Good travel toys for 17 month-old?

[kath68]

I am looking for ideas to keep DS occupied for our 8 hours in the car down to San Diego. He is too young for DVDs or lengthy books (we don't have a portable DVD player anyway). He loves balls and blocks, but they don't work well in a car. I'm a little stumped. We can play music and sing songs for some of the drive, but that will get old fast.

What works for your little ones on long drives?
TIA!

[jbowman]

We took an 8-hour car trip with Ellie when she was a bit older than your DS (19 months). Ellie loves Little People, so we brought them along. Sounds weird, but we gave her a deck of cards (yes, it's really messy, LOL) and she liked just shuffling through the cards. We've had some success with a smaller "Etch-o-Sketch" thing from Fisher Price (the name escapes me). Ellie liked scribbling, but she also liked for us to draw her pictures. We brought books and listened to toddler music most of the time.

And food, food, and more food! This occupied Ellie for long stretches, LOL!

We did buy a portable DVD player (but I was also flying alone with her right after the trip) and it was a bit too successful, IYKWIM?! We have been on a serious campaign to de-Elmo our house for a month (and I am happy to report that DH and I have prevailed, LOL).

Good luck!

[DebbieJ]

We recently bought a travel MagnaDoodle. It was $10 well spent!

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
Breastfed for 20 months and 6 days

http://www.bfar.org/members/fora/style_avatars/Ribbons/18months-bfar.jpg