Making a car trip easier for 2 year olds...Help appreciated!

[mrsklamc]

My sister and BIL will be driving for 2 days with their twin 2 year old boys, D Niece 11, and D Nephew 13.

I wanted to make them little 'travel kits' but I am at a loss as to what might help 2 year olds with a long car trip. (No kiddos here yet.)

 

[bartleby1]

At that age, I brought some of the travel/small aquadoodle mats or coloring pages. You fill the pens with water and the sheets/mats are reusable so when they dry the kids can color them again.

I also would bring a metal cookie sheet with large magnets (large enough that they can't swallow them!). I had some large disney ones that I got from disney of the characters. Maybe ebay has some?

My kids were all into fisher price Little People at that age. The people and a few vehicles would keep them busy for a while. They would drive them around on the cookie sheet.

Coloring pages are good too, but crayons melt in the car so I always bring colored pencils instead. If they are the kind of kid to eat everything though, this may or may not work for them. If they don't put everything in their mouths, and have the dexterity to do stickers, my kids loved sticking stickers on anything they could get their hands on.

Lots of healthy snacks that take a while to eat are great too. I would also bring some lollipops as an emergency treat when they really got antsy. Those were my last resort when nothing else worked!

 

[SmallWorld71]

Love the PP's suggestions! I would also add, that instead of giving everything to the little one at the same time like you would with the older ones, give things as needed.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Maybe a new sing a long CD for the whole family, LOTS of snacks, a new story book or two, a magna Doodle, if they are driving at night, maybe a glow stick or two.

 

[set1208]

We invested in a dual dvd player and it saves us SO MANY times. Not that you'd be buying one for them but you may want to recommend it.

Get the parents ear plugs and tylenol...lol. We drive from CT to NC every summer and I dread it more than anything in the world but we keep on doing it. This year we'll have 4 kids under 4 plus a 10 year old...ugh!

Magnadoodles are a favorite of my kids. The movies are what really get us through long trips.

 

[NotUrsula]

IME, 2 yo's need a cruise director unless they are sleeping. Someone older needs to sit with them and actively entertain them; b/c they tend to get fractious if no one is talking to them when they are awake. They usually cannot operate the quiet toys well without help. So ...

With that range of kiddoes, I'm going to guess that they are driving a van. If so, my best advice is for them to put one car seat in each rear row, so that an adult can take turns with the 13 yo sitting in the back. (Perhaps also the 11 yo, depending on her size.)

It is also a good idea to scope out park playgrounds on their route, and hit them after the little ones wake up in the daytime, to let them burn off steam.

What we found to be the very best strategy at that age was to book a hotel with an indoor pool en route, and make sure to get there early enough to swim. Swimming is one of those things that relaxes adults but exhausts small children, and it was the only foolproof way to get them to go to sleep at a decent hour, because they had spent so many hours asleep in the car, but popped up like little bunnies the moment we stopped. Naturally, we were exhausted at that point, but the kids were well-rested, so the swim evened things out: got the kinks out of the grownups and wore out the kids.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Portable. DVD. player!

If that's not an option, coloring books, window clings, I read of some people making little craft "tables" out of a cookie sheet and some LONG magnet strips. The kids can have mom or dad put their coloring page on the cookie sheet, hold it on with the magnet so they can color.

I would hit up the dollar store and find toys to play with. Maybe buy some crayons/coloring books, etc for each kiddo to have a kit.

DS 2.5 survived our 18 hour drive with a DVD player and music. He got bored quickly and slept, which was fine with us. Other times, he just looked out the window at all the scenery (we have to drive through the TN mountains and he was quite taken with GA too).

Good luck!

 

[robinsegg]

I'll be traveling with our 17 mo in December. We also homeschool, so I'm looking at activities for a 1yo while we do school. Here's a site I found in my research: http://www.preschoolexpress.com/toddler_station.shtml
Just remember some basic rules:
Nothing small enough to fit into a TP tube. (choking hazard)
Nothing that will melt or otherwise be messy.
Lots of color (sorting is great).
Be careful of long strings (strangulation hazard).
Things with essential small pieces will get them lost (no puzzles, but sorting things where 1 gets lost is no big deal)

 

[mupt02]

Our 2 year old loves the Toddler Look and Find books. We have stocked up on those for our trip. We also have the magnet story books. Each page is a different scene and you can put the various magnets on however you want. We have a LeapPad system (one for toddlers - I forget the exact name) and a Tag reader. The kids share those. We have brought some of their wodden puzzles or a shape sorter. View finders are fun for them. Our kids make things out of pipe cleaners. We have made several trips with our older 2 (now 4 and 2) and have never needed someone in the back to entertain them and they do not sleep well in the car. We do have a DVD player, but ours requires several "naps" just so our kiddos don't spend the whole trip staring at a TV screen. We don't make more frequent stops, but we make longer stops. When we stop for lunch we make sure we stop somewhere where the kiddos can get out and run around. When we stop at night, we pick a hotel with a pool or play area so the kids can run around and burn of some energy.

 

[set1208]

PIpe Cleaners.....great idea! TY

 

[2binak]

If the 2 yr olds are using sippy cups, Sippy Pal tethers are the most wonderful invention ever!!!! They keep the sippy cup tethered to the carseat so they aren't being dropped or thrown.

 

[ilovepooh]

I second the portable DVD player. It kills 1.5 hours in between the other activities of games, coloring, stopping for potty breaks, etc.

 

[roobug]

We have 22 month old twin boys. We have done numerous 8-12 hour road trips with them, and are doing a 900 mile road trip with them this summer. For us we have them side by side in the back seat. We only have someone sit with them in the back if they are being really fussy or are in their battle mood.

We found they do better playing together if their isn't anyone else back there - they work it out and figure out how to keep their toys near them - if someone is back there with them they constantly dropping things or are wanting to be entertained.

We bring along their favorite books - they LOVE books, some cars, and magnets for playing on a cookie sheet. We also have a few magnet mazes from Educo that we only bring out during long trips (these are great because the whole thing is enclosed so there are no pieces to lose). That is really pretty much all we bring - we don't have a DVD player - we do listen to books on tape though, and they love that. They do tend to nap more then normal but so far it hasn't really affected how they sleep at night.

We limit the snacks to times when they would normally eat so they aren't getting too full and will still eat their meals.