Taking a toddler on a long road trip...

[Mishetta]

The first time we took a vacation, my DS was 4 years old & it worked out great. I had shopped at the Dollar Store to buy all kinds of new toys for him & it kept him occupied & it all went well.

Fast forward 4 years later. DS is 8 y/o & he's happy to play his GameBoy & watch TV in the van. BUT we now have another son who will be just a tad over 2 y/o when we (attempt) to drive from Michigan to Orlando.

WHAT IN THE WORLD do I do with him? How will I attempt to keep him occupied so that he doesn't scream & kick the entire time we're in the van? He is a "mover & a shaker" type of kid so I don't know if we should possibly cancel our trip (the trip we've had to cancel twice already.)

Flying is not an option because we need to watch expenses & we want wheels down there. So, do you have any suggestions for keeping a 2 y/o busy in a van? We do plan on stopping for the night.

Any advice or suggestions would be wonderful!

 

[shep]

My suggestion would be taking lots of videos in the van...
That keeps our girls occupied and they also have headphones so we can listen to the radio..

 

[TEENEE]

Lots of videos that both kids will watch. Small toys, if he will play with them and snacks. I would avoid restaurants. Pack a lunch and stop at a rest stop. After riding in car for hours the kids will love running around outside while you get lunch ready. Bring a ball or bubbles, something they can play with while they are outside. Your ds sounds like my dd. When she was that age I found that she was happier when she was next to the window so she could see out. I hope that helps.

 

[believe]

At 2yrs old I found that driving at night is the best...this way they will sleep the majority of the time. Also for a boy, take new hotwheels. Snacks and any small new items will keep them busy for longer than you think.

 

[Mishetta]

Oh....I'm getting some great ideas here! I love the ball & bubbles idea to get them to run off some energy when we stop at rest stops! The little guy will definitely need that!

My DS (2 y/o) really loves hot wheels too. Maybe I'll pick up some new ones for him.

The driving at night idea is great but it won't work for us since my DH falls asleep as soon as it's dusk outside! He plans on us leaving at 6am (OMG!) & drive till around dinner time, when hopefully we'll be at our first stop for the night. (Of course, we'll have plenty of potty breaks in between too!) I will be the "entertainer" so I won't really be driving, unless I start to get car sick, then I'll have to take over for a while.

Plz keep those great ideas coming!

 

[jel0511]

We just did the drive last month with my two kids 5 and 2. The 2 YO LOVED watching movies. I bought a lot of his favorites with us, and he just sat there and watched. I also bought some of his favorite toys, so when he got bored, he could play with those. I didn't bring crayons, etc, because if he dropped one he'd become frustrated and start crying. What we did, was when it was time for lunch, we looked for signs for a McDonald's, Burger King, Sonic, etc that had a play area. Usually you can find one off the interstates, and it was a LIFESAVER!!! We ate our lunch and then let the kids run off some steam for about 20 minutes before leaving again. They got to play and use the slide and had fun, and DH and I got to relax for a few minutes before we had to start driving again.

 

[Figment22]

I second the vote for videos (or a portable DVD player). They tend to keep the kids the happiest.

OK, now for my possibly MESSY suggestion...Play Doh. Get one of those cheap plastic laptop desks, a few small cans of play doh and a plastic kiddie pocket knife that they can cut and mold it with. I did this when my boys were around 2-4 years old and they always loved the idea that they could use play doh in the car. Yeah, you'll be vacuuming up little colored bits of doh for a couple of months but isn't the peace and quiet worth it???

New toys work the best because little ones like the surprise aspect. I always bought new travel toys for our long journeys and then doled them out a little at a time.

I also vote for the fast food play place idea. The kids always appreciated being able to jump and crawl around in the playplaces. Indoor ones are great if it's raining and they can't just run around at an interstate rest stop. McDonald's website used to have a listing of their interstate locations that had playplaces. I remember printing this out and taking it with us so we stopped at the "right" McDonald's!

Good luck with your journey south and I bet your little one will surprise you!

