Car activity ideas for the 17 hour trip

[Lyndawit]

We have a 23' truck and a 30' travel trailer and I drive it. Not too hard on 95, being a straight road with not too many turns! I do draw the line when it comes to backing it up!!

 

[miclcon]

Hey Lyndawit, we're from SoJo too! We've learned by traveling with our kids (DS8, DD4, DS2) that breaks are a must. We used to bust a gut getting there in a straight drive, but now we break it up over two days so we can arrive feeling a little fresher. We get there by about 2pm the second day. It's fun to stop at the first rest stops in the states we travel thru. My oldest treats them like markers before the finish line. Movies, audio books, coloring books, and some favorite small toys are all a must. If you have any questions on your route please feel free to drop us a PM, we've driven down every year since 02'.

 

[aes74]

Just took my girls on a ten hour flight to Europe and back (so twice). They are 5 and 2. Here's what we did:
We bought
special crayola magic fingerpaints and marker/pad. (this way it only colors on the special paper so no scary messes) They LOVED it.
travel magnadoodle
leap pad with a new book/program
mini play dough
magnetic princess dress up doll
portable dvd player with two new movies
special snacks they don't usually get

for each designated time period they got to unwrap one of these special toys so it was a really exciting thing. good luck!

 

[dyna]

I used to throw in a ball when DD was younger got it out for her to play at the rest stops amazing what 5 mins of play time can do for a kid.

Also packed a jump rope Which was something she could do herself and DH and I could take turns walking out our stiffness.

OF course we did these activities out in the open away from the crowd not to hard to find a spot most of the time tho.

Also DD had a bag that the only time she saw the bag was long car ride or when we had to be somewhere where she needed to be quiet for a long period of time. I upgraded the bag about once a year as she grew.

Old stand bys that still work etch a sketch travels well. the Magnetic paper dolls or color forms.

I also had a lap tray in car for DD to color or write or whatever. That was her table for most everything. When we stopped at the Mickey D's with the playgrounds I didn't expect her to eat right then got hers to go and she could play while we ate then eat while riding. If your worried about car seat just throw an old flat sheet over the seat for the trip.

The trip home should be much easier DD always slept almost all the way home even now at 15 still sleeps on the way home from Disney.

 

[Lyndawit]

You guys are good, keep them coming!!!

 

[Lyndawit]

Keep them coming!! All great ideas!!

 

[ajjhmf]

Here's an idea for your 5yo. See if you can find someone who will pick-up some park and resort maps for you and mail them back to you before you leave for your trip. Then hand them out to him one at a time throughout the drive for him to look at. And when he's done with one, your 3 1/2 yo can take a look.

 

[Lyndawit]

I have maps!!! I will have to remember that, he LOVES to look at that stuff!

 

[Lyndawit]

LindaWit,

Small World!
Where are you leaving from? We're leaving from South Jersey, too, on the 29th. We're staying for a long weekend at the Fort Wilderness Cabins since the kids have the 31st off of school. My kids' ages are 2 1/2, 5, 8, and 11. Maybe we'll see you on the road.

Susan

SuzieQ, I sent you a note, not sure if you got it!!!

 

[ldubberly]

We only live 3 to 3 1/2 hours away, but we have four children to keep entertained. We always play our version of the tag game.

We have a map of the US that we printed off the internet so we can color in each state we find on the license tags. We keep one map for the entire group so everyone is looking together. To make it exciting we:

1: have everyone in the family (including mom and dad) draw three states each out of a hat before we leave. Whoever gets all three of their states gets a dollar and the first to get all three of their states gets an additional dollar.

2. We also have everyone pick the number of states they think we will find before we reach our destination. (From Amelia Island to Disney we usually range from 27 to 38, depending on the time of year). Whoever gets closest without going over gets a dollar.

The kids love to play these games and its a cheap ($3.00) entertainment that keeps everyone working together.

