Long Car Rides

[xctsclrx]

At the end of September we are going on a 13 hour car ride. In normal circumstances we would be flying, but considering the world right now we are driving. Ugh

My DD (2) is not the best traveler. She doesn't really sleep in the car and is kind of a pain.

DS (5) is a great traveler sleeps the second his head hits the car seat.

What are your best car trip activities? Especially for the 2 year old

There is only me in the car so I don't have anyone who can pass out toys or change episodes on the tablet for my daughter.

We are breaking this trip up. The first night I'm going to my MILs (we can't take the same car due to after trip plans) we are then planning on going about 6-8 hours the next day. Then finishing the trip the next day. 4ish hours

Any advice? And best travel pillows for kids. DS sleeps hard

[sdlaura]

Our longest car ride with kids has been 5/6 hours, so I don’t have any good advice there.

But I just wanted to mention that we flew as a family (two adults and four kids, including a newborn) a few weeks ago and felt good about it. We were nervous but then felt better about it given the mask compliance, empty seats, and other safety measures. Our friends drove 15 hours with their 1 and 2 year old for the same trip, and ended up wishing they flew. Given that there was also exposure for them with stops and hotel and it was a lot more of a pain with the little kids. Vs a 2-hour direct flight.

Just throwing this out there in case you were on the fence.

[xctsclrx]

sdlaura unfortunately flying isn't really an option. We are going to visit my MILs parents who are in their 80s. And I think I can control the exposure driving better than at an airport. I've already agreed to pull my daughter from daycare for the week before we leave and going to be talking to the school about my son if they are in school at that point. Trying to be as careful as possible while still realizing that this could be the last chance for them to meet my kids. We were supposed to go in April but we all know how plans went this year.

Right now they are in good health but wanted to get down there before flu season sets in on top of everything else.

[waverly]

I don’t have much. 2 year olds are hard. Maybe audiobooks aimed for younger kids. Our library lends out playaway views. Would a tablet entertain her? Otherwise maybe sticker packs. She can sticker everything in sight. Lots and lots of snacks!!

I think our biggest issue was they would drop it in the floor of the car and couldn’t reach it. Since you are driving and the 5 year old is asleep there wouldn’t be anyone to get it for her. I tried buying a table that goes on their laps but it failed- they threw that on the floor too. I think I tried a bin to hold stuff but I don’t remember how that went. It must not have been spectacular.

[mommyatty]

We haven’t driven, but flying, we found the best toys to be:
-puzzle erasers, especially animals where the heads can be switched for comic effect. Target party favor section has lots, as does Amazon.
-color forms from the dollar store. They stick to windows, which is awesome fun.
-cars. Lots and lots of cars.
-finger puppets. Rubber ones from the Target party favor section are favorites.
-cheap little plastic army figures. Our dollar store had ones that were fire and water rescue that came with vehicles. These were great hits.
-Duplos, but not little legos.
-a travel backpack for each kid. I swear, digging in the backpack is an activity all by itself.

Things everyone recommends that my kids never cared about:
-crayons. They love to color at restaurants, but not while traveling.
-silly putty. Omg. This was a disaster for us.
-small puzzles. Lots of dropped and sliding pieces, unlike the rubber puzzle erasers that stick.

They make little trays that mimic a plane tray table for car seats. I would get one of those.

ETA- for the tablet, Sego Mini has awesome games for 2 year olds. A lot, they can just drag the character around a world and do silly things like make fish sing or flowers grow. Then they have things like Bug Builder (I think that’s what it’s called) where they color a preformed shape, which then animated to a cute little monster. My avatar is one of the ones my kids colored. 

[sandandsea]

Aug 23, 2020 9:43:04 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

We haven’t driven, but flying, we found the best toys to be:
-puzzle erasers, especially animals where the heads can be switched for comic effect. Target party favor section has lots, as does Amazon.
-color forms from the dollar store. They stick to windows, which is awesome fun.
-cars. Lots and lots of cars.
-finger puppets. Rubber ones from the Target party favor section are favorites.
-cheap little plastic army figures. Our dollar store had ones that were fire and water rescue that came with vehicles. These were great hits.
-Duplos, but not little legos.
-a travel backpack for each kid. I swear, digging in the backpack is an activity all by itself.