 

[Mishetta]

I don't know....we just returned from taking a ride out into the country to look at some new homes. The baby (he's 21 months right now) screamed some of the trip. We gave him some hot wheels to play with but he'd throw them on the floor. Then he'd scream louder when no one would pick them up for him! We gave him a portable radio, that went crashing down too, as well as his "blankie" with binkie! Oh boy...if this is just a sneak peak into what we have in store for our 2 day trip to Florida, I may ask my DH to tie me to the luggage rack on top of the van for a peaceful ride!

 

[gshoemate]

Videos, lots of videos. Our first trip we drove from Michigan also and it was a long trip. DD was 2 1/2, thank goodness for tv's. We also took lots of snacks. Before we left for the trip, I picked up a bunch of small toys and wrapped them. Every milestone on the trip I let her open one. So that way she had something to look forward to and new toys to play with.

 

[browneyes]

Will your 2 yo eat silly putty or modeling clay? I know when my ds was 2, he could play with things for a long time that would, in his mind, make a mess.

 

[one_cat]

Our first road trip with our kids was when we had just turned 2. We drove from Minneapolis to Seattle. 3 long days in the car. We had books and toys and food for the kids. They did surprisingly well. They kind of understand that when they are in the car they are supposed to stay in their seats and just be. I wouldn't want to do it every month but we took the kids to South Dakota last month - 12 hours - one day - and plan to take them to Orlando by road in December.

 

[Melissa R]

Whenever we travel, the gifts the kids get are wrapped....makes it a little more exciting. When going to WDW, they are always, of course, in Mickey paper. If you're gonna give hot wheels cars, you can wrap them individually and just keep giving them to ds one at a time, not all at once, so there is always a new one coming.

As for videos, I'd say make sure to pack his favorite video along with maybe a new one that you think he'll like. Our newspaper just had an article about why kids like to watch the same video over and over - it is like a comfort thing for them, so be sure to bring his favorite.

 

[Mishetta]

Yes, Browneyes....my son would EAT the play dough or silly putty (he eats crayons too!) So I can't do any of that type of stuff but I know he'll love the Hot Wheels. (He puts those in his mouth too though!)

He LOVES watching my 8 y/o son play his gameboy & the louder the music is, the more he wants it. So I'm going to go hunting for some sort of hand held game that makes noise (hopefully not too much noise) for him to play around with. He doesn't know how to play any of those games but he loves to push buttons! If you have any ideas on those type of toys, PLEASE enlighten me!

Melissa R ~ love the idea of wrapping the gift in Mickey paper. I have some in the basement but I think it's Christmas wrap. Hey! That'll work! We're going in December!!!

I think I'll start taping Telly Tubbies too! That's his fave show! He also likes Barney & I think I have about 3000 Barney tapes.

Any more suggestions?

 

[FreshTressa]

Could you have your DH go to bed super early and get up at like 3am to drive?? If he is a morning person, and he has gotten his eight hours, it will give you a good 3-4 hours till DS wakes up.

I have kept my kids up late (2am) and had a really active time keeping them awake the night before we drove to montana. They actually wound up sleeping about 7 hours of the trip.

I have never found anything magical to keep my kids entertained. They get crabby no matter how many different toys I bring. They like their leap pad, but your son is too young for that.

Well, good luck!!

 

[Cindy B]

We took my daughter when she was 2 years and three months and we drove from PA! And when she was 2 my son was 4 going on five!


They really did fine considering. We did this trick.. their bedtime was normally 8 pm then. (we are pretty strict about bedtimes), we would load them up around 4 pm, and then around 9 or so.. stop for a small meal.. then they would sleep a decent portion.

By the time they woke up 5 /6 am we were there!


To keep them entertained we did books on tape, songs, stuffed animals, etc.

We are doing the drive again as almost 6, and almost 9. We don't have TV or gameboy.. but my kids are readers! DS has HP 5 he wants to finish, and DD likes to read as well or use her Leap Pad!