Car packed for journey. Copyright Gretta Schifano
Long car journeys with young children can be tricky, but there are some things which you can do to help. My aim when travelling is to keep everyone warm, comfortable, fed and watered and then hopefully the journey will be fine. icarhireinsurance.com have asked me to share my tips for getting through long car journeys with children and they’re offering a TomTom Start 25 5-inch Sat Nav with lifetime maps of Europe for one Mums do travel reader. Here are my tips:
Before you set off
- Plan your route and include time for stops so that you all have a chance to stretch your legs, have something to eat and drink and find a loo. Involve the kids in the plan so that they know where you’re going and how long the journey will be.
- Think about starting your journey when the children are likely to sleep, even if it means travelling at night.
- Charge your mobile phones and other gadgets and take car chargers with you.
- Tire the kids out so that they’ll sleep in the car.
- Make sure that everyone’s wearing comfortable clothes – onesies or pyjamas might help the kids to sleep more easily.
- Make sure that everyone’s eaten, had something to drink and been to the toilet (or has a clean nappy).
Things to pack for the journey
- An insulated cool bag containing non-sticky snacks and bottles of water. If it’s hot take frozen drinks which will gradually thaw as you travel.
- Fleece blankets and small pillows to help kids feel comfortable and sleepy in the car.
- A change of clothes for each child just in case they need them.
- A bag of toys – but avoid small bits which could get lost and cause frustration.
- A potty if you’re potty training and for times when your child is bursting for a wee and you’re nowhere near a toilet.
- Plastic bags for rubbish, dirty clothes and in case anyone is travel sick.
Entertainment
- Play games such as I Spy or car bingo. icarhireinsurance have some free, printable car games to entertain children on long journeys – you can download them here.
- Load some kids’ films onto a tablet or a portable DVD player for the children to watch as you travel.
- Listen to children’s stories and music on CDs, an MP3 player or a tablet.
Do you have any tips for getting through long car journeys with children?
How to enter
For a chance to win a TomTom Start 25 5-inch Sat Nav with lifetime maps of Europe just do this:
- Add your favourite tip from above (or your own tip) for for getting through long car journeys with children to the comments section below.
- Enter via the Rafflecopter widget below.
Good luck!
TomTom Sat Nav. Image courtesy of icarhireinsurance.com
Playing games, we always play i spy
Watch films via the i pad.
Playing car games is great as can be done as a family
We write a list of things to look out for on the journey and tick them off.
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We take a dvd player and a couple of dvds and by the time they have watched a film we are practically at our destination.
Play knock knock, ring ring.
Take fruit and veg as snacks, don’t give boiled sweets especially to younger children – one of ours started choking – it’s frightening at any time but especially on a busy motorway
My grandkids age 7 and 6 love reading so we just give them new books ( from the library) and also play I spy
A good CD for singing along too.
We have a great game called Guess The DVD. It requires encyclopaedic knowledge of our large DVD collection and is based on 20 Questions. Keeps us busy for ages when we take a break from listening to audiobooks.
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Sing along CDs work for us
A Nintendo DS with a new game on it always works wonders x
Eye spy, colouring books and singing songs
plenty of sweets and music!
snacks and an ipad always work with my 2 monkeys
A favourite game we play is to spot Monkey Puzzle trees. I know it sounds odd but there aren’t loads about but enough to keep the game interesting.
Travelling overnight otherwise is always best I have found – quieter roads as well as hopefully sleeping children.
Fleece blankets and small pillows to help kids feel comfortable and sleepy in the car.
eye spy is always a winner
When possible i try to do really long journeys through the night so when my children were very little they would sleep most of the way. I also had a few successful trips leaving just after evening rush hour traffic, stopping half way for treats and arriving at my destination very late in the night. The children would usually stay asleep when taken inside so worked well for us 🙂
Travel early morning so they can nap in the car and little games like I spy etc usually pass the time.
Plenty of sweets!
Listen to children’s stories and music on CDs, an MP3 player or a tablet.
Load some kids’ films onto a tablet or a portable DVD player for the children to watch as you travel
Definitely the entertainment tips – lots of different ideas. We play car bingo using colours
Have some family sing songs
Have some drinks and healthy snacks on hand to stop any grumpy moments! And let them pick from a selection of books. If all else fails, spot the yellow car game is great!
