Driving with a 2 year old

[Alderbrook]

Any tips for driving from Hamilton Ontario with a 2 year old? We are also driving with my 7 year old and I can see him being more of a pain that my 2 year old but just wondering about others experiences? We're gonna do the trip in 2 days and we have driven numerous times before, just not with the kids.

TIA

 

[Kogo Shuko]

I'd have gravol on hand just in case such a long drive causes motion sickness for the kiddos. When I was really young I'd get carsick if the ride was longer than 4 hours, so my parents hopped me up on gravol when we drove to Florida from Cornwall.

 

[Alderbrook]

Ya I was carsick as a kid too, but my kids seem to be ok with the trip we have done over 2 hours

 

[Kogo Shuko]

On a side note, I see we're going at the same time!! Cool.

 

[Alderbrook]

End of September we'll be there, so quiet at that time, we love it! I am really looking forward to having my car there this time. The last 3x we've gone we've had no vehicle and it drives me nuts not to be able to run here and there.

 

[nugov2]

We are driving with a 8, 6 and 2 yr. old. I am making them road trip kits. I have trays that I made with a little cushion and dollar store cookie trays attached. I made all kinds of magnetized games/puzzles. I also did road trip bingo, battleship, yahtzee, tic-tac-toe, hangman and a baseball game I found online and laminated them. This way they can play the games over and over. I found a tutorial on pinterest on making I spy kits. Go to the dollar store you will find tons of puzzles and little craft kits to bring with. Also they had some magnetized tangrams there that I bought for the kids. Oh and I bought mickey alphabet, number and color flash cards from the dollar store and punched holes in them and put them on a book ring.

I also am putting together reading and movie kits. I am doing all kinds of Disney books in a kit for each of them at their level from the library(will just make sure they don't leave the car) and am checking out movies to watch in the car. Plus lots of Disney themed snacks!!

Here are a few of the links I used.

http://laura-elephantjuice.blogspot.com/2008/12/handmade-holiday_16.html

http://mykindofmakeover.blogspot.com/2011/07/magnetic-puzzles.html

https://www.earlymoments.com/Fun-Activities/Disney-Fun-Activities1/

tray...mine has just the lap cushion, but I added a magnetic crayon holder made out of pringle containers cut down
http://prudentbaby.com/2012/08/baby-kid/diy-travel-lap-tray/

Here is on from the DIS
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=226819

 

[Greenfield1984]

The last time we drove down (from Ottawa) our girls were 4 and 7 months. As someone else said, I would definitely bring gravol. We regularly take 2 hour trips to Montreal and the girls are fine, but being in the car for that long made our 4 year old sick.

My DH went to the dollar store before our last trip and filled a whole box with random new toys for our DD to keep her busy. There were puzzles, things to color with, jewellery, random toys, pipe cleaners.... anything that he thought would help! We also of course brought the portable DVD player though I think she only ended up watching 1/2 a movie the entire trip. Honestly we got really lucky, our DD was a fantastic traveller and we barely heard a peep from her the whole car ride.

This year we're driving again only this time we'll have 3 DDs: 6, 2 and 1. We plan on doing the same thing and will have 2 DVD players this time so each kid can watch their own movie (obviously not the 1 year old). We also drive at night so the girls sleep for a lot of the trip. We drive straight through, so if we leave at around bedtime, we get 12 hours of driving done without having to make constant stops for diaper changes/bottles/potty breaks.... that really helps.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[nepean]

The US form of Gravol is a little different than ours. One trip neice took US version coming home and basically slept soundly the whole way.

 

[Alderbrook]

We won't be driving straight thru, we find the drive too gruelling and we're exhausted when we get there. We were planning on leaving around 4 am and driving about 1300 Kms ons the first day leaving approx 700 or so the next day. We've done it that way the last few times. The one time we drove straight thu about 15 years ago I caught DH asleep driving. We said never again unless there are more than 2 drivers. Gravol will be on hand with all the other kids medicines. I'm a little concerned on what to bring the 2 year old to do, she still puts things in her mouth so finding stuff for her is a little frustrating. We have 2 DVD players, my iPad, my sons DS, crayons, book, etc. he'll keep my 2 yr old entertained somewhat.

