Hellobee Boards

@PinkElephant: No one wants a screamer on a car ride
We have a couple of these for DD and she loves them

We also keep a collection of books in the car for her to “read”. We rotate them out every so often but try and make sure they are lift-the-flap or the ones with he noises.

The other thing we have used on longer trips is colour wow books/markers and reusable stickers from Melissa and Doug

basically everything that @mrswin suggested but ESPECIALLY the magnetic drawing board. My son loves his at that age.

I think that’s the worst age for long car trips- old enough to know they are bored but not old enough to entertain themselves. We got a Boogie Board for mine and it helps sometimes, as well as a travel size magnadoodle. New little toys, like those busy books, but my LO is 2.5 now and old enough to not put them in her mouth. Tons of snacks of course. I’ve also started letting her watch my old iPod or the kindle fire though.

following, we're getting to this stage too.

also not to thread jack but curious if anyone wants to comment--what the consensus is when both parents are in the car--does one of you *always* sit in the back? the other day our friends came to visit from 75 minutes away and the mom just hopped straight into the passenger seat after buckling her 20-month-old into the back, I was so impressed!

@mrswin: just ordered the magic sketcher, thanks

@LCTBQE: I’ve never sat in the back seat. Whenever we have people riding with us and someone (typically a grandmother) wants to sit in back, one or both kids ends up crying. It’s as though they don’t like an adult back there.

@Littlebit7: ditto above--clearly I've been doing it all wrong!

Is it bad that my FF 2 year old watches a movie on long trips on the car DVD player? Because that is totally how we make it through long trips.

@LCTBQE: I sat in the backseat with my son while my husband was home for 2 weeks after he was born. Also I couldn't drive for most of that because of my c-section, so I rode in the back to distract me from telling my husband he was driving too fast or something... Now if someone is in the backseat with him he's talking their ear off (usually Nana and she doesn't mind at all)

@LCTBQE: I always sat in the back...part of the reason was I would get into the car and sit to do the buckling so I wasn't on display in the parking lot. I would get frustrated easily and when people would pull up and start blinking, honking, edging closer, I would get fumbly and have a hard time buckling. Since we only had one car at the time, my husband would just get the stroller in the car while I did what I had to do and since I was there, I stayed put.

I don't mind sitting in the back and when my son was smaller, it was a lot easier to deal with him on longer trips. But I know I am not the norm in this at all.

@Sams Mom: I intentionally don’t let my kids watch something on shorter rides because i don’t want them begging for it every time we get in the car. But long trips are totally different. I try to occupy them with other things first just so I have the big guns to pull out at the end of the trip when they are really losing it.

@MrsKRB: hahaha!!

Drake is DH’s secret weapon. LO loves to hear God’s Plan on repeat. I use the car to bring out old forgotten toys.

@LCTBQE: I can count on my fingers the number of times I’ve ridden up front since my kid was born. He’s 3.

Have you tried books on tape? We listened to books on tape since my son was born and I think he started getting into them around 2. She might be too young but the older ones would like it and she could grow into it. We listened to a lot of Geronimo Stilton and Hank the Cowdog, The Book with no pictures, Fancy Nancy, etc. at that age. Just look for lower reading levels. We don't have a built in video and my kids rarely get the iPad in the car and they are just fine with books on tape.

At this age we got a TON of mileage out of decks of flash cards. The best are the shapes/colors ones but we had good luck with go fish cards and with dinosaur memory - she didn’t play with the games, she just loved sorting them. Target has them for back to school in the dollar spot.