I’ve always found a pillow and blankets have been good for my lad….if it doesn’t and he’s talking the life out of me I use them to and go to sleep 😀
Fleece blankets and small pillows to help kids feel comfortable and sleepy in the car 🙂
COmfy clothes are a must, and factor in a number of short stops
play games- my sons loved guessing how many emergency vehicles with blue lights we would see on the trip, adults also had to guess, so we would always make a wild way out guess so that they would win- didn’t always work though.
I-spy
Give them their own camera so they can log all their own special memories x
Depending on the age of your children – regular breaks, music & if possible something to watch cartoons or a film on. My son was never bothered on long journeys & used to just spend the time looking out the window or sleeping. We were very lucky!
Frozen ice-pops are good because drinks get spilt.
A journey would not be survivable without portable DVD players and Frozen (STILL!)
Drip Feed children food – make each snack interesting, healthy (no sugar in the car – from experience this leads to undesired high energy levels) and perhaps even a little interactive (i.e. stacking cheese and ham on a cracker).
Ipad has become a must along with the car charger
keep them hydrated with small drinks and often .. this will keep their mood good.
and a movie .. usually sends mine to sleep xx
Plenty of healthy snacks and drinks, eye spy and an ‘eye witness’ type quiz where they have certain things they have to spot on journey (siblings and parents can compete), such as ‘yellow lorry’, ‘for sale sign’ ‘BP garage etc’ This is good for observation but also keeps their eyes outside which helps keep travel sickness at bay! 🙂
A good selection of the music he loves! Taylor Swift & The Cars Soundtrack keep him clapping his hands and singing along for a good while, just make sure it’s something you can cope with hearing many times in a row when the inevitable ‘again’ is heard
plenty of drinks and snacks and we play silly games – car colours etc
An in-car DVD player is an absolute must! With 5 children the only problem then is the fight over which film to watch!
Have plenty of talking books / crayons and colouring books / snacks and drinks
We play eye spy the colour …… since my son does not know his letters yet.
Portable DVD players and a new movie usually keep them quiet!
games, colouring books, smartphone with cartoons
Load lots of films on to the iPad and let the kids watch what they want while we’re on the move
Play car journey bingo – make a list of things that the kids need to spot on the journey (e.g. a yellow car, a cow in a field by the roadside etc.) and award prizes if they find everything on the list…
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we play car bingo. before we go we print out sheets with 9 different pictures on each of what we might see on our journey, a caravan, a pond, Duck, sheep etc , the first one to spot all their items wins =D
We play Guess a Character. One person thinks of a character in books or films and others ask questions to determine the identity of the character
We always download childrens books to listen to.
some good singalong music – always a must on a long journey
Lots of singing and I spy games also I make scrapbook quiz books up with questions and pictures
STAGGER the schedule for snacks and entertainment. don’t go all in – you’ll regret it.
word games and stories
What is the answer Nan? My grandchildren enjoy testing me on maths problems, spellings and times tables. They are only allowed to ask ones that they know the answer to. If I get anything wrong they get an ice cream when we stop. Keeps them going for hours 🙂
Ipads very helpful
Playing games – verbal guess who and ‘cucumber’ (think of an action and others have to guess by asking questions) ‘do you cucumber every day?’ etc – always passes the time very well! 🙂 x
car songs xx
We play i-Spy
Be sure to take lots of easy to do travel games with you to entertain your children. Preventing boredom saves alot of whining
We always try to travel in line with nap time but when the twins are awake we do a lot of singing and stop regularly
Playing eye spy is my favourite.
Tire the kids out so that they’ll sleep in the car.
Snacks and good music to listen to always works for me
When we drove to France on holiday a couple of times, my husband and I would plan the journey ahead. Then, I would make activity sheets for the children, based on the route – eg, if we were going through somewhere with a cathedral, I would put that on a list. I would make some easier than others, eg the ferry, so everyone could join in. It taught the children a little about the journey and kept them occupied.
We play first to spot, a bit like eye spy (e.g. first to spot a blue car)
Think about starting your journey when the children are likely to sleep, even if it means travelling at night – This is a great trip, I’d never normally plan on starting a journey at night but it makes so much sense!!
I SPY, BOOKS AND IF A LONG JOURNEY THE TABLET!
playing games, listen to music they know and like and take planty of snacks and drinks for them.
Take puzzle books
iPad or books!