Things everyone recommends that my kids never cared about:
-crayons. They love to color at restaurants, but not while traveling.
-silly putty. Omg. This was a disaster for us.
-small puzzles. Lots of dropped and sliding pieces, unlike the rubber puzzle erasers that stick.

They make little trays that mimic a plane tray table for car seats. I would get one of those.

ETA- for the tablet, Sego Mini has awesome games for 2 year olds. A lot, they can just drag the character around a world and do silly things like make fish sing or flowers grow. Then they have things like Bug Builder (I think that’s what it’s called) where they color a preformed shape, which then animated to a cute little monster. My avatar is one of the ones my kids colored. 

All of this. Also a snack bag where they can dive in and choose the snacks and you or the 5yo open them while driving. You could do the same with a small toy first grab bag. Every hour or two they get to reach in and grab a new one so your older one can facilitate. Hot wheels and the like are fun for my kids to drive along their car seats.

My kids like songs too so we have several of the Wee Sing kid song albums. They are 100% kid songs. We also play I spy I t he car a lot.

[sdlaura]

That makes sense on driving! One of my girlfriends recently flew from Boulder to Maine to visit her elderly in laws. They got tests before going (which of course isn’t perfect since you could get covid on the trip) and also rented a house instead of staying with the in laws. They briefly considered renting an RV and driving from Colorado to Maine but said they also ended up feeling good about the flights. If it was the distance you’re doing, though, I’m sure they would have driven.

BTW, if anyone does want an easy at home test, you can order the Pixel test online and insurance will pay for it. Mine came the next day, and then I had results in 3 days. It’s made by LabCorp and apparently has similar positivity rates to tests done by healthcare providers. It was way easier than I expected - we had one member of each family take one before we went on our Oregon vacation a few weeks ago. Just for a little extra peace of mind (realize it’s definitely not a perfect solution given timing/possibility of false negatives, etc.)

[mellym]

We got back from our vacation this weekend. We flew and still had to keep our 2 year old entertained in the airport and airplane. We previously made a 19 hour drive with a 3 year old (never again!). Each kid gets a backpack to hold their stuff. These are what went over best:

- Travel coloring book with markers attached
- Puffy reusable sticker book
- Books
- Deck of matching cards (or flash cards with pictures) - 2 year old kept pulling them out and looking at the pictures, sorting, etc.
- iPad with movies

[186momx]

When DD was little we played a lot of I-spy, she just talked to me a lot, she also enjoyed having baby or a stuff toy to just hang with. I also have the easiest car riding kid on the planet. I always put DD's car seat diagonal from the driver seat so I could technically hand her something if necessary. Also a leak proof cup is a must.

[k3am]

We don't eat or drink (other than water) in the car, even on long trips. Each kid gets a stuffy, a blanket, water, their kindle (DD has a couple movies and DS has a season of Bubble Guppies that they can watch without internet), and a book, but that's about it.

We do a lot of music and play driving games (I spy, the alphabet game, I'm going to the picnic, fortunately/unfortunately, cows on my side, etc).

My mom took me on a lot of long, boring car trips (think.. coast to coast, several times), and we never had much for entertainment and we made it through, so I figure my kids can learn to do the same. They generally do pretty well. That being said.. DS is 4, and I would just now start considering taking a car drive more than 5-7 hours with him.

Also keep in mind.. your eating options aren't going to be what they normally are on a road trip. A quick stop at one of 2734 McDonald's along the roadside isn't going to happen or will be inconvenient at best, so try to map out a few restaurants in areas ahead that have patio dining, or parks nearby that you can eat a to go order at. (This was.. interesting for us since my kids are painfully picky.)