Car Trip Tips for A Toddler?

[AngelaVa]

I am very sorry if there is a post on this ...I could not find it.

This will be my grandson, 4 yrs old, trip in a car for 10 hours and I love 5o.know how to entertain him for that long?
I have a DVD and his movies for him but not to sure what else to do.
Any and all help will be appreciated please and thank you!

 

[Andrea1975]

Melissa and Doug makes these "Water Wow" books that are great and non-messy. They also make reusable sticker books (they say sticker, but they're like colorforms if you had those as a kid). My kids always liked those magic ink books (you can usually find them in the $1/$3 section of Target). I bring a backpack with books and some smaller action figures/cars. If you can pick up a few small, cheap toys at Target or dollar store, the novelty of those can keep them busy. You can even wrap them up if you don't mind cleaning up the paper at the end of the drive.

I always have a couple of albums of kids music loaded up that keeps them happy. Lots of games of I Spy. We also look for letters on signs in alphabetical order.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

We always break our 12 hour trip up into segments, I try to stop at least every 2-3 hours to let everyone out to stretch and walk around a bit. At the 6 hour mark we usually do some sort of fun activity. Like a park or zoo or at least a restaurant with a play place orsomething (or stop for the night). It lengthens our travel time but helps everyone keep their sanity.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I am very sorry if there is a post on this ...I could not find it.

This will be my grandson, 4 yrs old, trip in a car for 10 hours and I love 5o.know how to entertain him for that long?
I have a DVD and his movies for him but not to sure what else to do.
Any and all help will be appreciated please and thank you!

if you are traveling in hot weather watch crayons and missing one in carseat for break time. we ruined a carseat and a couple of outfits before we figured out the problem

 

[bigbabyblues]

We've done long car trips since our oldest was 4, they are now 17 and 15. We had DVD players, but you have to make sure he can either change the dvd by himself or someone will be able to help him, or stop somewhere when his movie ends if it will upset him. Non-messy snacks, maybe even things that are a treat for him or he doesn't usually get at home. Maybe a small surprise every time you cross into a new state. Stop every couple of hours so he can get out and run off some energy. We still take a soccer ball and let them play around at rest areas some, they also like to look for Geocashes at rest areas (I'm sure you can find info online if you aren't familiar with it).

 

[kaytieeldr]

Travel overnight when the toddler should be sleeping.

 

[serenitynow]

Gel type window clings. Our littles love to stick them on the car windows. And unstick then. And stick them up in different patterns all over again. We also have had good times with a cheap dollar store cookie sheet or pizza pan and magnetic letters. Things they can manipulate and control seems to keep or occupied between snacks and pit stops. Best of luck!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Travel overnight when the toddler should be sleeping.

Doesn't work with my youngest grandson. All his brothers slept but he was awake the whole night singing with the radio. Fell asleep in stroller as they walked into park

 

[kristenrice]

When we first drove from Michigan to Florida with our girls, they were 4 & 6. We had the books, DVD players (WITH HEADPHONES!) and stuff for in the car, similar to what others have mentioned. The best idea we stumbled upon was to stop for meals at restaurants with play areas. DH and I would sit down and eat while we let the girls play. This effectively gave us a nice, 30-minute break and the girls got to burn off some steam. Then, before we left, I would take the girls to the bathroom and DH would order their food to go. We got back on the road and the girls ate their meals while happily watching their movies again. This strategy saved us a lot of aggravation because the girls knew that they were going to stop to play and we didn't have to fight with them to get them to sit down and eat. It also saved us time because we didn't have to spend an extra 15-20 minutes to let the girls play after they were (eventually) done eating. Since that first trip, we've driven 3 times to HHI and that strategy has served us well.