoodles in the car.

check your local library - many have a good selection of audio books as well as children's music (much of which is a humongous improvement over what passed for 'children's music' when we were kids - some of them like the putomayo kids' World Playground series and the folk/blues/jazz stuff from Music for Little People are things I'd listen to even if the kids weren't in the car)

Magna-doodles are great too if your daughter likes to draw - no way to lose the crayons!
And if she does any coloring in the car - get the Twistable crayons (the ones that are like a mechanical pencil but have crayon inside) - they're break resistant and are also MUCH easier to find when they fall under the seat of the car because they're the size of a ball point pen - also the crayon thing is almost fully encased in plastic so it reduces the chance of a waxy meltdown mess
I even have a few small dry-erase boards (was a closeout from an office supply place, they're only about 4x6") which are great for when my kids want to play tic-tac-toe in the car.

one goodluck,
traveling through a nap time is great my daughter was perfect. but what saved me was having snacks easily ready-apple occupied her for a while and gold fish. other thing that saved me besides the movie was- chalk board or magnetic drawing thing- plus sad to say i resorted to her type of music!! we song aways and we survived. kids bop is what i think it was called-anyway it is music songs you would know with kids singing ex: walking on sunshine or jackson 5 abc easy as one two three.
good luck and remember one long good moview will save you:)

Hi J.,

If possible, I would try to leave at night so your daughter will be asleep most of the time. You might also try taking a coloring book w/ crayons or her favorite book to read. If she is anything like my son, she probably knows the story by heart and can read it to you while your driving. Also take some small snacks and water to drink. I would suggest something with a very low choke hazard like the Gerber Yogurt Melts.

Wishing you a safe and blessed Christmas.

N.

Bought my daughter a squiggly writer and she drew for an entire hour and a half with it. (The tip pf the pen rotates in tiny circles)

Pleas do not drive at night, to many people think they can do it and then fall asleep at the wheel. It might sound great so the child can sleep, but its not safe. I recommend stops at places with playgrounds. Not to eat, but to let her run around. She can have good snacks while going down the road. New play things she hasn't played with before, its more exciting and interst may last longer. Patience and run around time every 2 hours minimum if she's not napping. Good Luck, and Merry Christmas. N.

Magnets on a baking sheet, bubbles, I spy, singing songs, crayons, stickers on paper, toys with buttons to push, turn or wind, Stretching ever hour or so with running around. Hand mirror that you can look in and see her (so she can see your eyes in the front seat), or hand to her and let her look in the mirror. If hubby is driving, you can play make-up. When I was a little girl, my mom would pretend to put makeup on, lipstick, nail polish etc. At that time I would sit in her lap in the front seat (gasp!), and spend hours being pampered - all pretend :) If you're in the backseat with her, this could still be fun.

What a fun age to travel with. We went to SD with my son when he was 2. One of us rode in the back seat with him to keep him entertained. We took books, colors, magnadoodle, miscellaneous small toys, etc. It was amazing to see his mind grow that week with having six days of one on one time. We talked about everything we saw. Just remember to try and stop for a wiggle break every hour or two (unless she is asleep).

My daughter is three and we've been travelling by car with her since she was just weeks old; she's a trooper. Some things help more than others.
Is it at all possible to travel at night? Or at least not let her nap at home so she can get a good long one in the car. I totally agree with the advice below, frequent stops are crucial. 2-3 hours in a car is a long long time to a little one. Stop and stretch, go for a little walk, get some energy out.
Things that work for us are munchie snacks, books to look at, music she likes. Also, if you have any interactive books those are great too. Like the ones leap frog makes, where they touch the pen to different items and it talks, makes noises, reads/sings to them.
Most importantly, just enjoy the trip together. 14 hours is tough, but making an adventure out of it sure helps.
Hope you have a wonderful trip to grandma's house!

My first peice of advice is stop every tow to 3 hours if she is awake. Just stretch the legs a game of chase or tag bathroom and pick up all stray toys in the car. Remeber they can not move around as easily in their seats as we can. We found that rest stops were great for this. When we did not stop we usually payed for it later and ended up taking a much longger break later. It is amazing waht a 10-15 min break can do.

A couple of little toys that she has not seen before are great. you can even wrap them if you want. They can bring a couple of hours of quiet play time.

Magnadoodles are cool. I do not know how many times we would pass it back and forth drawing pictures and erasing them. We took a travel one.

Stickers and post it notes are fun some kids like to play with them. I have done this on fieldtrips ( I worked at a school) but my son could care less. after abotu 10 seconds.

