Driving With Children Tip

[MollyBelle]

Here's my absolutely best cartrip tip that works wonders for me:

(I have two girls, 4 and 7)....

I get two medium-sized Rubbermaid Bins (not the huge, not the small) -- I put labels on them: Coming and Going...

For a few weeks prior to the trip, I cruise Goodwill, garage sales, Dollar Tree, etc. to get small, cheap things to put in these boxes. One of the best things I ever got was a stack of "Highlights" magazines for 50 cents...Anyway, I also got folders from Target for 17 cents apiece (Scooby Doo and Bratz) and put their names on them...then I ran off cool coloring sheets from the internet and word games, etc...I put crayons in a pencil box I got for 18 cents at Target, etc....i will be borrowing flap-up books, hand-held games, etc. from friends who will donate them for a week....Anyway, you get the idea...candy, crackers, etc are also included...we have a 12 hour drive and I find that these boxes full of stuff they've never seen make the car trip breezy....This way, they have a WHOLE NEW box to look forward to for the trip home. For about $20, we have a hassle-free drive.

Hope this helps someone....

 

[Piglet]

Thanks for the great tip. My DD (almost 7) will love it. We are driving to WDW from PA next month.

Melinda

 

[kbuck]

This is what I did on our 12 hour drive a few years ago. I purchased anything I could find Disney at Dollar Tree and any dollar stores. I also purchased somethings at the Disney store on sale. I filled a bag one for my son and one for my daughter. Every hour they could pick a grab bag. They loved this idea. They had fun doing this. I also had for them kids meal toys. I would those out every 1.2 hour. I have a friend that eats kids meals and would these to me.

This year however we have a tv for the car. I may do the grab bag thing. I started collecting just in case.



Leave Dec. 16

 

[cfewell]

my DS is 4,
We were really worried about a trip to FL from OH.
We have a mini van that has a DVD in it that comes out of the ceiling but we still figured we would have this huge problem.
SO..... we took a test run over labor day weekend to Gatlinburg, it is only about 5.5 hours from where we live, but this gave us an idea of how it was going to go.
Amazingly enough, it went GREAT! both going and coming home. The TV really takes his mind off of things, plus since he has started preschool, I have bought a couple of those activity books for pre kindergarten that you get at K-Mart. To help him with writing and stuff. He really enjoyed the one on one attention, where mommy and daddy were not distracted by doing things around the house and such.
We had also packed him a container with a bunch of "new things" that I got.
Another idea is to dig into the bottom of their toy box and get some old favorite toys they havent seen or played with in a while. It was almost like he got another brand new toy LOL.

I never thought about getting another container for the way home though. What an excellent idea. What I think I will do is buy some souviners there at the park when he is not with me and put them away for the trip home. (those die cast cars from the rides will be perfect for this)

Thanks for the GREAT TIP... cfewell

 

[twoksmom]

I did something like that last year with my 2 dds.They loved seeing new things and it help with the long drive. April

 

[mom2bandp]

I'm so glad you guys posted these tips...we'll have a DVD/TV in the car which will be fine for DS2, but I don't know if it will have much effect on DS1. I'm going to try the hourly grab bag idea with DS2, and just occasionally pull out a different toy for DS1. Of course we'll be stopping every 2 hours or so to let them stretch their legs and run around a little. It's going to be a looonnnggg drive! But we're leaving very early in the morning, so maybe they'll sleep quite a bit too.

 

[crusin'minnie]

We have 2 DDs (11 & 6). I started going to the bank and getting a stack of $1.00 bills before we started on the 14 hour drive to WDW. For every hour that the girls did not argue and did not complain or ask how much longer they each got $1.00. And I would actually hand them the money every hour on the hour. They loved it! It did not actually cost me anything additional since I would have given them some souvenir money anyway.

We also purchased a travel game at Eckerds Drug store. It is cards each one with a different state on it. When you see a license plate with the state the one who calls it gets the card. That was alot of fun for all of us.

 

[TimeWarp]

Another money reward idea...We give our boys each a $10 roll of quarters when we start the trip for video games. If they argue they have to pay me a quarter. I've done this several times and have never taken more than two quarters.

 

[Bethel]

I always have each of my two children bring a backpack where they choose what they want to bring but it has to all fit in the backpack. This prevents taking EVERY stuffed animal etc.

I also put a baggie in my purse with scratch and sniff books, mini cars, small notepad, colored pencils, etc. that I only got out at restaurants. This worked really well after a long car ride or at the end of a long day at the parks.

I also purchase 2 magazines or paperbacks for each child, one for the way down and one for the way back now that my kids are older.

We also have a splitter on the back of our tv/vcr so that each of them can have earphones to the tv and mom and dad can carry on a decent conversation.

 

[january]

How about a jump rope in car for at rest stops to help get rid of energy off to the side of course not right in the middle of walkway.

Another thing we did when my DD was younger was one meal was fast food a day at a resturant with a playground. We allowed her to play while we ate and she ate in car once we was back on road of course she was about 6 before I let her start eating in car. Also allowed DD to usually pick if it was lunch or dinner stop. Even a stop for ice cream and kids to play can be worth it sometimes. But before they have reached their melt down don't want to encourage melt downs for later.

Another thing I threw in was one of the lap top TV tray type things that fits across lap this was her desk for writing coloring and such and her table when she ate.

 

[frazierle]

The kids now know its a 9 movie ride to DW. So they pick out the movies and this usually keeps them pretty quite. We do also bring color books and cards. But I recommend stopping every couple of hours just to let them run around a little. It will cost you a little time, but it may save you a headache.