13 Hour Car Ride with 20 month old

[irish3680]

Hi Ladies,

I read the sticky above with travel activities and got some good ideas but most of the suggestions were geared towards flying. In April DH, Ella, and I will be driving 13 hours with my parents for a vacation. Ella will be 20 months old and she is VERY active  I would love some ideas for quiet, stationary activities that we can do during the drive. I will be getting a tray to attach to her carseat so we can color and do stickers and stuff. We have a portable DVD player, but she is not the least bit interested in TV. I am hoping that she will watch a little BE or something, but I don't know that she will. I don't allow her to watch TV at home and she doesn't care about it anyways so I'm not too confident that she will watch during the trip. I look forward to hearing your ideas!!

[aisling]

Hi Shannon,

We did a 16+ hour drive to Myrtle Beach with DS when he was 18 months. He was not a TV fan so we didn't even attempt the DVD.  What we did bring:

Books with flaps, stickers, flash cards
His tools and other fave toys
His beach toys, he loved those
Snacks! Drinks etc...

Our trip went really well actually.  The longest stretch without stopping was 7 hours!  We sang to him and took turns driving and whilst the other was engaging him with his books etc...I was better at it, so DH did most of the driving and I took over when he was napping. 

On the way there, we left at 10am, he fell asleep at 12:00 and slept for 45 min  boo, hiss, rough start. Then we stopped for lunch.  Then we drove and we drove until he started losing it at around 7:30, he was exhausted etc....we stopped at a hotel and we left first thing in the a.m after breakfast. We arrived at our destination by 1pm.

On the way home DH devised another way home and cut off 1.5 hours  so we decided to drive straight through. We left at 3am as we felt, it was silly to sleep to wake to leave kwim? So we left at 3am and DS fell asleep by 4am and woke at 7am we stopped for breakfast, bum change etc...then back on the road and this was the long stretch. He was happy, fed, etc..I entertained him, he had lunch in car I premade. He napped from 12:30-2:00  Then woke happy again had some milk and snack.  Then we stopped for gas/petrol, food and toilet etc....back on road and made  stop at a greasy spoon and had supper, got on jammies etc...then he got a bit overtired again and agitated but finally gave into it and fell asleep about an hour away from home  we were home by 8:00.     Where are you going anywhere fun?

HTH,

A x

[Jaime]

yes, I don't think we did the DVD till after ds was 2YO!  just wouldn't have worked before then!! 

i must heartily echo the snacks!!     and if she likes them, paper & something to draw with.  or something like a magna-doodle. 

for us, though, making sure we stopped at places where the kids could run around was a must.  we've done far more road-tripping once the kids stopped napping, so we would tend to have an hour+ break for lunch so the kids could really get some energy out. 

[irish3680]

Thanks!! We are driving from Buffalo, NY to the Outer Banks, NC for a vacation with my parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (6 families including us). My family rented a big house on the beach, so it should be fun. Ella loves to draw and do stickers so we will be bringing plenty of those. We also have a magna doodle that we will bring. I also plan to go to the dollar store and stock up on some new inexpensive toys and won't let her play with them until the ride. I was thinking about making a cheerio necklace during the ride so it would be an activity and then a handy snack afterwards.  It will help that there will be 4 adults (DH and I and my parents) in our minivan, so plenty of people to take turns entertaining.

[aisling]

Great idea with the cheerio necklace/snack!  I love it!  Shannon, I am in Niagara in Canada, we are neighbours! Where abouts are you?   Are you going to Kill Devil Hills?  How will the weather be at this time of year?

A x

[rinajack]

We just did 15 hours on the way to a holiday with a 22 month old and a 5 month old, and then a 12 hours trip back again.

The DVD works better in the car than at home, since they are a captive audience so to speak. Narrating the storyline in terms they are familiar with makes it much more interesting to them, same for books.

On the way home we left at midnight, and had about 6 hours of uninterrupted driving which was bliss.

Snacks are essential.

Did I mention I also had my two dogs in the car (active working dogs?)

[shelliz]

Snacks, Snacks, and more snacks!

[irish3680]

Ella loves flashcards so will probably get a few new packs and put them all away so they will be "new" for the trip.

A, we are neighbors. I live in Buffalo, about 10 minutes from the peace bridge. I teach up in Niagara Falls on the American side. The weather in NC should be low 70s when we go. What are Devils Hills?

[aisling]

We should meet up in the spring in the falls!  I go shopping around N Falls Blvd/Military Rd. all the time.

Kill Devil Hills is the oldest township in the Outer Banks. We might go there this year instead of M Beach, but was worried the weather woudl not be warm. When do you guys go.

http://www.killdevilhills.com/

[irish3680]

Definitely! The Niagara Factory Outlet Mall is only 30 minutes from my house and I teach 5 minutes from there on Saturday mornings. We really are so close  This is our first time going to the Outer Banks, we will definitely check out Kill Devil Hills. We are staying in Avon. The internet says the average temperature in April is 70F. I would rather be going when it will be warmer, but this is when everybody could go.

[aisling]

 

[LORRIEc]

I love the factory outlet mall.

Another suggestion would be to wrap up some the dollar store toys and let your dd unwrap them, every hour or when needed.  My ds loves unwrapping presents, and this just makes it more exciting.