I received the following question from frugal friend Mariann…
“We will soon be taking a 9 hour car trip with my 3 year old daughter. Other than driving at night, and some videos, does anyone have ideas on keeping her {and us!} happy and entertained??” 
{as always ~ thanks in advance for all of the great tips you share!}
So… what works for you??
How do YOU keep your kiddos entertained on a road trip?
Do you have any ideas of games to play, goodies to pack, etc??
Leave a comment & share!
See Also:
More Ask Your Frugal Friends Q & A’s
{Got a question you’d like to ask your Frugal Friends? Send me an email at: frugalgirls@gmail.com ~ or ask away on Facebook!}
I have a 3 year old daughter as well. I have found that she really enjoys looking for specific tings. On a 5 hour car ride, we had her look for and point out all of the yield signs.That kept her busy for quite awhile. We also have her look for animals. Cows and horses are everywhere.
I have a 2 1/2 year old granddaughter who we had to entertain on a flight to Aruba. This is far more challenging then a car trip because the space is so limited. I brought along some blue painters tape, and she happily taped everything around her. Also got her one of those water-doodle pads that work when you fill the pen with water – when the screen dries the picture disappears – no fuss no mess. We brought colorforms – also not messy and she can reposition the characters again and again. And we brought match-up card games – where you have to put the characters in pairs. The almost 5 hour flight just flew by, to everyone’s relief.
Books on “tape” and portable DVD players for movies, music, etc. We also packed backpacks with their favorite snacks, travel games and something “new” for them to look forward to.
I just saw a neat DIY “I Spy” game that would be so easy to make and probably keep your 3-year-old’s attention for a while!
We’ve been taking our now 2 and 1/2 year old on roadtrips from our place in Alabama, to our hometown in Maine, since she was 4 months old. A two day trip can be exhausting for both kids and parents, and even shorter trips can seem neverending if the kids aren’t happy! Some things we’ve found that work are movies and a variety of yummy snacks. Also, I try to stock up on small toys and books from the Targer $1 bins before we go. That way, she has a few new things to look at instead of the same toys over and over. Now that she’s older and can communicate more, we’ve started asking her questions about our travel route, such as, “Do you see that green sign?” or “Can you find a red house?” It really gets her involved and soon she starts asking her own questions! Its also never too early to start teaching about road signs, and directions. My daughter has learned to yell “Red means STOP!” at a red light, and we try to remember to discuss which way (left, right, straight ahead) we are heading at each stop. She loves that we are enteracting with her, and its a good way to stay focused on driving saftly while still entertaing little ones! Hope some of these ideas help! Good Luck!!
ok so it wont keep her busy but it will give u some sanity. my mom would get a roll of dimes and give it to us for spending money. she would take a dime away everytime we asked are we there yet. let me tell u it only took two dimes before we didnt say it again lol
When I was little and we had to make a car trip, my mom would make us travel bags. We had our handful of toys that we chose to take with us, but then she would take the bag and pack it with goodies like new crayons, coloring books, a new book, etc. The trick was, once she had done the packing, we could not open the bag until we were actually on the road. The little things to keep us occupied were great, and on subsequent trips the anticipation of what would be in the bags kept up going until we left!
I went to the dollar store and bought a small cookie sheet and some magnetic letters and then to the craft store and bought a package of felt. I hot glued a piece of felt to one side of the cookie sheet and then used the other pieces to cut out shapes and little animals. One side my lil’ bit can use to stick the felt shapes on to make a picture and the other she can stick and unstick the letter magnets! It buys me a good hour or so of quiet. Also, the dollar spot at target has tons of little books and small toys that you can put into a bag special for the trip. Just make sure you ration them to maximize your time!
My boys love the portable dvd player. I grab a variety of dvds, keep their pillows, and blankies handy. When they get bored with the tv, they play I spy games, and we keep color wonder markers and books to color with. That way the inside of my car doesnt get redecorated.
