We're embarking on an 8 hr road trip with my 4.5 yo and 2 yo boys in a few weeks. I'm looking for some recommendations on how to make the time a little less painless. The 4 yo is super easy as he is happy coloring or watching movies. My 2 yo is the wild card as he is not into tv and only wants to watch youtube videos. Unfortunately, my data plan will not allow that. What are some specific apps that he might enjoy? People also talked about getting little toys at the Dollar Store. What types of toys did you get? Any other tips other than taking breaks when needed and snacks, snacks, snacks?
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We had a lot of luck with sticker books for my 2.5 yo on our summer road trip earlier this year. He also loves to play games on the PBS Kids games app (free). Just make sure you log on while you're on wifi, because you do have to download some of the games. I've also recently discovered "guided access" as a feature on my iPhone. You have to turn it on in Settings (General > Accessibility > scroll down to Learning), but then when you open the app you want your child to have access to, you just triple-click the home button, and it will lock the phone so that he can't exit the app without a passcode or touch ID. Our DS is also a music lover, so we'd put on music that he loves to dance/sing to, or sing kids' songs with him to keep him entertained. Pretzels, goldfish, yogurt pouches, veggie straws, and in a pinch, marshmallows were life savers. Good luck!
ETA: stopping somewhere to let him run/wiggle/play when we needed a pit stop was helpful, too!
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We took a 7 hour road trip this summer with the same aged kids:
she did end up watching movies which helped but I loaded up on TON of activities just in case:
1) water wows - have a bottle of water ready for refills
2) magnetic Mickey and Minnie zoo (amazon find)
3) Reusable sticker pages - we had a couple M&D ones
4) Crayons/paper/coloring books
5) LOTs of snacks/drinks -
We do this every other month to visit family and my kids are the same ages - agree with the Water Wow books, they are great. I try to buy a couple of new books or activity books and only take them out during the drive when we NEED them ha.
We also really like -
- dry erase activity books or cards
- their LeapFrog tablets (don't need wifi to watch shows or play games on them which is why we got them!)
- playing car games like I Spy or just telling them to find a Red Truck, a Blue Sign, etc.
- flash cards
- finding books - ala Where's Waldo but the kid kind that are easyWe try to do a few hour stretch at the start, then stop for lunch or dinner, then try to make it the rest of the way without stopping. We do put my 2 yo in a pull up because he's too newly potty trained to hold it if there's not an immediate exit!
Good luck!
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@LuLu Mom: I already bought those Minnie and Mickey magnets for the trip so happy to hear they were a good purchase!
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@HeartAbandoned: That guided access tip is genius! Thanks!
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I got my two year old a cheap, lightweight cookie sheet to use as a tray on her carseat. I doctored it so I could attach it and it wouldn't be a risk in an accident. We have alphabet magnets for the tray, and she also uses it a as a base for coloring (crayons and color wonder markets) and for driving cars. She goes through 100000 stickers on every trip, like feeding and taking care of her baby doll, snacks, and listening to music.
What kind of youtube videos does your kid like? You might be able to buy similar ones on iTunes. Also, I've used websites to download youtube videos before - I don't think it's legal, but it does work. I don't remember what I used though as it was several years ago.
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We just got back from a road trip with our 2.5 year old. I bought her one of these magic marker books from the target dollar spot (https://www.amazon.com/Bendon-Publishing-Minnie-Mouse-Imagine/dp/B00FB4IQ5G) and the time she was using it was pretty much the only time she was quiet the entire trip. Granted it only took 30 minutes or so to color each page, but it was a glorious 30 minutes!
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@Miss Ariel: Yes! Love those!!!
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If you're going to do dry erase, I can't recommend the dry erase crayons enough...no fumes, no caps, no messy hands and it literally cleans up with water and a paper towel.
My son also really likes his magnadoodle knock off, we keep it in the car and sometimes we play tic tac toe or he draws and stamps with it.
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Some of these have already been mentioned but another vote for water wow. I wish I had tried that sooner.
Our latest trip we also did:
Stickers
Glow sticks (the big foam ones-Target dollar spot) useful at night when they refuse to sleep. They had a lightsaber battle in the back.
New books (especially interactive ones) wrapped in paper first
Everything wrapped like a presentOur library has kids tablets geared toward 3-5 year olds that you can check out for a week. I loved it because I didn't have to look into apps and when we were home it went back to the library.
I also hide favorite toys a few weeks in advance and try to really pay attention to what they are interested a few weeks before we leave and stock up on that. For us it was buttons so we borrowed some toys with lots of buttons.
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