Long car ride with kids.. activities????

[Hidden_Mickey]

So, next week we are driving from NY to Williamsburg, VA, which will be about 8 hours. We have 2 kids - 11 yo DD and 8 yo DS. Today we went to visit grandparents an hour and a half away and of course halfway home they started fighting. Thinking ahead to next week and mumbling something about tranquilizing darts under his breath DH said I should ask here what we should do to keep them busy because lol. We do have a dvd player in the minivan, and they both have Nintendo DS but they will eventually run out of movies or batteries and get bored. We do plan to make bathroom breaks and a lunch break so that should help. Anyone have a good travel game? Look out the window for XYZ? DS tends to get car sick after playing his DS for too long in the car, so reading is out of the question too, at least for long periods. TIA!

 

[JennaTX]

I was at a toy store (a small one, not a chain) and they had these interstate bingo cards with things that you see on a road trip. We bought them for our kids, and I got one too, and we loved playing it. We also play hangman in the car. Good luck with the road trip!

 

[shortbun]

You HAVE a DVD player and they still fight? Apparently your movies are boring. Step up to some mild PG13 or just get some new ones. We always make a Blockbuster run prior to a road trip and buy the 4 For $20 DVDs. My trick was to say 'this one is ONLY for the car ride because it's PG13!' guaranteed silence with headsets and I know-bad parenting. OR-good parenting depending on your desired goal. I pretty much stay on top of ratings and why they are issued. One bad word or a one liner that goes right over their heads was always acceptable to me. There ARE some very strong PG13 films so you really have to know your stuff.

 

[golfgal]

When the kids were really little I would put together "magic boxes". They were shoe box sized Rubbermaid totes that I would wrap up dump little toys I found on clearance. The kids would get one every so often. It kept them busy for quite a while. The toys would be small transformer type things, Lego's, puzzle books, etc.

Now that they are older we usually listen to books on CD. Those have been the best thing for long car rides. Harry Potter CD's are everyone's favorite to listen to. Our kids will go 8 hours without saying a word listening to a good book on CD.

 

[Plantlady]

Our vacations are always taken by car. Our kids have no idea, that not all kids have to ride in the car for 13 hours to get from point A to point B. day after day.

I know, I'm quite lucky, that they travel great.

For us... we don't allow video games. They can have one movie, after lunch.. IF it's a long drive (10 hours or so).

We play a lot of games.. road bingo (I print them off online), roadkill bingo (again, printed), I make them activity books based on our vacation, we play a sign/ABC game.. finding the alphabet on signs, we play dead cows (count the cows on your side of the car, a graveyard means your opponents cows are dead, first team to 100 wins.. DH and I just point out the cows.. our kids count), we involve them in the map reading, giving them road maps, the AAA triptik, ect. We have them keep their eyes pealed for interesting stops (largest ball of twine, 5 legged cows, ect.. odd stuff). We do stop a lot, every couple hours or so. We let them run at rest stops, DH even plays tag with them during these rests. They also do a lot of imaginative play. They have digital cameras, and make movies, based on their stuffed animals, or whatever they in the back seat. We involve them in conversation.. discussing what they're looking forward to, what their favorite things have been.. we stop at every welcome center, when we cross the state line, and load up on brochures.. again, to allow them a say in what we're going to see.

We travel every summer (this summer being the exception.. only one short vacation to the lake this year). We usually put between 3000-4000 miles on the car, driving all over the place, for a couple weeks. We take a compact car, to save on gas, squeezing all three in the back seat. They love it, and can't wait to do it again.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

We go really heavy on the electronics. The kids have DS lites and iPod Touches. They have monitors in the headrests in front of them on which they can watch over 1,000 movies and TV shows from the Car PC. We also hooked up a Wii to the headrest monitors so they can play Wii games together. For extra movies, we often grab something from a RedBox machine on the trip. We also get a new game before each major trip.

In addition to the electronics, we supplement with auto bingo, reading books, an activity books. We also let the kids pick out a candy/snack item whenever we stop for gas.

During a 5 week period, we drove from Houston to Orlando (17 hours) and back and then from Houston to Estes Park (19 hours) and back. The kids did well. I think that it also helps that we've been taking lots of driving trips since they were born, so they are used to it.

Next year, I plan to have Internet access in the car and I'll swap out their video monitors with PC monitors so that they can play Webkinz and other online games and so that they can video IM with their friends.