We take a cooler with some handy snacks. Sandwiches, grapes and string or cubed cheese work great. Raisens and animal cookies are also handy snacks that doesnt take up extra space in the cooler. A few picture books or kids magazines can be good too, depending on the kids ages. You dont want anything they would have to focus too much on for reading though, so you dont accidentally set off some motionsickness.
Hope you have a great trip!!
I’m going on a road trip next week, and I’m taking a portable dvd player, a leapster explorer, and the printable car trip bingo cards that were posted here earlier this week. Plus I’m leaving at night so hopefully the kids will sleep at least half the time!
PS – I played “I spy” when I was a kid. Hoping it works!
My 5 and 10-year-old granddaughters loved the Road Trip Bingo cards. Because there’s no reading involved, they were on the same skill level. The extra challenge was locating all of the items while it was pouring down rain!
Also, google travel bingo. you can print out the sheets and then your little one can look for the objects that are pictured on the sheet.
We take a portable DVD player and rent a new Redbox movie on the drive there…return it at our destination, and get a new one on the drive home. My kids will pay closer attention to a new movie (therefore staying quiet longer) than a movie they have seen 10 times. Works out really well when you can get a free rental to do this!
We also pack Crayola color wonder markers for drawing. It doesn’t get on the car seats:) We have also done a car bingo game. We got it a while back so I am not sure where to buy it, but you just mark off the things that you see…cow, barn, river…)
Good luck! It is always a challenge traveling with kiddos!
We did a 2500 mile round trip at christmas, with a 3.5 year old.
For $20 you can get a table platform that snaps around waist, and provides a table surface in the carseat, with a 2 inch ledge around it, so things don’t roll off and cause havoc as well as blast your eardrums.
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Kids-Snack-Play-Travel/dp/B000KJBFC8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299183374&sr=8-1
Also, bringing juice bricks, indivudally wrapped granola bars,
magnets, or whatever your child fancies at the time.
Our trip was possible by the generosity of a good friend, who let us borrow 15 Elmo DVDs, a few wind-up toys and some washable (!!) markers.
Stopping as often as need to, and chase your child around the parking lot for 10 min or so, will help on the “I don’t want to be stuck in the car seat” – we (the adults) took turns in sitting in the back with the kid so he felt he wasn’t stoved in with the luggage and ignored.
Good Luck and have a great trip!
Best idea ever is using a cookie sheet for their lap. It keeps the pencils from rolling onto the floor, easy cleanups with a wipe, they can have their snacks on it, they can play with toys, set a book on it, anything goes. My girls are 9 & 7 and they still use them on our 23 hour drives to Grandma’s house and they like them on shorter trips too.
Have you heard of the workbox system for homeschooling? Well, the same thing works for traveling too. Try and make a box for each kid with smaller boxes or bags with activities, toys, snacks, etc. Label them with numbers or pictures. That way they do not have this huge box of things all jumbled together, but small experiences all along the way.
Travel bags are great. I also used to let them “help” make a snack bag. Things that were easy for them to eat in the car (no oranges…lol). My advice would be to let them pick out stuff from the dollar store or the dollar bins to go in the bag. If you let them take too many “precious” things from home, you will have problems if they somehow get lost…
Wow, ladies, these are great ideas! I’m going to bookmark this page
I went on a lot of car trips, from Colorado to Minnesota and back, at least once a year growing up. We played games, like I Spy, the alphabet game (you have to find letters A-Z in order, on signs as you pass them.), the license plate game, and 20 questions.
When my mom had to drive with my 4-yr old brother, she told him to yell out whenever he saw a cow or water. “Cow!” “Water!” is a lot better than whining. With older kids, have them try to count the animals, and then laugh with them when you are going to fast to count them all.
Now I have a 6-month old who hates car rides. I designated a new toy as his “car” toy, and he only gets it when he’s in the car. That has helped, I think. I am going to remember the cookie sheet idea for when he is a bit older!