Favorite snacks in little baggies. They stay contained and then only a little is given at a time.

We like to stop at national parks wherever we are going and we alway get him a picture book. We like these because they can grow with him.

We like rocks and little things like watches, hair clips, and things like that in the car too. he loves playing with them

In the last two years we have driven to CT, CO and TX all on different trips from CA. He love to explore make it a game and talk about waht you are seeing. Educational and fun.

*Make a fun bag that has trinkets and small toys that you can parcel out during your trip.

*Crayons and paper (small note pad)

*Favorite stuffed animals

*Children's music

*Exploratory stops (plan extra time)

Good luck!

If the trip is 14 hours, start at least two hours early so you have plenty of time to make stops. Spend some time stretching the legs and running off some steam before going on to the next stop. In a 14 hour trip, you'll probably have at least two meal stops anyway. Then when you stop for gas, one of you take her for a good little walk. (even if it's around inside the station's store). In between those, find a good rest stop where you can stretch her legs... and yours. We're assuming she is walking. If she happens to be a late starter on walking, the trip outside will still do her good.

I've found that children that age tend to sleep quite a bit when riding in a car, so that should help with your 'entertainment' time. Take along some of her books, so you can read to her. If you have trouble with car sickness from reading, just be sure it's a book that you have memorized well enough to tell the story, but look like you're reading it. A few simple toys that she likes are another good idea. You may want to take some of the ones that can attach to her car seat, so if she drops them, she can easily retrieve them herself. I think also a nice soft doll or stuffed animal is a must for a 'comfort' toy.
Also, some nutritious snack items would be a good break for her. If your worry about her choking, you may want to sit in back next to her seat while she's eating those. BTW, a simple change of seats by the adults so one of you is sitting next to her part of the time can also break up the time for her. That can help whether the person sitting next to her is actively entertaining her or just sitting and dozing. (Kids love to watch adults sleep, especially if the adult happens to snore!)

We just returned from a 14 hour journey from SF to Seattle with a 2.9 year old. He enjoyed the pocket size aqua doodle. I found some really great ideas on a Trekaroo, a community of travel savvy parents who share great tips on travel with kids.

This article on Toys on Fly is great.
http://www.trekaroo.com/traveltips/tip/toys-on-the-fly/?u...

My guess is she will be sleeping alot in the car but if she knows her colors you can have her look for different colored cars and make a game out of it. Take some interactive books for her to play with.

I go for a long road trip every year at this time as well. We have a 3 year old an a 18 mth old. I try to leave around 10 at night (I nap while the kids are at daycare for a good 5 hours so I'm not sleepy driving all night) so the kids sleep almost the whole way. We get in at about 10am the next morning. We stop and eat breakfast once the kids wake up around 7:30 and let them run around for a half hour or so. The rest of the few hour drive is fine, we sing and play "spot that" (kinda like I spy) it really helps the kids get threw the long drive. They get a good night sleep and we save a whole day in travel. It is a win win! Sure the adults are a bit sleepy that first day of vaca, but seeing the family you don't see very much does give you a second wind. I also have Grandma and Aunt and lots of other people who can watch the kids while we nap for a bit. It is great!

Tylenol.......just kidding.

I would recomend books that she has to push that make noise, snacks, coloring books (they have make shift tables that you can buy at Michaels for $6 a piece, my boys love them), dolls that you can "pretend" with, new music CD's...

Hope that helps, and good luck.

i took what was supposed to be a 12 hour trip with a 2 year old and it was a lot of work. Hubby turned it into a 9 hour trip ha ha

I've done a lot of road trips with my son - now 5. I try to hold off on the movies as long as possible. Here are some of his favorites.

Music

Audio stories

Stickers

Coloring

Magnet travel sets - you make funny faces with magnets, or farm scenes, etc. At three I think he liked the faces best

Pipe cleaner sculptures - just bring a bag of pipecleaners and twist them into funny shapes - glasses, animals, etc.

Games - I spy,
find a red car (yellow sign, motor home, etc.),
I'm thinking of an animal (one person thinks of an animal and the others have to try to guess it by asking yes or no questions - is it bigger than a dog? Can it swim? - etc),
name that tune - sing the beginning of a song without the words and the others try to guess what song,
tell a story togther - take turns adding parts to the story, or you start a story and ask the child questions like "what kind of animal did they see?"

Take a trip to the dollar store and get a bag of various little trinkets. When she gets squirmy give her a little surprise - no more than one surprise an hour

Pack a variety of little snacks.

Have fun!!!