car ride with 18 month old

[GoofyforDisney3]

My DD will be 18 months old when we make our trip next month and I do not know what to do to keep her entertained. We may have a DVD player, but she isn't really into watching much yet. What else can I do to keep her entertained during the long drive?

 

[CLASSICPOOH2002]

My family is going in March, and my DS will be 17 months. We are going to purchase one of the DVD players for the car and he is really into the Baby Einstein movies. We will take them and just make sure to stop every 2 hours or so to let him run around and such for a few. I am hoping he will do well with the trip. This is our first trip with him this age so we are not sure what it will be like. I am curious as to what some may tell you.

Also we have some flash cards that we do for him and think that may break things up a bit. He got a My first Leap Pad for Christmas but I feel he is too little for it...

Ideas from this would be great too. Hope you have a swell time at Disney!! I am so excited to be going soon!!!

 

[jodifla]

How long is your trip? We try to work around nap/sleep times as much as possible.

Our trip to WDW is about 3.5 hours, so I take him to the park for an hour or so right before we go, then I feed him some lunch in the car just as we're leaving town. Then we watch a few videos (DS has been watching Baby Mozart since he was six weeks old, and he now watches Muppets and Disney Sing-Along tapes, too). After a couple of half-hour tapes, he normally naps for a couple of hours, and by that time, we're about there. (Although he always seems to wake up and holler for the last few miles....)

 

[sprtnfan]

We make our annual trip to MI every year to visit relatives. We always drive and it takes us about 13 hours. DH and I are the type to drive straight through without stopping, but since having kids we have had to stop more often.
I think that there is a little tray sold by One Step Ahead that attaches to car seats. It might be good for coloring and eating snacks. We have also found it easier to leave around nap time. They'll sleep for a few hours and then we'll stop for a break. Sometimes there are rest stops with Playlands and the kids can get some energy out. We eat dinner and then maybe read, sing songs, etc. Then they fall asleep around 8:00 and we drive until we can drive no longer! My 18 mo old doesn't watch TV yet, so that won't work for her either. I bu them special snacks that they don't get often and also some small toys to keep them entertained for a little while. It's tough, but I always look at driving as a better alternative to flying with little kids! Good luck and have fun!

 

[ahutton]

We did 2 road trips for the holidays with our girls who were almost 4 and 20 months old. DH found the younger one did watch DVDs, but not as intently for long stories. The Sing Along ones and the ones that were more like episodes of favorite shows (Muppets, Bear in the Big Blue House) were preferred to movies. We have a couple different plans for long trips (14+ hours). One is get them up early - have breakfast, play time (outside - soccer or something) then bath and a snack and then hit the road. We found the nap was much longer than usual.

For stops we multi-task. We picked stops that were food/gas stops that had play areas (McDonalds along I-10 almost always had a Chevron attached). We filled the truck, then we ate while the kids played and ran around. Then we got into the truck and gave the kids their meals to eat while we drove. I packed a bunch of clean sippy cups and put their drinks into there.

Our other plan for that length trip is to leave in the late afternoon - after naps, lunch and play time. We can then drive 2-3 hours, have dinner while the kids play, then drive later into the night. When we get to the hotel we let them have a bit of run around time (quietly but enough action to get them ready for sleep) and then sleep until the kids wake up. One gets breakfast and brings it to the room while the kids play some more, then we hit the road and push as far as we can until we arrive.

Good luck - know it will all be worth it eventually!

 

[Katy Belle]

I have done LOTS of 16 hour car trips with my 3 DS's, to visit the Grandparents, not Mickey! What I found works best for little toddlers, noisy toys! Books with buttons that sing songs or make noise. Toys with buttons that make animal sounds, identify shapes, etc. Borrow some from a friend and loan her child some of your toddlers toys while you are away! Puppets entertained our boys a lot at that age, but one parent will have to "talk" for the puppet. Stories, songs on tape. Get some from the library that you haven't heard before. We do try to stop at a fast food place with a play place and let them play, then feed them in the car. Luckily, it seems kids always do better than people expect them too. We have had little trouble over the 9 years we have been traveling with little ones. Good luck to you!

 

[liznboys]

We drove from Maryland to WDW last March with our then 17 month old and 3.5 yr old. We drove 5 hours the first night, then 10 hours the second day. We did NOT have any TV for them to watch (I refuse to let my kids watch tv in the car!), and they did GREAT!!! We were so impressed with how well they handled the long drive, that we will always drive down there from now on.

Anyway, what I did was buy some new little toys, and new books and gave them LOTS of little snacks. Of course at 17 months he was still taking naps, and since my kids fall asleep very easliy in the car, he did plenty of that. We have lots of Disney books on tape that we played, we listened to our Disney music cd's and sang along... We did lots of looking out the window and talking about what we saw... We also stopped plenty of times so that they could get out, run around and use up some of that toddler energy!!

 

[GoofyforDisney3]

Thanks for all of the great responses. We have made a couple shorter trips and DD has done just fine, but I know that this time is going to be about 5 to 6 hours longer and I hope she does okay. I'll definetly make sure I have some of her favorite small toys, but also some new ones that will hold her interest for a while.

 

[kadaten]

On our last trip we were delayed and ended up driving through the night to get there on time (I was the trip coordinator for a family group of 20 and had EVERYTHING with me, so there was an "on-time" to worry about). Lo and behold it was wonderful! When it's just us it takes 11 hours on the nose, but with kids it's 13 hours at least, much of it with screaming, as DS (18months) hates to be restrained

In December we left at 5pm, stopped for dinner at 6, back in the car at 6:30. Kids watched one movie (don't love the TV in the car but it can be a life-saver...and I figure...it's a vacation! for them, too!). After the one movie was over, we made one last stop for bathroom break for us and 3-year-old, fresh diaper for 18-month-old, stretch legs for everyone, and to put on jammies for the kids. Reclinded their car seats, got their blankies and bears and pacifier for DS, and put on their "sleepytime" music that always plays at home (Chopin's "Nocturnes"). They were out like a light. We stopped at a rest area in the wee hours for bathroom for us and to switch drivers. Kids woke at 6:00 am as usual, so we stopped immediately for breakfast...in Orlando! Had breakfast at Waffle House and checked into AKL at 7:30am!!

Best trip we've had with them. Grandparents are 6 and 10 hours away, so we've done long trips quite a bit. After how well this went, we'll probably do it again in May.

Now, DH was tired that first day at Disney, and we did go to be shortly after the kids. He doesn't do short nights very well, so all the driving/riding got to him a bit. Kids seemed fine. Me...well, I'm a classic night-owl, thrive on little sleep, and getting to Disney put me in overdrive, so I never noticed reduced sleep!

Just something else to consider....plus it saved us the cost of the hotel stay we'd planned at the half-way point!

Katie

 

[Tigge50447]

Not that I've been on a ton of long road trips with my son but we've been on 3 or so. I like to pack one of those blow up beach balls and if we stop at those rest areas that are just restrooms and picnic tables I blow it up real quick and let him run around and chase it under close supervision and it helps me feel better too running around with him. When it's time to get back into the car just pull the plug on the ball and throw it in the car, little storage space is required.

I remember one time we went to Boston, From Albany NY and I packed all sorts of small toys and activities and my son just sat in his car seat and did nothing the WHOLE trip. I kept trying to give him stuff but he was just happy sitting there. I thought that was really odd.