Since its summer, how about a best road trip Mom tips board...lets hear all your best tips, tricks and gadgets/gizmos!!!
Full Disclosure: This is a selfish request as I am currently planning a 9 hour road trip solo with a 4.5 and 2 year old!
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@Mrs D: Yesss! Seconded, I need these as well!
My favorite thing to do is to map out my stops in advance. It might get changed, but if I map it out at least I know mentally that I have a break every 1.5 to 2 hours.
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I am not a road trip pro...but my mom was. We used to drive to Florida every spring break. I remember all kinds of activities, special snacks/treats, games to keep us busy, etc. As we got older she made binders with all the info on the different places we were stopping or seeing. It was great!
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- Set up a snack station in your passenger seat so that you can just hand back pre-portioned snacks to the kids
- Try to complete part of the trip during sleeping hours. We used to leave at 3am when we did road trips as kids, so we'd sleep for a good chunk of the trip and then wake up and stop for breakfast. DH and I have done trips where we leave in the afternoon and then hit a rest stop, prep the kiddos for "bed" and then they sleep for the end of the drive.
- hit up the dollar store and buy lots of different trinkets and toys. Wrap them all up and let the kids open a present every hour.
- Get an Amazon Free time subscription so you can stock up on new games if your kids have tablets.
- You can download shows/movies to your device using Amazon Prime and/or Netflix to watch when there's no wifi. They're only good for a few days, but works great for a travel day.
- Find rest stops where there are activities for the kids. Playground equipment or a lake to throw rocks into. Give them a chance to use up some energy before they pile back in the car.
- Have car sick supplies handy. A roll of paper towels, some cleaner, plastic bags, and easily accessible extra clothes. We didn't think our son got car sick... until he did.
- If the kids are forward facing, find shoebox or stack up some duffel bags so they have a place to rest their feet rather than letting them dangle the whole time.We're prepping for an 8 hour trip this summer with a 6 year old and a car-hating 2.5 year old
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@Mrs D: We drive to MB every year - its about 10 hours -my best advice is take your time and don't rush! If you have to stop every hour -who cares!
We pack lunch and stop at a rest area so the kids can run around and get fresh air.
We also do movies on the kindles which takes up time.
If your 4.5 yr old knows her letters you can play the game where you find each letter along the highway which my kids love
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Just found this resource while googling...some great ideas:
https://www.creatingreallyawesomefunthings.com/car-games-for-kids/
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@kiddosc: Hmmm...I was thinking of leaving at 6am or 7am...but maybe 4am is smarter...I wonder how well my kids would fall back to sleep!
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My rule of thumb is no more than 1.5 hour of wake time between stops. So we'll usually leave to correspond with bedtime or naptime, or plan a stop for a meal or running around, or a combination of the above.
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Just took our 1st road trip with 2 and these are what I found helpful (3.5 and 1.5 girls)
- Had a small trunk organizer in the front of van that housed all snacks, games/activities, extra clothes, wipes, etc PLUS a hanging organizer in front of FF DD1 that has her stuff. The trunk organizer tucked in front of RF DD2 since that floor space is "dead space"
- iPad holder for RF DD2. I bought a lapdesk for DD1 but she didn't like it
- Freeze fried fruit snacks! Those were great and not messy
- Pre-downloaded shows/movies on Netflix & Amazon Prime. DD1 knows what games on her iPad can be used offline. DD2 just watched from the mounted iPad
- Muslin blankets for naps
- I mapped out a ton of possible stops for lunch depending on traffic/nap schedules so we always had a plan and if plan A didn't work out there was plan B through G lol
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