Stuff to keep kid occupied on long car trip.

[stephm0188]

I need ideas.

I will have the iPad loaded with movies, and I've been stashing away new books. Any other ideas?

It'll just be me and the 5 year old, so it needs to be stuff he can do on his own.  It'll be a day and a half each way in the car.

[lilac05]

Magnadoodle, reusable stickers, drawing stuff (Color wonder or colored pencils), pipe cleaners to build/create, a travel "I Spy" game. Pinterest is full of ideas.

My biggest tip is to try to keep some/most/all of the toys in a box in the passenger seat. You can control what you give him & he has to give one thing back to you before getting another one. Toys & activities last MUCH longer this way! If I give DS a whole box of toys, he's tired of all of them in an hour. If I only give him one thing at a time, he can make a 5 hour trip with two things (& he typically has a very short attention span!). Also, start with toys/activities that are least interesting and save favorites/iPad until he has gotten tired of the less interesting toys.

[papie]

I like to do a surprise bag full of new toys/games and some mini candy packs. When he gets really bored, you take one out. A book with stickers and activities, cards about animals, mini coloring book with crayons. An etch-a-sketch would be fun too. An iPod with all his favourite songs (I mean if you already have one, I wouldn't buy one just for this).

[sawyerthedestroyer]

Food. My kid was extremely happy and quiet as long as he had French fries.

[kaybee85]

Mar 14, 2014 20:48:04 GMT -5 papie said:

I like to do a surprise bag full of new toys/games and some mini candy packs. When he gets really bored, you take one out. A book with stickers and activities, cards about animals, mini coloring book with crayons. An etch-a-sketch would be fun too. An iPod with all his favourite songs (I mean if you already have one, I wouldn't buy one just for this).

My mom did this, and she would take out a new thing every hour or so (depending on how long whatever it was entertained us). We got sticker books, different coloring things (you can do those magic crayola markers that only draw on the paper), paper dolls, dollar store type stuff. Loved it.

[sake]

Wiki stix, gel window clings, snacks, coloring/activity book, small cars/toy animals, books, manga doodle

[Deleted]

Can he read? We always liked the license plate game. Just make a list of the states and count how many from each state you see and then see which one is the farthest away from where you are. It sounds boring, but that and travel bingo always kept us busy on the 10 hour car rides to my grandparents'.

[lilac05]

You can also keep a running count of how many of a certain type of vehicle you see. Let's count all of the green cars...then, when he starts to get bored with one activity, you can break & watch for those cars.

[stephogirl]

When we drove cross-country with our then four-year-old, I had a little pile of presents for him to open. Basically, I went to the dollar store, picked up $10 worth of little toys and wrapped them. When we hit a certain milestone, like entering a new state, he got to open a present. He loved it and it filled a lot of time.

[eb777888]

Coloring, stickers, games on my phone, books, sing songs family-style, games on my phone (used when I'm REALLY desperate), snacks.

I love Papie's idea of a bag of new stuff.