My 19 month old daughter really doesn’t like travelling very far so if we have to go on a long journey we time it so she is due for a nap. Then she will (hopefully) sleep through it.
plenty of games, colouring books, dvds and snacks
Play “I Spy” 🙂
Drinks and snacks, whilst watching their DVD player
Pack a box with treats, puzzles, small toys and let them have something at intervals along the route
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Playing simple games with pennies for prizes (nowadays I think sweets are preferred but not by me) which can be used for spending money when you arrive at your destination. We used to play ‘I spy’, first to see a bus, a policeman, a fire engine, a sheep etc and alphabet games as the kiddies get older such as countries, rivers, flowers, animals etc beginning with A C etc. My own children really loved and now my grandchildren do. It certainly works and can be educational as well as fun!
karoke style playlist so I can belt out the songs 🙂
We have always made sure that we have our Snack Bag with us, that consists of a mixture of sweet and savoury snacks,as well as fruit, sandwiches, water and wipes!
My son watches DVDs on a long journey!
Plenty of games.
Definitely plenty of sick bags and changes of clothes
Dress children in a onesie and give them a blanket and a night time toy, helps them sleep.
check places to stop on your route in advance to be able to stop for neccessary breaks with young children in the car. We also play a game and count all the ediie stobart trucks on the road, kids love it
i have two boys and we travel on the motorway some times and when we go out we count Eddie stobart lorries up to there ages then our bithdays then our door numbers that way they dont forget what number they where at its great fun when im on my own i still seem to do it
I spy is a great game also sing along!
Play music and all sing along!!
Portable DVD players the whole way for me
Play making words out of the letters in car registration plates. Take prizes for coming up with the best words.
spot the car makes/badges!
make car bingo cards before we set off – lots of things to look for and it keeps them interested
•Listen to children’s stories and music on CDs, an MP3 player or a tablet.
My best tip is to have a child that sleeps in the car like our dd1 🙂 Other than that electronic devices with games and a film are really good 🙂
play i spy and other car game classics
Playing I Spy can be fun, or other games.
Load some kids’ films onto a tablet or a portable DVD player for the children to watch as you travel.
Carry Spare Nappy Bags if your child dosent travel well and keep windows open a little to allow cool air to flow in
My toddler twins have a DVD player with a screen each so they can watch Peppa Pig while we drive! They love it and it makes for a peaceful journey! x
we all have a sing along and play different games
cheacks passing cars, to see if their number plates match our initials
Playing games
•Fleece blankets and small pillows to help kids feel comfortable and sleepy in the car.
i always take drinks and snacks for the trip xx they always want it xx
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Their favourite songs 🙂
Before we set off we make a chart of things to look for i.e. yellow car, car with a bike rack,blue van, and the one who spots the most at the end of the journey wins.
•Play games such as I Spy or car bingo
Kids stories and music on cd is a brilliant idea!
get them a cheap tablet or nintendo ds ! keeps them quiet for hours!
we play eyespy but we use colors for the younger children so they can join in too
Put a portable dvd player on for them
We listen to stories on cd, usually Roald Dahl
Listen to children’s stories and music on CDs, an MP3 player or a tablet – or tell your own stories!
entertainment is essential 🙂
Lots of games like eye-spy
always take along stuff the children like such as books or colouring in or little handheld games and also make sure you have food and drinks for them then you,ll always have happy kids on a long journey also play the music they like 🙂
We play a game where we each have to shout out a certain type of vehicle, usually my daughter has lorry, me motorbikes and my daughter always gives vans to my husband and then argues that they are mini buses or small lorries. whoever misses the first one loses
This is my favourite tip, because kids will fall asleep anywhere if they’re tired enough but no one wants to deal with a really cranky kid because they’ve got cold or stiff falling asleep in an awkward position. Worse still is the dreaded car-sleep-headache if they fall asleep with their head against the window and wake up with a headache from the vibrations! “Fleece blankets and small pillows to help kids feel comfortable and sleepy in the car”
travel at night…..they sleep!!
