Well, i swear i posted this this morning but I dont' see it here so here I go again.

Tink's "bordom buster" post got me thinking. We have a 13 hour drive next weekend. We are going to Hilton Head. We do not have a portable dvd player for the car so i'm trying to think of things to entertain our 6 and 8 yr olds. So far i have:


road trip scavenger hunt : look for the number 54, a mcdonalds, a black and white cow, etc

books
coloring books
liscense plate thing- write down ever state you see. last time we drove down there I got about 48 states.

listen to ipod shuffles
journals to write down their experiences of our trip


Any other ideas of what to bring to entertain them in the car?
thanks

By Tink on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 04:09 pm:

When we took an 8 hour drive last summer, this idea was a life-saver. I picked up a bunch of little toys (hot wheels, activity books, a small cross-stitch kit, travel games, snacks, etc.) and put each in a small lunch bag with the intended kid's name on it. I pulled a new bag out every hour or so and the novelty of the items kept them from getting so bored.

Enjoy your trip!

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 04:10 pm:

My kids had fun doing stuff, with a Chinese jumprope. Cat's Cradle and doing the different shapes, like Witch's broom, Eiffel Tower, Jacob's ladder. I don't know if that would be too hard for 6-8 year olds or not. It kept my teens busy, to and from South Dakota.

Cat's Cradle Klutz Book

You can also order extra string, with the book for $5, but you can probably get a chinese jump rope cheap at Walmart, or similar store.

Oh yeah, we started out the trip, with just one string! LOL! In the gift store, across from the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD, we saw the Klutz book and DH let them buy it. Then they each had a string. They had printed out lots of instructions from the internet, but thought the Klutz pictures were more clear!

By Kaye on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 04:42 pm:

My kids always pack a deck of cards, they play war, black jack and solitare.

Also make sure you pack plenty of sing along cd's, sometimes we just crank it up and all sing Jesus Christ Superstar or Grease.

Make sure they have a pillow so they can snooze.

By Cat on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 04:44 pm:

When my kids were 5 and 7 we had a 12hr road trip from MI to NC. One thing that was a HUGE hit was giving each of them a disposable camera so they could take pictures of the trip. We ended up with a lot of the back of dh's and my heads, but they had a blast with it! lol

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 06:20 pm:

Oh trust me, Sarah takes pictures all along the way, if she isn't sleeping! She loves getting the state signs, when you cross the state line and it was fun getting pictures of a few Wall Drug signs, including one before you even leave Minnesota!

I love looking at scenery and listening to music. The Ipod is nice because we don't have to drag along a lot of cds then.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 08:39 pm:

I found a url, with ideas.

Moms Minivan Trip Ideas

My kids love finding the alphabet on road signs, like road signs, billboards, business signs, etc. It's easier if you are in a city and takes longer out on the open road, because there are fewer signs to look at.

You could type up a list of the 50 states and have the 8yo check off the states as you see them! At touristy sites, it's so easy, because there are people from so many different places.

Sarah found a Kids Road Atlas on Amazon.

Rand McNally's Backseat Books® series is your source for fighting those boredom blues. Kids' Road Atlas features real road maps, great travel games, state-by-state puzzles, state facts (including the nickname, capital, flower, tree, and bird), an index, and much, much more. An answer key is also included in the back of the book. These colorful, fun-filled books are perfect for keeping the kids busy at home or during those long stretches. Backseat Books®. Boredom cured.

Sarah said she saw a book like this, at the grocery store! Sarah wants to print out some Car Bingo and Scavenger Hunt sheets, for our vacation, next month! Maybe Sarah should be a travel agent, instead of a nurse! She loves planning trips!

By Tsa on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 11:56 pm:

Tink, we do the same thing but they get 10 guesses to guess what is in the bag. It makes it last a little longer. We also do "BRAIN BUSTERS." Basically, simple math questions. For the little ones-What comes after 23. Which is bigger 120 or 102? For the big ones it can get elaborate. 2+3-4+10x6= or more if the kid can do it. Just remember you have to be smarter than a fifth grader for some of them. (ha ha). The kids love doing this and then they try to stump us. Every now and then we let them. Oh, they think that is soo funny. Books on tape- our library has the JUNIE B JONES books and then you get the book so they can "read" along. We also play a version of 20?'s. It's called "I'm thinking of an animal." So, someone starts by stating-"I'm thinking of an animal." Then you can ask Does it live on a farm-woods-zoo. Does it have fur-scales-feathers-skin. You get the idea. That is another hit. Finally, we eat our way there. Grapes and lots of them work well in our car. Have a great trip.

