LONG car ride activities

sherks11

In a few weeks we will be making a 26 hour car ride (each way) down to the Florida keys. I thought it has hard last year with a newborn. No way, a 15 month old is going to be WAY harder!!!

I need ideas ladies!! What can I bring to help keep LO busy and happy???

I read the plane thread from May and have a few ideas from there (quiet books and such). I want to get a tray (baking sheet) to use to color on, put magnets on, and Legos/puzzles. We have a dvd in the car but I want to limit that. Anything else you can think of??? Any new apps you have found???

momofmanyinthemitten

Push Pom poms through a hole in a container (mine had feta cheese in it). I bought some colored matchsticks (oriental trading, I think) to push through the holes of a spice jar. These are our two go-to favorites for church and the car. Magnets on a cookie sheet is definitely a good one, as are foam stickers on a piece of felt. You could use tegu blocks on the cookie sheet as well. DD1 loves her magnetic story and play scene books. And, finally, snack, snack, and more snacks!

ETA: I bought a $1 flimsy plastic photo album and filled it with pictures of her and family members. She loves it.

babayRFL

26 hours?! We just did a 10 hour one and I thought that was long! I wish I had thought of the magnet idea...LO would love that!

Our LO likes watching videos of himself, so we did that a lot, read a bunch of books, ate a bunch of snacks, sang a bunch of songs (DH loved that ). He'd hold an empty wipes container in his lap, and I'd give him a block one at a time to put in, then he'd take them all out. I also bought a couple boxes of Kleenex at the dollar store, and he looooved pulling the kleenexes out. It was super wasteful and a huge mess, but it entertained him for a while. I also let him drink his bottle in the car, and when he was done he'd just play with the bottle for a while. His favorite app is called Magic Fingers, and when he touches the screen there's these bursts of color...it pretty neat.

That's what I can think of off the top of my head that helped us. If I remember others I'll post them . Good luck! You'll do great!

kmos816

We do 4 hour drives often and that seems to take forever haha, wish I would have used some of these ideas! C liked playing peek a boo with me but that got old fast (for me).
And ditto the snacks- they are a life saver!

sherks11

Thanks for all the ideas ladies!!! We are breaking it up a little on the way there but dh wants to drive straight through on the way back!!! Between LO and morning sickness, I am terrified :-S