Pack pillows for a long journey so at least the children have somewhere comfortable to lay their heads if they get sleepy. I also pack a couple of blankets because it can get very chilly if you are driving through the night
Play games such as I Spy or car bingo
No matter where we go its first one to spot blackpool tower
Make sure ipads/ipods etc are fully charged!!
games
Both my boys have trouble in the car so when we were going on a long trip i made sure we packed lots of activities to make the trip go better … we played games and counted how many cars …. the only trouble we had was when we were getting near to where we were going i had to help daddy navigate … and has soon as we pulled up and parked both boys were sick … but least we got them out the car first ….
games and snacks x
we always set off middle of night about 12/1am and its 6 hours drive to cornwall and thats when people are fallen asleep!
We play who can spot the red cars first, and eye spy with colours, something pink something blue etc.
get the kids to pack a bag each of the things they want to do in the car on the trip……….. also pack one yourself
We play games like I spy, take a lot of toys and games like Rubik’s Cube, Nintendo console etc for the kids to play with, plenty of snacks and drinks ( but not too much drink to avoid endless toilet breaks), and the most important lots and lots of wet wipes and a hand sanitizing gel!
Lots of kids music to entertain them.
I like a talking book…its amazing what the imagination can do on a long car journey
Great tips! We always make sure that gadgets are charged and that we have in car chargers. We do family storys, so each of us makes up a sentence to the stroy, they usually get very silly but it passes the time
We play eye spy – simple but it works a treat
DVD players are a wonderful invention for keeping even toddlers amused
Gag them
Harsh!
We always play the Eddie Stobart game. First to shout Eddie Stobart whenever you spot one gets a point. Keep count, it’s surprising how many there are!!! Not sure this will help us with our 2 year old on a journey to France this summer though. Think I’ll be refering to your tips above! Thanks.
if you have time take them swimming first, they will be tired and sleep for quite a while
Having a sing-a-long or playing I -Spy! My little sisters are very quiet in the car and prefer to just listen to music or sleep (they’re 2 and 7), so I suppose we’re quite lucky haha =) x
Play games and take a few breaks for leg stretches and toilet breaks
Play games such as I spy
I love the car bingo tip…a good way to break up long journeys, especially with the promise of a prize!
Look for Eddie Stobarts trucks – they all have a different name on them – we started as kids and we still look now.
Get them involved in navigating with their own map – just make sure you already know the way!
i spy
We play alot of i-spy and play chas n dave songs on the long journeys. The kids love singing `Rabbit rabbit`.
I spy always
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I like the idea of listening to stories on CD, MP3 player etc
My Favourite tip is to remember to charge ipads and Nintendo DS… I recently set out on a three hour trip with my three and realised after about 20 minutes that I had failed to charge them…. Complete fail! my oldest two proceeded to moan all the way!
We get them to pick a car colour and the first to spot 20 in that colour wins. Invariably they pick obscure colours so it keeps them going for miles.
Load some kids movies on to a tablet
i spy
Has to be the childrens music, much prefer those irritating songs to the sound of my children trying to kill each other 😛
tablets with games and movies on
Think about starting your journey when the children are likely to sleep, even if it means travelling at night.
Make sure they are fed, watered and have been to loo before even getting in car, Ensure you have snacks and drnks for journey, Also take pillows and blankets, and toys to keep them occupied, Make sure you take plenty of stops to break journey up xxx
hi, I have 4 sons and trips can be a pain! I found that wrapping a small present, that can be opened along the way works well. Ie – colouring book & pencils
We sing along to songs in the car
Tire the kids out so that they’ll sleep in the car
Planning is key! Pack entertainment like books, music and then plan activities when these fail, eye spy, bingo, travel games, etc.
we play a game called yellow punch, but we took away the punching and just say it, everytime we saw a yellow vehicle, be it a tractor or a car we have to shout punch, the kids usually sleep though.
We print off eye spy sheets – with things for the kids to tick off on the journey!
We leave a space for them to draw a picture of something they saw on the journey too!
Keep them entertained with tablets and other handheld devices.
Make individual activity packs with magazines games and puzzle coloring books and Ted to cuddle when tired.
I buy small toys (lego/playmobile mini figs, maze puzzles, etc) and comics and wrap them individually. I then give one out to each child every hour or so. They love the anticipation and actually appreciate long journeys as they get more gifts!
Wow! That’s impressive – lucky children!
A ‘things to look out for’ on the journey game or similar. Good to keep referring back to at difficult times!
I find that having a selection of music my daughter likes works really well. Also, having a window to look out of is great for her.
Keep stopping so they can stretch their legs.
Agree with the entertainment – films.
