Travel activities for young kids in the car

[johnson5]

I'm going to be traveling with a five-year-old and a 20 month old for about 18 to 20 hours. Does anybody have any fun car activities that you have done that your children enjoyed? I'm open to all ideas thanks!!

 

[pepe3penelope]

If you don't already have an entertainment system in your car, how about the car version of a portable DVD player? There are travel versions of coloring sets. You can go to your local dollar store or the dollar section of target. Bunch of crayons, coloring books, books to read, small toys to have in the car. They can each have their own portable handle bag or box with their goodies.

 

[haj697]

Before we had a vehicle with an entertainment system, we had a portable dvd system with 2 screens. Our kids would take turns picking what to watch. They would use activity or coloring books, but their favorite were sticker books.

 

[dcassetta]

I have seen several people suggest getting little toys and games from the dollar store, and then wrapping them. Then every new state, or couple hundred miles the kids can open one. It gives them something to look forward to, and something new to do, rather than just giving them a bag of things right at the beginning.

 

[minniemouse1]

my kids enjoyed using their leapster in the car for long rides. We also had an in car entertainment system that we used when they were bored with the toys and sticker/coloring books. for the 20 month old color wonders would work well since they tend to draw on everything.

 

[DahliaRW]

You 5yo might like to listen to books on CD. When my dd was 3 (and her brothers 5 and 7) we listened to some of the Narnia books while on a road trip - got them from the library!

 

[CruiseCrazy44]

If I had the choice, try making the majority of your driving through the night. They won't need to be entertained when they are asleep!

 

[bbn1122]

I am a Mom of 3 sons who are now 20-14 yrs old. We did many drives to WDW from NJ when they were as young as 3, 5 and 9... We did it just as the portable systems were available and we travelled with our oldest to Florida when there were none.

I am lucky they were great sleepers in the car. My oldest was the reader, so books were his thing.....for the younger travel size games, coloring books, books to read and some fun music on the radio helped.

I still play the license plate game with them...they.learned their states, later we worked on the capitals.

As time went on we had the Leap Frogs etc. We have found making sure they stopped enough to stretch and go to the bathroom helped. We always have a nice long leisurely lunch ....our stop is Cracker Barrel, since we have none by us. We do not mind if it busy, they sit in the rocking chairs, play checkers and look around the store.

Today, with car entertainment systems and iPads....traveling with children can be much easier. But we still love the simple stuff reading the roadway signs ...how many miles to South of the Border.... And hey Mom ...I just saw An Alaska plate.

Good luck with your trip and planning.

 

[MouseMomx2]

I have seen several people suggest getting little toys and games from the dollar store, and then wrapping them. Then every new state, or couple hundred miles the kids can open one. It gives them something to look forward to, and something new to do, rather than just giving them a bag of things right at the beginning.

This is what we did. We have driven to Florida (about 1200 miles each way) about once a year since our kids were 2 and 5 and this always worked very well. I would purchase new books, small plastic figure sets, coloring books/crayons, colorforms books, etc. I'd wrap each thing and put it in a large, paper bag. Every 200 miles the kids would get to pick something out of their bag. As they got older the items were tied to good behavior and keeping their personal space neat. Also, "Are we there yet?" and "How much longer?" were not allowed.

 

[ericstac]

we have an entertainment system in the car but it gets old listening to their movies for 14 hours so we make sure they have movies and games loaded on fully charged ipads prior to leaving plus we travel at night so about 4 hours they are awake and playing, then crash out and wake up a couple hours from WDW. On the way home is different as we leave in the morning but we talk about our vacation and get back on ipads and talk about our next WDW trip and what different things we will want to do..

plus a surprise 'slug bug' whack when no one is expecting it is always good times

 

[jsthomas618]

A pack of pipe cleaners (recently heard them called "fiber noodles") for the 5 year old. Good for independent creations or guessing games. ..My girls loved when I picked up a cookie sheet from Dollar Tree for the car. .. it was a great tray for coloring, etc but I also stuck magnets on stickers and princess/Mickey cutouts that they could make scenes and storytell with on the tray. Pinterest had great ideas.

 

[ocspartan]

We load up the car with the usual gadgets like in car DVD players (rent something new from redbox when you start, you can return it at your destination), iPads, coloring books, but we also like to bring along some board games....

We bought a shower caddie to place in between the kids that could hold all of the stuff together so it wasn't all loose in the back. Also we picked up the lap tables (usually used for laptops) so that the kids would have a hard surface for coloring and if needed it to eat on.

If your kids are good road trippers and can sleep in the car that is obviously easiest but don't forget if you drive in the night before a cruise, you are going to be exhausted by the end of dinner, the excitement of being on the cruise usually gives you an energy rush after you board but once it gets dark after a big meal you'll find yourself ready to crash for the day

 

[MelDane]

We drove from WI to FL to go on our cruise this past January. We left at 10pm so our DD (then 3) could sleep a good portion of the way. We had bought a Disney backpack for her and filled it with coloring books, books to read, toys, etc. all of which we had picked up at the dollar section at Target, the dollar store, Walmart, basically anywhere cheap. We also bought an iPad for the trip. We put movies and TV shows as well as games on it for her. We had a case on the iPad and used bungie cords to strap it to the back of the front seat so she could watch a movie without holding on to it. She also got headphones which she had a lot of fun taking them on and off when they were plugged in. For meals we tried to stop at places with play areas so she could run around.