driving with preschoolers...

[asktriplets]

I promise you will have many little things all over the van when you get where you are going regardless!

my dh is always so embarrassed whenever we open the sliding doors to the van when we stop on our trips...15 things fall out of either side---little toys, crushed crackers (the kids' new favorite game: squeezing goldfish crackers til they pop....not unlike the bubblewrap idea, i suppose, just infinitely more messy!!), playing cards, books, shoes, 2 or 3 sippy cups... we always have to take a 5 min. clean up break at each stop -- ah well, what's travelling with toddlers without having to scrub ketchup and melted m and m's from the seats at night?!?!?

take care,

 

[asktriplets]

My son started playing educational games on the computer at 2.5 and did so for the most part correctly. Of course they were games geared towards preschoolers. When he turned 4 we bought him a leapster which is a hand held version of the leap frog products. I love it because it kind of looks like a gameboy, but is actually educational. The only downside of the leapsters are that they are pretty expensive and so are the games-anyway it's probably a better thing for when they are slightly older. We're driving in 5 days actually and I'm bringing some of those mess free markers with the "magic" paper, but most importantly we're bring a ton of dvd's to watch Hopefully the movies will save DH and me from going insane!Our kids are a little on the wild side and if we bring too many "little" things for them to play with eventually it will end up all over the van.

Please wish us luck and we'll do the same for you!

good luck!!! have a great time!!! thanks for the info. on the leap pad stuff. my kids have never played a computer game, so i'm not sure how they'd do, but i think it is a great idea. (plus, the kids' birthday is during our trip, and xmas is only several weeks after we get home, so i can justify the cost if it seems like the kids will like them!)

 

[DisneyMomx7]

my dh is always so embarrassed whenever we open the sliding doors to the van when we stop on our trips...15 things fall out of either side---little toys, crushed crackers (the kids' new favorite game: squeezing goldfish crackers til they pop....not unlike the bubblewrap idea, i suppose, just infinitely more messy!!), playing cards, books, shoes, 2 or 3 sippy cups... we always have to take a 5 min. clean up break at each stop -- ah well, what's travelling with toddlers without having to scrub ketchup and melted m and m's from the seats at night?!?!?

take care,

Ha - are you sure you have taken my van by mistake. DH can never figure out why its always so messy - that's because he doesn't drive around with a 7, 6 and 5 year old. Even though they are getting bigger so we don't have as many "food" messes we always have a ton of shoes, hair bows, McDonald's happy meal toys, papers etc all over the van. He can clean it on Sunday and by THursday it's right back where we started. Between that and my overpacking DH is quite happy to happy the extra money to fly from NJ to WDW.

My kids really did love the Crayola wonder paper and markers too - and so did I. Get through the travel trip and you'll have a wonderful time when you get there. BTW one of my kids gets wound up from Benadryl too - definitely not a pretty sight!

 

[tommygirl79]

I took a bunch of window clings (various holidays and characters ) my 3yr old stuck them to the car window and played for hours. Even my 6yr old loved to stick and restick them. It was like the old colorforms playsets.

I LOVE this idea and have it now written in my planner for our Jan trip. I just thought that if you buy the window clings in Disney characters - maybe going along with the season of your trip, you can use the clings on your resort room window to decorate for your WDW stay. They would get double uses and I'm sure the kids would have fun decorating their WDW "home" with them as well!!!

 

[tommygirl79]

bumpity bump bump

Anyone else got any good ideas?