Car sickness has at times been a problem for one of my kids and always need to be prepared in advance with plastic bags ready at hand in just in case!
Load some kids’ films onto a tablet or a portable DVD player for the children to watch as you travel.
We play I spy.
We’ve always found ” Load some kids’ films onto a tablet or a portable DVD player for the children to watch as you travel. ” worked great or my son now has an ipad which is great too
Play games such as I Spy or car bingo
I take a big tub of crudites – not sticky, and lots of entertainment picking what to have next
we always play spot the red car, green car, dog walker my son loves to win
Get out some free audiobooks from your library.
I used to be happy collecting car colours, now it has to be IPads and smartphones.
If you’re going on a particularly long journey, try driving during naptime or nighttime if you can.
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we write a story to tell when we get to the end, we both write a sentence each
Having a sing a long. Think me and my girls got through most of the Disney songs once!
We bring an insulated cool bag containing non-sticky snacks and bottles of water. If it’s hot take frozen drinks which will gradually thaw as you travel.
play in car games like i spy, spot the… and have a list of things to tivk off, the A-Z game where you fo, animals, boys/girls names, birds. countries, cities, fruit n veg etc going each letter in a circle doing the next letter on your turn
they play games on the tablet
We play eye spy 🙂 xx
Portable DVD players for the kids to use to watch movies!
colouring books
Tiring the kids out one is very accurate!
wrap a toy in lots of layers of paper so it takes them a long to unwrap it 🙂
We each choose a colour then score a point for each bus or coach of that colour we see
Tire them out! first
We play eye spy
the ipad lol
We travel overnight – then they are asleep
Stop often
Colouring books
Games based around number plates of other vehicles on the roads, we did it when I was a kid and now I do it with my own.
That and setting off ridiculously early so they sleep through most of it.
Snacks, toys, ipad and patience!! 🙂
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This is my favourite tip… A change of clothes for each child just in case they need them. As I have been caught out many times with my kids!!!
Take story books so you can read to them.
have a list of things for them to spot. if you find one you get a point!
Play games such as I Spy or car bingo!
We always take frozen drinks for long joureys especially if its hot, that my top tip too! x
Take plenty of snack and drinks with you on, your journey.
We look out for Eddie Stobart lorries, and write down the names of them
Load some kids’ films onto a tablet or a portable DVD player for the children to watch as you travel
Charge your mobile phones and other gadgets and take car chargers with you.
I Spy, truck spotting and sing a long to the radio/cds.
Making sure you are wearing comfortable clothes
A tablet with plenty of games or portable dvd player with several films and always plan to take a few stops to break the journey
Good old fashion eye spy
Plenty of the child’s preferred music.
Lots of apps and audio books on the ipod and stick on their earphones!
I buy a bag of children’s books from a charity shop for my little one to read on our way.
Nintendo DS3 is perfect equipment, keeps my little sister quiet!
Entertainment a MUST!!!
We play car colours, we each choose a colour car and count all of the cars we see in our colour. We also like to try and make words from car registration plates.
We do spot the pub but we have two teams and one is people and things, one is animals and birds , so for example the kings head would come under the people team and they would score 1. The spread eagle being for the birds team and so on.
Load some kids’ films onto a tablet or a portable DVD player for the children to watch as you travel.
Our favourite is singing along to songs (Particularly bohemian Rhapsody) very loudly! We also look out for Pirates (cars with only one light working).
Play some games
DVDs work well
we play our own games xx
Break up the journey a bit with stops.. especially to places they’ll enjoy
Tire the kids out so that they’ll sleep in the car.
we play travel scrabble
Make sure all gadgets like DVD players and Ipads are fully charged and have earphones attached.
Play I spy, when bored go to count red cars, and so on
Always make sure that they have plenty to do, for example pens and paper, a board game or 2, and 3Ds etc for my son especially
Playing games with the kids, keeps the entertained and can be educational
I tell them their brother Phil used to make a lot of noise on road trips. When they say, “We haven’t got a brother called Phil” I just smile and say, “I said he USED to make a lot of noise!”
Works every time. Failing that – duct tape.
