What to you make for you kids for the long drive to the World?

[Curious & Curiouser]

Hey Yall !
My family and I are planning our very 1st drive from MA to the Mouse! So i was just wondering if anyone would like to share any craft ideas that they make for their family or kids or things that you pack that some people might never think of for the long drive.

 

[disneymarie]

Oh gee, I was just thinking of posting how parents keep the kids content, and theirself.

I know about the DVD's, and dollar store new things to appease, but what else is there.

Can I ask too, where do you get all the DVD's? I was thinking of a series for myself. I am worse then a kid.

Crafts I do not want to do because of a mess of pieces. I bought Mr. Potatoe Heads, and few things at AC Moore to fiddle with.
But, this is a lot of hrs on the road.....

 

[MommyRobin]

We just traveled 25 hours each way with the kids (4 and 8) a few weeks ago, and I'm happy to say that the ride was very smooth. I borrowed about 20 movies from our local libraries. I also picked up lots of craft stuff from the dollar store. Things that kept them particularly occupied were a package of pipe cleaners (ds made his dad a "belt" and dd made some fancy glasses), and those "velvet" colouring pictures were a HUGE hit. We alternated between watching Disney movies and doing crafts and other activities (reading books, word searches) and the kids were both kept very content.

 

[kwannabee]

my youngest son had his first 14 hour drive when he was 2 weeks old...so long trips are old hat for us

i try to avoid things with too many peices...as soon as they get cranky and something falls on the floor out of reach oh boy!

Vtech makes a cute little toy laptop computer thingy toy, we take that, also a bunch of wipe off books that can be colored on and erased, definately dvd players with tons of movies AND EARPHONES!

i also got these restickable things at the dollar store that they can play with on the car window, one was of dinosaurs and the other was planets...his older brother helped him make up stories.

my older son just used his nintendo thingy, ds or whatever you call it, and movies. We also travel at night so they can sleep...

 

[Curious & Curiouser]

Great ideas guys !

We are planning on bring a dvd player with dvds and of coarse head phones lol also i planned on making goodie bags for each of them for the road trip. Oh and the oldies but goodies like travel bingo which i have made the cards up myself to be printed and laminated and used with wipeable markers, and small gifts for the "winner".

BUT i love hearing all the ideas!

LETS KEEP EM COMING!!!

 

[Pikezh638]

When we drove down there, we would take gameboys, books, cd player, dvd player, and later trips we took a tv and an xbox.

We would usually leave around 2-4 am (16 hour drive) and we would all sleep until noonish.

 

[buzz5985]

We just made the trip from MA in August. My DS is a little older, 14, but we downloaded a book from our library and transferred it to CD to listen in the car. The Hunger Game, followed by Catching Fire and finally Mockingjay. Great series (movies being released soon) But I believe it is geared towards the over 11 group. DH and I really enjoyed it too. The 3 books are 30 hours of listening. We are only 1/2 way through book 3. We need a long ride.

When DS was younger - we listened to the Harry Potter books on the ride. He has been doing long road trips since 4 yo, and we had the DVD players, Nintendo, etc. But he never really used them.

Janis

 

[hearts8701]

1.i rent my movies from redbox for $1 and return them when i get to orlando you can check for orlando or kissimmee locations here
http://www.redbox.com/locations
2. If we’re taking on a road trip and will be staying in a hotel for the night, it is often easier to pack one bag for a day instead of using a separate bag for each person. By packing everyone’s clothes for one day into a single suitcase, you only have to bring one bag into the hotel each night and the others can be left in the locked car
3. it's a good idea to keep a small duffel of clothing for the children somewhere inside the car, including underclothes, for the unexpected. On the long stretches of road, getting into a clean t-shirt and shorts seems to refresh the kids
4.Children often eat out of boredom on trips. Because of this don't give them chips, candy bars, licorice, fruit twists, ect. you are just going to be keeping them up all night and/or making them have a upset tummy in the car (not very delightful) "Travel Safe Snacks" are : pretzels, animal crackers, all-natural fruit rolls, raisins, cereal, granola bars, and cheese sticks.
5.printable games always a good surprise http://www.momsminivan.com/printables.html

 

[francie57]

Our kids always liked to play the license plate game to see how many different states they would see. We also had travel games and card games from Walmart/Target to play. The dvd player is a good idea - also Ipods if they like listening to music.

 

[Curious & Curiouser]

KEEP EM COMING ! all super great ideas

i love crafting so i have to ask...are there any things you make for your kids??
i made travel bingo, pirate ship which is like battle ship, ect

 

[soccer mom]

Our four kids were young before there were tv's in cars (at least cars we could afford!) Anyway, we always took:

-road maps to followed our route and the states along the way from Michigan (I probably felt it was their geography lesson because we always took them out of school)
-homework
-reading books
-puzzle books
-travel games (battle ship was a favorite, but cleaning the car afterwards was always a challenge!
-played all the car games, i.e. license plate, alphabet, name game
-books on tape (yes, tapes..not CD's!)
-playing cards (my husband made a wooden lap-type table to play on)

They were such fun times for us. I hope you enjoy your trip!

 

[kristenrice]

My kids love the "ABC" game. We pick a topic (like animals, Disney characters, etc) and then we go through the alphabet, thinking of as many things that start with each letter. I never thought it would hold their attention, but they want to play it ALL the time now, even for 3 minute drives to the grocery store.

 

[disneymarie]

1.i rent my movies from redbox for $1 and return them when i get to orlando you can check for orlando or kissimmee locations here
http://www.redbox.com/locations
2. If we’re taking on a road trip and will be staying in a hotel for the night, it is often easier to pack one bag for a day instead of using a separate bag for each person. By packing everyone’s clothes for one day into a single suitcase, you only have to bring one bag into the hotel each night and the others can be left in the locked car
3. it's a good idea to keep a small duffel of clothing for the children somewhere inside the car, including underclothes, for the unexpected. On the long stretches of road, getting into a clean t-shirt and shorts seems to refresh the kids
4.Children often eat out of boredom on trips. Because of this don't give them chips, candy bars, licorice, fruit twists, ect. you are just going to be keeping them up all night and/or making them have a upset tummy in the car (not very delightful) "Travel Safe Snacks" are : pretzels, animal crackers, all-natural fruit rolls, raisins, cereal, granola bars, and cheese sticks.
5.printable games always a good surprise http://www.momsminivan.com/printables.html

Oh my gosh I was trying to figure this one out. I did not know you could return a different Red Box. Our library wants $2 each for the week, and a week it is or another $2 a day late fee.