Well, as a mom, I have a few ideas. As a travel agent, I have even more LOL. We have family all over the country and Canada so spend 2 weeks every summer traveling long distances. My kids are now 11, 12, and 15 so its different but we have used these tricks since they were very little
First, the snack bag. Individual size snacks and a designated time to eat them. This may seem a little rigid but otherwise my kids would eat all day long in the car. I make a gallon size bag with everyones name on it, then make littler baggies with snack size portions. Everyone can choose one thing at snack time. They still get to be in control of what they eat but its MUCH easier! (BTW, put something under her carseat, to catch the stains, it really helps)
Second, a lot of people swear by wrapping individual dollar store toys in wrapping paper, I tried it, the sound of wrapping paper every hour drove me crazy, plus its a big mess. I used to keep a stash of recycled toys(ones taht have been put away for awhile) in a bag and get a new one out every hour or so.
Thrid make sure you travel with reasonable expectations, pad your trip time by adding in lots of stops to run around where possible. Find a park or a decent rest area, bring a blow up beach ball to play with, deflate it when you get back in the car.
I swear by pipe cleaners as a toy, my kids would play them for hours.
We give our kids (3 & 2) special snacks and water to drink, as well as a magna doodle, books, and a Leapster laptop. – The magna doodle is great because the pen is attached with a string so they can’t drop it on the floor and there isn’t any mess like with markers. We also try to play a game out of seeing various items (tractors, silos, train, etc) and time trips so we’ll be traveling around naptime. Those things keep them occupied during our 3 hour ride to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.
A few other things that work for us are learning about where we are going beforehand. If its a special vacation like Disney we all choose at least one that we want to do anead of time. If its visiting relatives, telling funny (but appropriate) stories about them can be a lot of fun. All of our kids had special names for their Grandpa, one called him “Grandpa Hammock” because swinging on the hammock with him was one of their favourite things to do. My son called him “Grandpa Sail” because that was what he remembered most about him. Stories like that are fun and help the kids to relate to people they dont neccesarily see often. It also makes it easier to break the ice if the kids know a story about someone.
In the electronics department,
For your sanity, may I suggest an E-reader? My husband bought me a Kindle a few weeks ago and I am in love with it! I used to have my own bookbag for when the kids were watching a movie or something but kicking that thing around by my feet was really annoying! We just got back from a plane trip and let me tell you, the Kindle was a life saver. One little book and I had hundreds of books to read! Awesome!
If you dont have a portable DVD player maybe you would rather look into an inexpensive laptop or netbook with a DVD drive? That way she can not only watch movies but
she can play games. You can even have kids music on it (also if you have an old Ipod, load it with kids songs, NO MORE KIDZ BOP for you!). Make sure she has kids headphones though and not the ear buds.
Those are a few ideas taht have worked for us. HTH a little! Have a great trip!
We travel a lot with our kids 6 & 9 years old. Here’s what we do to keep them busy (& us sane!)
** I go to the dollar store & pick up little “gifts” for them (coloring book, crayons, toys, books, etc.) & then I give them one every 1 – 2 hours. It’s always fun having something new
** Print out a Bingo game or make your own … see how fast your child can fill in all the squares. Use stickers to mark off the items…you could also give her a prize after she fills it up. http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo/index.htm
** Also, we stop at many rest stops and let the kids run, run, run….make a game to see how fast they can run from tree to tree, etc
** Also give her a disposable camera….let her take pictures of whatever she likes
** Also get vinyl clings for windows (I’m sure they have Easter ones out now) and let her put them on the car window…they won’t get all messy like stickers and will come right off
** If you can find these on sale b/c they can be expensive, Crayola Color Wonder paper/markers are GREAT b/c it only works on the special paper….also would be a nice surprise for her
My son and I just took a road trip to FL from MO back in November and that was almost 16 hours. But I took snacks, drinks, books, toys, coloring, and of course the old trusty portable DVD player. And we also stopped every couple of hours to let my son out to stretch his legs, pee, and to play and in no time it felt like the road trip was over.