 

[aprilgail2]

Now that they are older we usually listen to books on CD. Those have been the best thing for long car rides. Harry Potter CD's are everyone's favorite to listen to. Our kids will go 8 hours without saying a word listening to a good book on CD.

Since my daughter was 6 we would do the Harry Potter on CD thing- Jim Dales voice can calm anything down LOL. We just drove to Myrtle Beach (lots of traffic took about 15 hours!) and she watched one movie on her DVD player and then we listened to the whole Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince- she would sit there with her eyes glues out the window and when I asked her what she was looking at she said "I listen to him and then picture in my mind how things are happening"- she even had her nintendo DS with her, her zune and a laptop but all she wanted was Harry Potter on CD-- We are heading to Atlantic City this week and we have Deathly Hallows on CD for that trip!
To the poster with the compact car and three kids in the back- better you than me LOL--I wouldn't even want to make a trip like that in a compact car as a driver, nevermind one of three sardines crammed in the back LOL...I have one kid and we have a mini van!

 

[teacups]

Invest in two Nintendo DS's. They wont even speak to each other!

 

[teacups]

During a 5 week period, we drove from Houston to Orlando (17 hours) and back and then from Houston to Estes Park (19 hours) and back.

You deserve some kind of award or something!

 

[merekc]

OP, you mentioned things running out of batteries, wanted to make sure you know DSs have car chargers for under $10. Well worth the $$$ on a long trip.

Also, I recently learned about inverters. They are cigarette plug adapters turning them into outlets (DC to AC, I think). They run $20-$40 at Walmart. We are probably buying one for our upcoming trip.

From the time I was little until well into my 20's we always got a diddy bag from Grandma before our vacations. It contained treats, games, magazines, toys, books, etc. We now continue the tradition with our kids. Sometimes depending on the length of the trip, they might not get the diddy bag until we've been on the road for a bit.

Good luck, we are planning to drive from KC to Orlando in a few months. 19 hours each way. 11-12 people. We may be nuts.

P.S. I want MarkBarbieri to come "pimp my ride".

 

[Pixiedust34]

Believe it or not, our kids have survived 12+ hours in the car w/o movies or electronic games. Think back to when we were kids--we did the same.

Books on CD are what we do for long car rides. You can find many good books on CD from Twilight to classics. Listening to a good story passes the time. We also stop every couple of hours to stretch our legs.

To keep fingers busy, when the kids were younger we did pipe cleaners, Silly Putty, sewing cards, little action figures, etc. Now the kids just basically sit without needing "toys."

 

[Minnie_me]

We go really heavy on the electronics. The kids have DS lites and iPod Touches. They have monitors in the headrests in front of them on which they can watch over 1,000 movies and TV shows from the Car PC. We also hooked up a Wii to the headrest monitors so they can play Wii games together. For extra movies, we often grab something from a RedBox machine on the trip. We also get a new game before each major trip.

In addition to the electronics, we supplement with auto bingo, reading books, an activity books. We also let the kids pick out a candy/snack item whenever we stop for gas.

During a 5 week period, we drove from Houston to Orlando (17 hours) and back and then from Houston to Estes Park (19 hours) and back. The kids did well. I think that it also helps that we've been taking lots of driving trips since they were born, so they are used to it.

Next year, I plan to have Internet access in the car and I'll swap out their video monitors with PC monitors so that they can play Webkinz and other online games and so that they can video IM with their friends.

Is it my imagination or is your little one not buckled?

 

[Liberty Belle]

My mom used to drive us (by herself, she was a single mom) from Michigan to Florida and back. I remember she'd buy a couple of things for us to do in the car. One was a new book and another was a set of pipe cleaners! We used to shape the pipecleaners into things and play with them.

The last time we drove our kids from Kentucky to Florida, my mom wrapped several small gifts and gave them to us. She said we should give them to the kids when they started getting restless. Some of the things were puzzle books, little electronic toys, a joke book, etc). That helped a lot (especially when they knew they wouldn't get another gift if they weren't behaving).

 

[Nancy]

The only time my kids ever fought in the car was over who was taking up too much room sleep when they were trying to sleep.

We have a small TV that plugs into the cigarette lighter, we also had one of their video games that we bought an adapter for to plug into the outlet thing in the back of the van..so they mainly watch movies and play video's.

When they were small they tended to sleep through a lot of our shorter road trips. The last time we drove to Florida we left at 3 am and they slept the first 6-7 hours of the trip. (you need to have them stay up till you leave). My kids were 8, 11 and 12 at the time. We drove 13 hours the first day and most of that was sleeping time for them. When my kids are bored they sleep.

