Road Trips with kids...need tips

Ridgebackmom

HI! We'll be traveling in a couple weeks to SC. We're driving 13 hours in a mini van--oh yes! We have a dvd player thank goodness but I don't want dd watching movies for that long...What are your fun tips for road tripping? Games, maps, food, stops? MA-->SC
TIA

mae0111

My sister used to do that ride every summer with 3-4 kids.  They always stopped in or near DC.  She said it was a good point to stop, and stuff to do.

We do a 5-6 hour trip to see my inlaws several times a year.  I keep a shopping bag in the front seat with coloring books, crayons, stickers, and other crafts that can be done in the car.  I also keep books that DD1 (4.5) can look through.  For DD2 (just turned 1), just lots of gadgets and stuff like that, and I rotate it through.  She loves to put stuff into and take stuff out of containers, so I bring tons of stuff like that - a little plastic purse with small blocks, shape sorters, etc.

Good luck!!!

PSU_Texan

I know you don't want that much TV watching but it might just have to be the case.  My older DD gets car sick anytime we do something other than iPad watching.  But like PP said, bring new coloring, stickers, etc.  Anything that's new is exciting.  Lots of snacks and treats are a must too.  And remember, it's ok if you are not sticking to the usual rules of screen time and treats... you are on vacation

Also, we had some friends who rigged up a pulley system in their minivan for long trips so that kids could pass up trash, etc and mom could pass back new toys. 

Ridgebackmom

A pulley system--NICE. I'll have to try that. 
Yes, I know but I have a feeling she's going to get bored watching 10 hrs of Frozen lol

jlaOK

I feel you.  We are doing a 14 hour trip with DS and DD in May.

All of the PP's have good suggestions.  We also plan on bringing a MagnaDoodle because DS loves to draw on it and can't make a mess.  We also planning on listening to a lot of Disney Pandora.  DS will listen to that for hours and I feel better about him doing that then watching movies the whole time.

Leap08

We've done a couple of major car trips. In addition to TV/movie watching, we do new coloring books or similar (we've done crayola color wonder books and one time we gave DD1 a magnadoodle), new books, and a small new toy. DD1 does an excellent job of entertaining herself. She'll play with her princesses for hours in her car seat.

Pips09

Lots of snacks, new toys or games, and yes, lots of tv/movie watching. You do what you can to keep them happy being in the car for a long time.

dashofreality

My DD won't sleep in the car, so personally, we would do that long of a trip in 2 days. I won't turn on the dvd player unless we are in the car for >hour/hour and half, so to reduce TV time, I stick to that on long car trips, so when we start and stop for lunch etc. we wait at least an hour to do dvd.

Agree with PPs suggestions about little trinkets/snacks to dole out. Also got a good tip to bring a cookie sheet and some magnetic things. Also works well as a tray for coloring/eating. For us at least, doing longer stops actually caused more trouble than they were worth. The transition from boring to fun to boring was tougher than powering through and not stopping somewhere kid oriented.

ImJessesGirl

My DD's father is active duty in the military, so on his weeks/holidays we are the master at the road trip, lol. He currently lives 8 hours away, so there will be times when we have to drive to meet him half way. I know you stated that you don't want to do it, but the DVD player has been our savior. Literally. I was so against kids having a DVD player in a vehicle until I was faced with this situation. I also went with coloring books, snacks, and games when we could.

If she is 4, then I am assuming she knows her ABCs. My daughter and her dad have a game where they have to look at the signs on the highway for letters of the alphabet... IDK if you'd play a game like that, but it works for my DD. Also, seeing license plates from faraway places is another game.

rubber_chicken

holy crap that's a long car ride.  can you drive it at night?  the longest we've been in the car is four hours, to my parents house, and we always start that drive at bedtime. DD just sleeps in her pjs in the carseat.

emberlee3

Tangoes Junior
Magna doodle
Gel clings
Sing along music
I Spy
20 questions

I'm planning to get a car organizer to keep some of their snacks, drinks and games between their seats. 

chloebeth930

We do a 13 hour drive a few times a year.  My advice is as follows haha

-Drive through the night if you can. Less stops and easier for managing bored children.

-Get out to eat breakfast and lunch at a resturant, or find a small town to stop in and find a local playground, church, park, etc. so the kids can run around.

-Pack plenty of snack.

-Don't stress if they do end up watching a ton of dvds. Our last trip I spent hours finding fun car activities and the only thing that DD wanted to do was watch Bubble Guppies over and over for 7 hours straight.  Sometimes it is just about survival.

Ridgebackmom

SandAndsSea said:

We did a a ton of road trips as kids and drove all over the country.  My mom/grandma would pack a picnic lunch for the first day and we'd eat at a rest area.  Then, we'd stop at a fast food place with a play area for dinner so we could get out some energy.  We also had a ton of car games/toys/music to keep us entertained and had lap desks with cupholders so we could easily color and stuff while safely buckled in. We each also got a new travel mug that we could keep our drinks in without spilling.  Here are some ideas:

Magna Doodle or AquaDoodle

Coloring and activity books (we got a candy bar for every workbook we finished)

puzzles

Car Bingo

Letter game (find the alphabet in order on road signs or license plates)

State game (find license plates from every state)

The mini game (minis are horses so every time you see a horse you yell mini and then if you pass a cemetery you yell out "bury your minis" and every one else has to start over at 0)

Lots of kids cds/music - with actions is better like wheels on the bus or the wee sing transportation CD

Books on tape - Little House on the Prairie or the Little Prince

That mini game sounds fun!! HA

Ridgebackmom

rubber_chicken said:

holy crap that's a long car ride.  can you drive it at night?  the longest we've been in the car is four hours, to my parents house, and we always start that drive at bedtime. DD just sleeps in her pjs in the carseat.

That's an idea. I have to talk to hubby about the best time to leave. We want to do it in one day. I just feel bad having them sleep all night then stick them in a car seat for another -say...13...hours. 

rubber_chicken

If you can do even part of it at night - maybe 5 or 6 hours? Then stop for breakfast and to get dressed, switch off drivers, then continue.  Stop again for lunch, picnic maybe with time to run around? 

It's exhausting for the parents, but honestly, a car ride that length will be exhausting no matter what.

rockychryslerb2010

E is a little over two and our longest car trip has been 8-10 hrs.  He doesn't really need activities a this age, but we try to break it up as much as possible and give him 'new' toys every so often.

We always did long road trips at least once a summer growing up, and my mom had lots of activities.  We each got to pack our 'car box', a rubbermaid container we got to put activities and snacks in to use throughout the trip.  Some of it was purchased new (a new book or book on tape, etc) other stuff was from around the house.  She also had tons of snacks and other smaller activities she kept up front and would pass out every hour.  We used to joke that we ate our way through the entire trip! This was before the days of tablets and iphones and in car dvd players, but it always helped us cope with the longer trips.