Long car ride advice or tips

I was reading the board on travel tips for flights but what about long car rides? I'm assuming the answer is no, but is there any different advice? My kids are two and six and this is our first long drive

I love the window cling ideas! If I can't get to a party city is there any other place that has them?

Also I usually keep a bag full of toys between them so they can access toys n books but my two year old has the attention span of a gnat....

Omg what did I get myself into lol

Long car ride advice or tips

We just drove to Bar harbor with dd who turned 2 yesterday. Loaded up the iPad, had snacks, a few new toys, and some books. We only stopped
2 times, about 30 minutes each time, and the trip took a total of 9.5 hours each way. She did great!

Long car ride advice or tips

One thing we do differently for road trips than air travel is we sing- my
Dd loves music- I load up her music and let her choose what she wants to listen to- I limit the toys in the car because inevitably something falls and it leads to a melt down. My dd still takes an afternoon nap so we try to travel during times when she will sleep. Also, I do not allow markers or crayons in the car (they are a favorite on the airplane)--lots of snacks-I save the iPad for the rare times dd starts to get frustrated with being in the car. My in laws live 6-7 hours away so dd has a lot of practice in the car. We try not to stop for long breaks but if dd is having a hard time we stop and let her relax.

Re: Long car ride advice or tips

We just drove from LI to Myrtle Beach. We had iPads/ portable DVDs, I made a whole binder full.of coloring, dittos, makers crayons for each kid. If you have something like Amazon download the video app and download stuff they have yet to see it stuff they love. Make sure you have ear phones!!!! Snack are a must. My kids ate junk and I could have cared less. Lollipops kept them busy for a while. Look for playgrounds or rest stops with grassy areas where they can run. I brought bubbles and a playground ball that they played with.

Re: Long car ride advice or tips

Melissa and Doug have different reusable sticker books. The stickers stick to windows and then come off. The books are pretty big for the kids to use while in the car, but you can give them some of the stickers. Once you reach your destination it might help keep them busy too.

Here is an example:

reusable stickers

Long car ride advice or tips

Like a pp said, music is huge for us. I have a few cds we cycle through. My kids have never been that into kids cds but they love upbeat stuff like Taylor Swift and Meghan trainor! If they're super crabby (usually when tired) I sing things like twinkle twinkle, old Macdonald, and wheels on the bus until they calm down.
Snacks like teddy graham's, m&d activity books like the market or water wow ones, mini magna doodles, small dolls.

Re: Long car ride advice or tips

I didn't read the previous posts, but when we drove to Disney I googled some ideas,tons on pinterest, and wound up doing:
-DVDs, livesaver :)
-Getting two cookie sheets at the Dollar store to use as little desks so they could color, do magnets on (like magnet letters), and eat snacks off of
-Bought a ton of little presents and wrapped them, giving them one when they were being good, some were related to the final destination (Disney themed goodies), some were things they could play in the car (activitiy books) and some were just random things I found around the house from old birthday goodie bags, things they hadn't played with for awhile, etc. The thrill was in opening the presents.
-I printed a bunch of car games (license plate search, car bingo, etc), these were a little old for them (they're 5 and 3) but still helped to pass some time.
-I created a countdown calendar thing so they'd know how many hours were left on the drive, stopped them from asking "are we there yet"?

Re: Long car ride advice or tips

Leave early in the morning or just before bed time. We have been Driving up and down the east coast since my DS was 4 months old. The younger he was, the more he slept. Now at 6, he doesn't sleep as much, but movies in the car help a lot. Last year we left at 6am for disney and he slept through all of NJ, Delaware, and woke up in Maryland. It helped. We stop every 2-3 hours for a run around. I do give him childrens dramamine since he felt s once in the car. It mellows him out..

Long car ride advice or tips

We leave at bedtime. It's the only way to survive it hahahha.

Re: Long car ride advice or tips

Love the magnet/cookie sheet idea.....now I gotta go get magnets and cookie sheets lol agh Also love the window cling idea.

I just went out and got two water wow books and some of those reusable sticker things - all Melissa and Doug

I also have a bunch of random little battery powered toys that my little guy hasn't seen in a while so hopefully those will hold his interest for a few minutes lol

We are going to leave here crazy early so hopefully that'll shave off some awake time Finding a rest stop that has a playground type place or even just open field is an awesome idea

Thanks guys keep them coming!

Message edited 7/16/2016 10:48:15 PM.

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Re: Long car ride advice or tips

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Long car ride advice or tips

Her ipad always does the trick.