Road Trip entertainment

[ArizonaGirl]

In the middle of July we are going on a 6 hours car ride and I am at a loss for what kinds of entertainment to bring along for the ride.

A little background information, DS is 19 months and still RF.

I thought about a DVD player, but he is not impressed with tv at all, he has no attention span for tv.

Oh and he HATES the car, really not joking...

TIA

[belovedgandp]

Consider the DVD. Neither one of my older two (now 6 and 3) watched any TV before 2 - because I didn't show it to them and they really didn't have the attention span. But there's something about being strapped in a carseat with nothing else to do that makes it entertaining. We pulled out the DVD for both of them on our 5 hour trips at around 18 months and it helped a ton.

Otherwise, food and more food. If you stop to run around, feed yourself, but don't feed the kids. Eating lunch takes more time in the car; messy but time consuming.

[ArizonaGirl]

I figured I would bring the DVD player, but I'm not holding out much hope, I've tried the kids shows and movies around the house before and had maybe 2 minutes worth of entertainment max.

I thought about eating in the car, but I've always been weary because of choking, is that not something you all worry about, or am I just being paranoid...

[katydid1971]

Both of my kids really responded to the Baby Signing Time DVD's, you should be able to find them at the library. Other things that might work are stickers books with pictures of things (trucks, amimals), food. Also it helped to sit with DC in the back seat.

[Seitvonzu]

we've done very long road trips (17 hours!!!) and lots of plane rides (with and without stops -- so long travelling days). i tend to over prepare. i always have a mix of old and new toys, books, snacks. and lots of cds, and on our super long trip i borrowed a dvd player from a friend.

i actually didn't find the dvd player to be necessary-- we could have gotten away with not having it, which suprised me!

on our last plane trip (my child was 25 months at the time)-- i packed 18 activity "bags" that i made up (found a couple good resources from this board). what did my child do the whole time? she ate new snacks, read books (with me and alone) and colored/drew in a notebook with mini twister crayons (crayola-- highly recommend! small size, easy to use, less messy than traditional if they melt)

totally have someone ride in the back with your toddler if you can. my child is good in the car, but it still helps to have a parent with her for part of the trip.

[vonfirmath]

We drove for 6 days from Washington to Texas with a 13 month old and no DVD player. (I grew up without a DVD player in the car and yearly vacations that were 3 days each direction so was pretty certain I did not want to introduce this before I had to!)

I sat in the back seat next to him to hand him toys since there is just 1 child and had both a bag of toys and a new toy to give him everyday. Some of the new toys were bombs. I read him books. I had a busy book that got some use. And stuffed animals that made noises when buttons were pressed. A fisher price made-for-me mp3 player that was loaded with favorite songs. A bunch of link-a-doos linked together got a LOT of attention. Oh and he slept quite a bit. We stopped every two hours or so (when he was not asleep) to let him get out and run around.

At 25 months, his favorite toys were stickers and a blank book to put them in, and a portable doodle pro to scribble on/have momma write on and then wipe and do it again

[egoldber]

I think it's always best to bring a variety. We do have a DVD player, but I typically only bring it out at night, when other activities like reading, drawing and other toys/games are harder to use AND mom and dad have reached entertainment overload LOL!! I also like it for when I am driving with the kids by myself because then no one can sit with them. My kids always eat in the car, it aaves a lot of time in stops. I do limit drinks though.

I drive about 9 hours one way to see my mom a couple times a year, at least once by myself. I plan to stop once about half way to let them run around and get out their wiggles.