We also stopped at a picnic area for lunch which I had in the cooler in the car, it was a bit more relaxed and not as rushed as the rest stops with the fast food in them.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Conversation? Talking?

 

[MarkBarbieri]

You deserve some kind of award or something!

Even worse, we are driving back to Colorado for two weeks in August. The trip I mentioned was at the end of June. I had to be in Denver for a few days for work and my wife and kids wanted to come along. I could have flown on a private jet and turned it down to spend almost 40 hours in the car. On the other hand, the wife and kids got away from 100 degree heat hear to play in the snow, see lots of wildlife, visit their cousins, and go on beautiful hikes.

Also, I recently learned about inverters. They are cigarette plug adapters turning them into outlets (DC to AC, I think). They run $20-$40 at Walmart. We are probably buying one for our upcoming trip.

We had an inverter mounted under one of the kid's seats. We have a power strip connected to it to charge iPods, iPhones, Kindles, and DSes. We just got a cool device that charges all four iPod/phones at once.

Believe it or not, our kids have survived 12+ hours in the car w/o movies or electronic games. Think back to when we were kids--we did the same.

We took 5,000 mile trips when I was a kid with 2 adults and 4 kids in a sedan and no electronics. We survived. Now that we can do better, we do. Why settle for surviving when car trips can be fun? My kids enjoy their electronic toys. They still love reading, conversations, and enjoying what they call "watching wild nature".

Is it my imagination or is your little one not buckled?

Yes. That little stinker. The photo was staged. My wife drove while I stood between the front seats and tried various techniques for lighting the car. My youngest thought that since we were not really going anywhere (although the car was moving) he didn't need a seatbelt. I didn't catch it until later. Under normal circumstances, we all wear our seatbelts when we drive, our helmets when we bike, and our PFDs when we canoe/kayak.

Our travel vehicle is a van. It's overkill for day-to-day use for a family of four, but it gets fully used on trips. We do a lot of camping trips. It's nice to have room to carry four bikes on the back, a canoe and two kayaks on the roof, and all of the camping gear in the back. A minivan is at the absolute bottom of the cool scale, but it's tops on the practicality scale for us and that what matters the most.

 

[MomofKatie]

Luckily, since we have an only child, we don't have to hear the fighting that can occur with 2 or more. But, we do frequently have long drives- DH's family lives 9 hours away, and mine are 5 hours away (and we always drive to WDW-8 1/2 hours). We have a DVD player, but DD really doesn't like to watch movies. She would rather play her DS or read a book. We do a lot of talking, though- and we play fun games like Road ABC and Highway Bingo. We also have mini spelling bees and throw out math questions that she tries to answer as fast as she can.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

We even push the electronics envelope during "primitive" travel. We were taking the kids on a 4-5 night canoe trip down a wild river with no stops in civilization. I rigged up a DS recharger using the lead from a regular DS charger, an old flashlight, a new battery, and some solder. It worked well. The DSes never ran out of juice.

 

[Plantlady]

To the poster with the compact car and three kids in the back- better you than me LOL--I wouldn't even want to make a trip like that in a compact car as a driver, nevermind one of three sardines crammed in the back LOL...I have one kid and we have a mini van!

We have a minivan, but our smaller car gets so much better gas mileage. The kids don't mind. We use to have a Ford Tempo. We drove to Southern Texas from Northern Kansas in that.. 22 hours each way. The car seats were so tight, my hands got scratches reaching in and fastening them. They have more room than that now. A friend of ours called that car "The Sardine Can"


My kids *love* electronics. Love them. But, vacation is about experiencing new things. So, we put them away. I go without my electronic toys as well.

The kids really love playing games with the adults. I bought a couple books last summer... activities for the car. I didn't bother reading them before hand. The activities were so lame, but the kids just loved them. I recall one was "The smile game".. smile big at passing cars, and see how many people you can get to smile back. That entertained them for at least an hour.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

You can borrow DVDs and audio books on CD from your library-ours is unlimited number for 3 weeks. I even borrowed a couple of audio books yesterday, and transferred them to my iPod. I am all set for my longggg plane trip coming up.

I am going online now to check and see if they have any Harry Potter-sounds good!

I know this sounds pathetic, but I wouldn't even consider a long car trip without numerous electronic devices-my car even has an inverter built in, so I just run the extension cord from the cargo area up to the back seat!