 

[BCmomma]

We are driving with a 8, 6 and 2 yr. old. I am making them road trip kits. I have trays that I made with a little cushion and dollar store cookie trays attached. I made all kinds of magnetized games/puzzles. I also did road trip bingo, battleship, yahtzee, tic-tac-toe, hangman and a baseball game I found online and laminated them. This way they can play the games over and over. I found a tutorial on pinterest on making I spy kits. Go to the dollar store you will find tons of puzzles and little craft kits to bring with. Also they had some magnetized tangrams there that I bought for the kids. Oh and I bought mickey alphabet, number and color flash cards from the dollar store and punched holes in them and put them on a book ring.

I also am putting together reading and movie kits. I am doing all kinds of Disney books in a kit for each of them at their level from the library(will just make sure they don't leave the car) and am checking out movies to watch in the car. Plus lots of Disney themed snacks!!

Here are a few of the links I used.

http://laura-elephantjuice.blogspot.com/2008/12/handmade-holiday_16.html

http://mykindofmakeover.blogspot.com/2011/07/magnetic-puzzles.html

https://www.earlymoments.com/Fun-Activities/Disney-Fun-Activities1/

tray...mine has just the lap cushion, but I added a magnetic crayon holder made out of pringle containers cut down
http://prudentbaby.com/2012/08/baby-kid/diy-travel-lap-tray/

Here is on from the DIS
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=226819

Oh wow that is fantastic!! I think I might have to 'steal' some of your tips! We are driving down from Vancouver to Anaheim in August, with our 5yr old (just turned the week before we go) and 2yr old, also taking 2 days. We have a portable dvd player but I want them to be able to do something else besides watch tv

 

[mamaCta]

I highly recommend the Crayola Color Wonder line of products. Stock up on the books and get a few extra colors when they go on sale at Micheals. I love that they don't make a mess if they are dropped.

Ditto on stocking up on Cdn Gravol. It doesn't exist in the US. It really helped calm my younger one on long drives when she was younger.

What about a Leapter or Leappad? My 3yo has been playing with one for a while now. She isn't good at it, but the games are made to be patient with the younger ones. The units can be picked up cheap on craigslist usually.

Make a picture list of things to look for out the window. Signs, trees, vehicles, planes, etc.

 

[Kronk N Tink]

Did the drive with our 2 year old (nearly 3 at that point) back in Feb and he did just fine with a good stock of toys/colouring a lap tray and a portable DVD. The key to our success was to do the bulk of the driving overnight and drive straight through.

We left Hamilton about 3pm and stopped for dinner in Erie, thats when we hooked in the DVD. He fell asleep by 9 still in PA and besides a few groggy wakeups when we stopped for gas slept until just before breakfast in SC. The rest of the day he was excellent playing with his toys and watching movies until we got into Orlando around 2PM.

Maybe we're just lucky but I'd totally do it again.

 

[Alderbrook]

6 days until we leave! Driving overnight is not an option for us so we're leaving around 5 am and hoping to make it to around Charlotte NC. I know the traffic can be brutal there at rush hour so we'll make a decision if we should continue on or stop just before there. Got lap trays at Michael's for $7 each. Stocked up on new movies, loaded my iPad with games, filled a bag with colouring books and crayons for my 7 yr old and picked up a magna doodle for my 2 yr old. I can't give her crayons as she chews them! I have my sons old leapster so just got to find the games for it for the 2 year old. Hopefully all goes well. Haven't made the trip by car in about 10 years! When I picked up the triptik from CAA it brought back memories lol. I also downloaded the song from national lampoons vacation for our theme song!