We drove straight through both ways and needless to say I was pretty anxious about how my 28 month old and 14 month old were going to handle SUCH long drives.
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| almost there: "peace out car". |
I asked around a lot for advice and researched tips online and came up with my own plan of attack. Some things worked better than I'd hoped, some flopped and some were in between. (pretty typical)
So having made a trek myself I've come up with my own list of FOUR suggestions as well as a list of some of the things that worked best to entertain the boys.
SURVIVING THE DRIVE:
1. Get NEW things for the time spent traveling and make sure you wait until you're on the trip to show them to your kids for the first time.
(My mom did this with us back when I was little and we trekked from Texas to Utah and we were old enough that she even wrapped ours up as gifts, my boys aren't old enough to care about that part)
If you are traveling for more than one day, save some new things for each day. Or if you're like me and going straight through, try and space new things out so you don't run out in the first few hours.
I would also suggest getting/having a few different things for the ride back. I ended up making a last minute run to the dollar bins at Target and the Dollar store before we left Utah to come back home just to be safe.
**MY LIST OF MY FAVORITE TOYS IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST.**
2. Go into restaurants to order food and take the whole family. We always got our food to go so we still ate in the car but the boys got to run around for a bit while we ordered and waited for our food. Also the perfect diaper change time. We got the boys out every time we stopped for gas too. It worked really well to get the wiggles out.
3. Get exciting or special treats/snacks for the car. It was really nice to have some of the things that Lee and Drew LOVE that we don't have very often in the car. Having plenty of healthy snacks that don't make everyone feel gross is important too.
*have good snacks to keep the drivers alert too. :)
4. Have a few shows or movies for the kids to watch and new apps for them to play, technology today can be SO nice and such an amazing tool. We only had 3 shows and 2 movies but it was plenty for Lee. Be prepared to get REALLY sick of theme songs though. :) Shows/apps were my last resort and they really saved us a few times with Lee.
(We didn't have anything to hold our iPad in the car like a tv screen but we really liked the one we got through Amazon Prime, it's $25.99 now.)
*It isn't annoying, sticky or itchy for the person sitting in the seat in front of the screen AND you can access the power button and volume controls without ever taking the iPad out.
These were the shows we had (all but Curious George were free and CG was one of the cheapest kid shows to buy) and we only have digital files for these two movies but it was PLENTY for Lee:
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| Finley the Fire Engine. |
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(I'll list what we used in order from MOST to LEAST successful, though I'd imagine this varies a bit with personality types.)
One of the things I love about all of these toys is that now they are used as church toys for Sundays, so we just keep getting our money's worth out of them. Which is a big deal for me, especially since some of them were not super cheap.
Lee played with this for hours and hours and hours, he requested it ALL THE TIME. There are tons of different themes but I designed on Disney's CARS since Lee LOVES Mater. (even though he's yet to sit through the movie) It's a simple magnetic metal tin that opens up to reveal a scene and about 30 magnetic cars.
*I got mine through Amazon Prime for $9.
This thing is awesome. You fill the "paintbrush" it comes with with water and the water reveals all these different scenes. (I picked a car one...bet you can't tell what my 2 year old is obsessed with right now...) Creativity-wise obviously not as cool but good CLEAN fun for the car, perfect.
*I got mine through Amazon Prime for $4.99.
This was the most expensive toy I got, ironically because it's pretty straight forward, unfortunately it's listed for a bit more than I got it for this summer right now too. But it was also the ONLY toy I got that was for sure age appropriate for my 1 year old. (this age is SO much harder to entertain.) The boys both ended up loving it, and I knew they would throw the pieces but they are plush so no harm no foul. Each piece makes a different noise, which I thought both my boys had grown out of but...they both loved that about it.
*I got mine through Amazon Prime, now $21.91.
These cards are similar to those touch and feel books with furry animals and shiny objects. (the jelly is actually sticky, it's my personal favorite...) The boys both enjoyed looking through these cards and talking about the objects but they definitely didn't hold their attention nearly as long as some of the other toys.
I got mine through Amazon Prime for $5.52.
This is a magnetic puzzle book of all different kinds of animals. I know I put this one in last place but that's mostly because it was more difficult to use in the car so Lee preferred more Car magnet tin time to using this quite as much. Course it's a huge favorite now that we're home for both boys and one of my favorites for church.
I got mine through Amazon Prime for $16.99.
Overall the trip went much better than I'd anticipated and the boys were really champions, even though neither slept well on the way out especially. That being said, it may take about a year before I'm ready to make that kind of trip again, I am still sick of the car. :)
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