 

[pezheadval]

I'm from South Jersey also! Everyone has giving some great tips already. One that I don't think has been mentioned is about stopping to eat. Whenever we stop to eat, we do not have my dd eat, too. We sit and eat a sanwhich in the camper and let my dd play. Then when we get back into the car, she eats while we are on the road. That seems to work well for us.

Also, my dd does tend to get car sick, so we do have to do Benedryl or Drammamine. We play a lot of "eye spy" to keep her looking out the window and always have a large supply of lollypops or candies. It helps that we do most of our travel at night. My dh works night so he is very comfortable traveling at night and the rest of us sleep!

 

[SuzieQMomof3]

Hi Lyndawit,
I sent you a pm!

Susan

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

One thing my kids loved when we drove down last time (and they were the exact ages of your two!) were Mickey presents. We bought goody bags decorated with Mickey (from a party supply store) and gave them a small present each day as we started off. (We were taking three days to make the trip.) The first day was a Mickey road trip book, the second a travel magna doodle, the third (yes we are THOROUGHLY insane...) was a harmonica.

The other thing that worked well were plastic tubs with handles and lids. Each kid decorated their tub with Disney stickers and filled it with art supplies, handhelds, and other goodies.

Oh, and we DIDN'T have a dvd player. ;-) It turned out to be quite a bit of fun, surprisingly.

 

[trulygoofy]

I forgot to mention this tip in my earlier post. It isn't about entertaining the kids, but it has saved us a lot of headache. We take along those airplane sickness bags anytime we travel. They have saved us many times--just about every trip. I wish they sold them in stores. Obviously you probably don't have them sitting around, so before we got some we had a supply of plastic bags, papertowels, cleaning spray, and Febreeze we keep in the car. Sorry this is yuckie, but we travel alot in the car with small kids and I found this out the hard way. We are always prepared now on trips. We keep a change of clothes for the younger ones on hand also.

 

[dyna]

If the kids has a kids walkman with headphones then they can listen to their own thing without annoying everyone else in car

DH has always been very strict about noise level in car while driving esp while goin thru the busy city traffic. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM I might even have to take my own advice an find myself an old walkman or discman around here with headphones so I can listen to some music as well lol

Those who are packing the unpleasant needed stuff for travel might want to invest in a small bottle off goo gone usually found in automotive section of stores. Good for gettin gum off shoes after it's stepped on in parkin lots etc.

Long before I ever knew about goo gone my DD put gum in her sisters hair and squished it in good while traveling one time. No ice no peanut butter and 90 degrees it was not pleasant. They didn't usually get gum at the time and I'd taken pity on them while goin thru the mountains believe me it was very very long time before the gum squisher got gum again.

BTW I've been using goo gone on sticky stuff for a long time used it on most everything sometime or another and I've never had a problem with it staining or leaving a hole nothing like that. It's just the juice from citrus peel.

 

[korbbec]

Do you have a Cracker Barrel restaurant/store near you? They sell tons of things to do on road trips. Books on tape, mad libs, magnetic dolls, those mustache wally magnetic things,car bingo sets, travel games, etc all at reasonable prices. They even have prepackaged travel tins. You will have to spend a few bucks, but I think it is worth it. Never mind that they have the best breakfast EVER...

 

[Lyndawit]

Leaving Friday!!!!! BUMP!!

 

[auntie]

Please don't flame me, but the first response that came to mind was....

"Yup.....dramamine. And if that fails, try benadryl."

This comes from a mom who has survived countless multi-day trips with 3 kiddos. And, no, I never did it, but believe me, I thought about it.......

I had to laugh when I saw this..was going to say the same thing. On a side note..was at my dentist the other day..she had recently returned from a trip to Hawaii..(we are in NY)..with her 2 year old and 5 year old. I asked her how she made out on such a LONG plane ride with the kids..and she answered me in one word "Benadryl"! She was absolutely serious.

 

[annie1995]

I didn't read through this whole thread, but how about a DVD player, tons of Disney movies, and Disney music! That worked for us!