Kidding. I have Frozen on DVD and a laptop. What else would you need?
we play the car colour game…before we set off everyone picks a colour of a car…on our travels we add up how many we see in each picked colour n the most spotted colour wins!
plenty of food and drink and a portable dvd player and the frozen dvd. my grandchildren love frozen and will watch and sing without moving apart from dancing to the music mesmerised by the whole film
We play so many games, make up stories, always have wipes, bottled water, rubbish bags etc My favourite tip is ‘be prepared!’ Mints to suck if anyone feels travel sick, knowing places to stop on the way so a TomTom would be great for that. Sometimes I feel like I’m packing for a short holiday just for the journey! All great tips above which collectively come under the biggest tip, ‘be prepared!’
We play car cricket on the motorway. Every bridge you go under, each support column counts as a run, go under a footbridge and you’re out.
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I take an empty icecream tub for travel sickness. Reusable and no sneaky holes.
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Think you’ve said it best – tire the kids out so that they’ll sleep in the car.
We make words from the last 3 letters of number plates
Always always always bring their comfort toy if they have one
Love the tip about plastic bags – we always end up with rubbish strewn in the footwells! I may put a small roll of bin liners in the glove box so I always have some
We listen to audiobooks and play “first one to see” games, and some other word games that we have made up
we like to sing what we can see
I always try to travel just before nap times (when they were younger) so they would sleep part way, I also make sure we leave with plenty of time so we can stop at least once for a leg stretch and it’s fun to explore services
Give an anti-sickness med in good time and bring a change of clothes, just in case!
When my children were younger we played making words from number plates. The one with the best one won…..but they are twins so they both won or there was arguments and sulks lol
Tire the kids out so that they’ll sleep in the car.
lots of travel games
I spy always passes the time
i play looking out for a certain colour car
Give the kids the tablets/mobiles and hope for the best – our oldest is Autistic (like us) so without something to focus all his attention we hear never-ending facts about every other car on the road.
Have you seen the car number plate guide book? My son used to have one and loved it. It explains the meaning of all the different numbers and letters in car number plates. Maybe your son would like it too.
We play yellow car, orange car, pink car. You get 1 point for every yellow 2 for every orange and 5 points for every pink car whoever has most points at end of journey wins
Favourite tip is to tire the kids out!
lots of games/activities to keep them occupied. Also take regular stops
play the car colour bingo with prewritten cards with different colours on
an Ipad to watch movies on!
On very long journeys I wrap a few little gifts (colouring book, travel game, sweets etc) for them to open every so many miles x
I always make sure they have a small pillow in case they want to sleep through the journey. i once caught them playing a game, then realised when they shouted “seen one” what they were actually doing is shouting when they saw roadkill…yuk
No! That’s horrible! But I guess at least they were communicating and working as a team!
ispy was our favourite but kids got phones and tablets with games on now!
Some good sing along music playing
We love playing eye spy, spot the red car and we have the radio on and change the lyrics to funny ones and sing along
Games and films on tablets
I like the idea of involving the kids in planning the stops. you could make up a list of places names in between each stop for them to watch out for so they know when you’re getting near.
We play I-spy, listen to music, each hunt for different colour cars and see how many we can count
A good old sing song always does the trick x
Listen to children’s stories and music on CDs, an MP3 player or a tablet.
good music and eye spy
play i soy games and sing
Looking for certain cars/colours
I Spy Books – I had them as well when I was a kid
be prepared to play loads of games of I SPY, COUNTING CARS, SINGING and if all fails, there is always the DS Game.
A good dvd seems to do the trick.
We play first to spot a certain colour car xx
Picking out a car colour and asking them to see how many they can see and plenty of snacks to keep them going
My favourite from the tips above:
Play games such as I Spy or car bingo. icarhireinsurance have some free, printable car games to entertain children on long journeys – you can download them here.
Singing. Lots of singing.
Lots of patience and laughter, A good old game of eye spy and singing music 🙂
We have a lot of car games ready to play, eye spy, spot the car, boy girl animal food etc
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for little ones if you can plan around nap time so they sleep on the way x
send them with Grandma
I like these tips a lot, we have a long journey to Holland planned! Mine is like your first one, make sure you leave lots of time so you don’t feel like you have to rush.
Try not to let them drink fizzy drinks or loads or sweets/choc etc either before or during the journey
leave em at home peace
An insulated cool bag containing non-sticky snacks and bottles of water. If it’s hot take frozen drinks which will gradually thaw as you travel.
We write down different objects/things the children have to find.
play games in the car. first one to spot a yellow car etc
A tablet is good for playing games or watching films with a mixture of good old fashioned car games such as i-spy
Any kind of made up I spy games are good to keep them looking out of the window and avoiding car sickness. Good for me too since I’m terrible with it!