By Colette on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 05:36 am:

When we do a long road trip, I always go to the library and get some books on tape or cd. If I remember correctly, the Harry Potter books were 6+ hours and very entertaining to listen to.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 08:12 am:

I had to drive the kids and a cousin, up to my mom and dad's, about 2-1/2 hours away, a few years ago. My sister got a Lemony Snicket book on cd, that we listened to, on the way up there. By the end of the trip, everyone was really paying attention and we were all laughing, when he explains the words! LOL! I was actually sad the trip wasn't longer and ended up having to check that particular book, out of the library, that next week, so I could find out what happened!

By Bellajoe on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 08:33 am:

You girls are great! These are such great ideas. I just printed out the "mom's minivan trip ideas"

I'm going to barnes and nobels to get a Road Trip Brain Teasers book that I saw when we were in Vegas. And I think we will go to the library and get a book on tape or two.

Writing down all the states and having them check them off is better than them trying to write them down.

Great Ideas ladies, thank you so so much!

By Jackie on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 08:37 am:

Of course I know many people are against this, but we always bring a portable dvd player, and lots of disney movies..
We are leaving on a road trip Saturday.. We are driving from Va Beach to Florida .We will most certainly bring our portable dvd players, actually of them. I dont expect my almost 13 yr old to watch Disney the whole way. BUT..the older kids each pack a backpack in the car, which includes books, pens/pencils/notebook to write in, My son will bring his IPOD..Both older kids will bring their gameboys.
I may not get the parenting award of the year. But..all these things make a very peaceful trip.
Now, Faith has never been a road trip like this. She also has not slept in the car since she was a tiny baby..She loves to watch her movies, but I wonder if she will sleep at all LOL

By Debbie on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 09:37 am:

These are great ideas! We are driving 7 hours to the lake in a few weeks. I will have to use some of these.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 11:02 am:

Emily brings her gameboy along, too. On our trip to Niagara Falls, we ended up stopping at a store to buy a car-charger for it! LOL!

I think Sarah writes stuff down for us, along the way, to help us remember.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, July 5, 2007 - 09:38 pm:

Bellajoe, how did your trip go? What did the kids do, to keep busy in the car?

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 10:43 am:

Bump

By Mara on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 10:59 am:

Just wanted to add what my kids and my dh do in the car on road trips. My dh is the silliest man I know...he "invented" this game for the kids and they laugh so hard, it really keep them intertained. OK, you know how kids point out cows, horses, pigs, etc. on car trips? My dh has named all these animals different names. Cows are hippos...horses are rhinos...birds are dogs...pigs are elephants...goats are sheep...There are a few more but honestly I can't remember all of them. The kids think this is hilarious, and they remember them all. We live in a rural/country area and see lots of farm animals and the kids yell out the "other" animal name when they see it. I crack up when I hear my almost 4yr. old dd yell out "There is a flying dog!" LOL I always make sure during this game that she knows we are just playing and I have her tell me the real name too...she's so little I don't want to confuse her brain! LOL Just wanted to share!

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 11:42 am:

That sounds fun! My hubby always has funny names for things, too. When Emily was little and we would ask her her name, she always said Emily George, because DH called her George sometimes, just for fun. She would say Emily George with a smile on her face, so I think she knew it was funny and not her real name.

By Mrsheidi on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 11:53 am:

You guys are SOOO creative!!! I would have gone to Walmart and got the duo dvd players for $100!
These ideas are so much better! I think I'm going to copy and paste these into a word document and save these ideas for Connor!

Have fun at Hilton Head, Bellajoe!! Take lots of pics!

By Bellajoe on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 12:42 pm:

WOW, I just saw this today.

We did end up getting the double dvd player thing for the car. They ended up watching maybe 3 movies on the way down and 2 or 3 on the way back. Other than that they did Mad LIbs, read books, listened to music. I got them this Road Trip Trivia book that we all did together. It just asked questions like "why does a snake shed it's skin, if an animal is cold blooded, what does that mean, etc. It was pretty fun to do, and a learning experience for all of us! They also colored, and played 20 Questions.

It was a 13 hour drive, so we got up really early in the morning to leave for HH, 4 am to be exact. I got sick to my stomach and had my dh pull over because i thought i was going to be sick. I ended up laying down in the back of the van (yeah, i know it's not safe but it helped) and falling asleep, i woke up feeling much better. I think my body was ticked off that I got up so early!

We had a great time on vacation! Dd did get sick and threw up Sunday night and evening but woke up fine on Monday. Other than that, we had a wonderful time and saw dolphins and a sting ray, swam in the ocean and just enjoyed ourselves a lot.
I'll post some pictures!

Thanks for asking, Dawn!

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 02:53 pm:

I'm glad you had a good trip! I would love to see a sting ray! Sometimes I get nauseous, too, if I don't get enough sleep.

By Bellajoe on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 03:44 pm:

It was weird, the sting ray was right on top of the water. We were on a Dolphin Cruise, looking for dolphins and saw this thing on top of the water. We couldn't tell what it was at first then realized it was a sting ray.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 07:07 pm:

Oh cool! Did you see any dolphins?