Family Road Trip
July 22nd, 2007 · Notebook ·
What do you do to make traveling with your kids a lot easier?
I read an article in American Baby that gave me more ideas then I already had. Some things I already do are packing Mini Buff a baggy of cereal or some other snack and having his sippy cup full of juice. And have an extra thing of juice to fill it when it gets empty. We also have a DVD player for the car. It’s strapped to the back of my seat so he can see it.
But other ideas people had were taking along some toys for the kids to play with. We sometimes bring along some Matchbox cars but most of the time we forget them. I should pack them up more. Taking breaks at rest stops too. Meaning, getting out, running around, stretching out your legs. I know running around shouldn’t be done at a rest stop, but you know what I mean. 
We’ve never done that. Maybe he’d be a lot less cranky if we did that more often.
There were lots of other ideas, but that would make for a long post. And some of them are things we already do for him. 
So, lemme ask you, the readers, what do you do for your car time with your kids?
I'm Jen, and I'm a twenty-five year old WAHM and freelance web designer. This is my personal weblog and mini online collective. Welcome! 
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:00 am
Good luck!! Someone once mentioned lollypops to me. Maybe even ask them how many licks…. LOL! Road trips are hard, but my kids seem to enjoy the DVD player and lots of books to thumb through.
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:09 am
Perfect timing on this post. I just posted on my blog my very own travel bingo cards and scavenger hunt list. The list includes actual things we saw on the road with photos of the items making it easier for the little ones to play.
I wrote the post after we went on a road trip and my wife suggested we play a game instead of just watching a DVD. So we created a list of things that we needed to look out for. The game lasted for almost an hour. I was surprised by how interested the kids were in playing.
July 24th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Being that we live on an island, our road trips aren’t very long. LOL!
Thank you for submitting this to the Carnival of Family Life. Your post will be included in the July 30th edition at An Island Life.
July 25th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Depending on the length of the trip, I recommend getting up super early, or leaving very late, so that the kids sleep through most (or all
of the trip.
July 30th, 2007 at 9:15 am
There are so many things you can do on a road trip. I made sure I asked plenty of people. But it boiled down to what would work for my children.
I created a post last week to describe what happened on our cross country trip.
http://play-activities.com/blog/2007/07/18/5-fun-ways-to-make-it-through-a-road-trip/
My favourite tip was to stop by a park and let them run around like mad things. This worked for us as we traveled in the wee hours to beat the sun. We could spend a good amount of time playing in the cool morning.
Looking forward to some other ideas.
July 30th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Just popping in from the Family Carnival. We travel so much with our kids. Road trips to see family are 16+ hour affairs so we’ve experienced a lot over the last 15 years of it. I’d have to give a shout out for perserverance and giving kids the opportunity to experience travel more being about as helpful as anything.
Hugs,
Holly
February 8th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Recorded books! They help the time pass for kids and adults.
February 16th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
We have driven many times from Florida to Missouri and back. We like to stop overnight at the Chattanooga Choo Choo (hotel) and they have a heated indoor pool, which is awesome after a day in the car! Don’t forget goggles and flip flops even if it’s December.
We get books on tape or CD, but we try to find ones everyone will like - so far the Series of Unfortunate Events and Narnia series are long enough and interesting enough. Unfortunate Events was better, thanks to Tim Curry’s great voices.
We bring a portable DVD player with headphones (my 9 year old can’t read in the car but can watch tv without getting sick). We read. We look for license plates from different states. We try to find the letters of our name on street signs. Once when they were little my husband told the girls to look for a purple cow, and that lasted about a half hour before it dawned on them that there might not be one, so he said “Not a real one, on a sign” and that lasted about 2 states!
We sing along to Disney CDs and Hannah Montana. We turn cartwheels at rest stops. We needlepoint and bring coloring books. They have Gameboys and Tamagachis. There are snacks everyone can reach that are NOT sugary. Everyone gets a pillow and blanket for nap time.
My 9 year old used to get car sick and we got dramamine, so she slept a LOT after that. Then someone said to tie a string to the bottom of the car long enough to touch the street and she wouldn’t get car sick any more. That actually worked!
February 19th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
When my friend went on a long road trip she bought small gifts from the dollar store and wrapped them. Every couple hours the kids would receive a new “gift”. It was something for them to anticipate (and a reward for good behavior) and also provided entertainment during the drive.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
We play learning games. State plates and such. Great for learning the states.
May 25th, 2008 at 1:19 am
I second the “books on tapes” advice from comment earlier - give those kids something to do - or they will eat you alive…