Make up some Car Bingo cards and give them to the kids before setting off. The cards can have anything on them that you would expect to see on your drive, such as an aeroplane or tractor. 🙂
We sit with the kids the night before and line up all the music they want to play in the car so they are entertained and singing along on our trip!!
An iPad loaded with movies and games.
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Break up the journey with frequent stops – it makes the journey longer, but it gives everybody the opportunity to see differently things, stretch our legs and wear the children out! We play lots of games and sing songs to keep the journey entertaining such as spot the pub name, guess what is on the lorry and eye spy
I feel the following is an essential tip:
Load some kids’ films onto a tablet or a portable DVD player for the children to watch as you travel.
We guess the colour of the next car coming towards us if the roads are quiet.
iPad and 3DS!
We make words from partial number plates
films on tablet
Allow for time to stop and burn off some energy whether running in a park or just running in a shop to get bottles of water so it breaks up the trips
A portable dvd player and a choice of films always in the car for long journeys.
take lots of games for them to play & have a few stops to break the journey
I bring my iPad, which is loaded with toddler, games, interactive story books, songs and toddler movies
I find travelling while they are asleep is the best option, we leave early morning, and they are just waking up when we reach our destination
we play i spy but it ends up being things we passed a bout a mile back which does make it a bit hard
I make a road sign/vehicle/street furniture bingo…Keeps them entertained for a while! 🙂
leave the kids behind!
Fun educational games, such as counting cars, counting car colours, name the car etc
If that fails then get the iPad out ! 😀
Roald dahl CDs are my kids favourite
I always have a few cheap, quiet toys that are new for my daughter to play with on very long trips
we play “the first one to spot a black van/dog/bike/police car” etc also memory games if that gets exhausted then we result to listing to audio book stories.
DVD players have been the best purchase ever – no more arguing kids
Organise lots of games
We play guess the song in the car. We play 30 seconds of a song and there’s a point each for guessing the name of the song and the name of the artist. Doesn’t always go well without a buzzer lol. The kids end up squabbling over who shouted it out first.
lots of singing and variations of ‘I went to the shop and bought…’
Spare clothes is a must and a portable dvd players helps pass the time too.
I found the best way is to play a game where they look at number plates and try to spot the ones that look like actual words, you’d be amazed at how many words can be spotted and how funny some of these can be.
we play lots of nursery rhyme cds
we play guess who ie name a footballer with surname T and the question maker thinks of one then others have to guess . the winner then makes up next question
A fully charged IPAD, Iphone, lots of snacks and that normally works!
Ipads are a must
We play eye spy
Earplugs!
Playing games keeps adults and kids entertained 🙂
A new pack of sweets every couple of hours gets my lot through
We have a preprepared list with all the supermarkets on it and then we play spot the supermarket lorry, the one with the most at the end of the travel wins a small prize x
At the moment it’s singing – fortunately my ipod playlist is good and I enjoy it and we belt everything out x
Have lots of things to keep the kids occupied and take breaks!
“Listen to children’s stories and music on CDs, an MP3 player or a tablet.” – This is something that we always do – needs a little prep to make sure the current faves are on but well worth it!
Play lots of games like I-spy, and have a good singalong with some CDs
Load some kids’ films onto a tablet or a portable DVD player for the children to watch as you travel.
Portable DVD player for kids or tablets to play on
Plan how to keep the kids entertained in advance such as activity books and things such as I spy etc .
Play games such as I Spy or car bingo.
We play eye spy, spot the yellow car, some snacks and catchy tunes
We play the memory game….’when I went on holiday, in my case I took…..’ and other games such as ‘eye spy’ and ‘The Nixon’s dog’ (adaptation of ‘The Parson’s cat’! I like these sorts of games as everyone can join in!
Have a good singalong CD on hand
Tire the kids out so that they’ll sleep in the car.
Playing games, we always play i spy and counting certain coloured cars aswell as Stobart truck spotting x
take lots for them to do or those i spy books and also lots of snacks
We make our own songs up 🙂 we have had such classics as the Peanut Butter Song and Let it Glow x
Excellent song choices!
we play spot the pub …the first person to see a pub and say what its called wins … both my kids are 7 (twins) x
Good tip – sounds fun!