Road trip! Five ideas to make the time fly by
August 18, 2009 by Shannon
It’s all set! In a few weeks, we’ll be heading to the Oregon Coast for a nice family getaway. I’m already starting to think about what to pack, but more importantly, I’m thinking about how to survive our first big road trip.
We’ve never driven more than 3 hours with Kellan before. The trip we’re taking will average about 10 hours. Yikes.
On one hand, I think he’s finally at an age where he can sit and keep himself entertained. On the other, this is uncharted territory we’re venturing into. Here’s what I have in mind to minimize number of times we hear “are we there yet?”
- Painter’s tape. I’ve hauled several colors of painter’s tape with me on every one of our plane trips. I’ve rolled pieces of it into balls that he can throw around. I’ve even attached a tape ball and string to the overhead compartment of the plane and let him bat at it. The thing is, painter’s tape requires a little imagination, won’t ruin anything it sticks to, and serves as a helpful babyproofing tool once you reach your destination. I’ve taped many hotel room refrigerators and cabinets shut with that stuff.
- Disney paint color samples. This is one of my favorite travel entertainment ideas. Disney’s paint samples are a Mickey Mouse silohuette, so they are instantly appealing to kids. I head up to Home Depot and grab two of each color — red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. A year ago, Kellan used to just peel the Mickey Mouse shape off the card. Now, I’m thinking he might be old enough to use them for a little game of toddler “Memory.” We’ll see.
- A new ukulele. If you haven’t gathered it by now, Kellan is a complete freak for musical instruments, especially guitars and drums. Now, there is NO WAY we’re taking a drum with us on this trip. But I think a nice 4 string ukulele would actually be a pretty tolerable thing to listen to in the car. I’m no ukulele expert, but for some reason that instrument sounds pretty nice no matter how randomly you pluck the strings.
- Lots of library books. I’m thinking just about as many as the library will allow me to check out. I’ve already stumbled across a really cute one that Kellan loves, called Cows Going Past, which is all about road tripping. And there’s another cute series of books about a black lab named Sally that goes on trips with her family. I have my eye on Sally Goes to the Beach. And since we’re taking our dog (yeah, I know…we’re certifiably nuts) it’s kind of a fitting storyline.
- Dollar store trinkets. The dollar store is kind of a tricky place to shop for little kids, because you have to be really careful that you’re not buying something with tiny parts or questionable “Made in China” ingredients. But I really like buying those little washcloths that are packed into tiny squares. The Dollar Tree usually has tons of them with Sesame Street characters. I’ve also purchased simple things like stickers and sticky notes for him to “decorate” spiral notebooks with. I’ll be doing that again, but this time around I’ll probably wrap them up like little gifts. That way I can tell him to be on his best behavior so he gets a “present” every couple hours or so.
And finally, we are shooting for a 6 a.m. departure. We are not early birds by any stretch of the imagination. But Michael and I both agree that getting an early start will probably minimize the pain. Hopefully Kellan will go right back to sleep once we hit the road. If not, well, hopefully he’ll nap well later on.
That’s my plan so far. What do you do to keep your kids happy on the road?
Comments (6)
I recommend bringing a large selection of books from home that are “favorites”. Ones he basically has memorized because you’ve read them so often. If you have only new books you will find yourself having to read them the entire trip. With the favorites he may be happy flipping through them on his own and “reading” them to himself since he knows the story. Then parents get a break. (Cause I’m all for reading in the car… but after 100 rounds of “Elmo Loves You” a mommy can get a little wacky.)
Bringing old books is what made it possible for me to drive my then 2.5y old daughter alone from Boise to LA in two days (Emergency trip)
Brilliant ideas! We also try to chart out good stopping places to let Nina run around for a bit on road trips. In the summer, it’s easy enough to find parks. But if the weather is lousy, we look for places like IKEA in Portland. Kid’s play area, lots of room to stretch the legs, and you don’t really have to spend any money.
For the actual driving time, though, I have to admit: A portable DVD player has made road trips sooooo much easier. She’s happy watching “new” movies from the library and we’re happy because we can squeeze in another hour or so of driving between breaks.
It won’t win me mommy of the year, but I love my dvd player. We just made a trip to San Diego, and on the way back we decided to drive straight through. That’s 16 hours with three little kids sitting very close to each other in the back seat of our van. It minimized their boredom and screaming irritation with each other. The other thing I really like are the little cardboard animals with the shoelace holes that they can “sew” around. Sticker books are a favorite with my kids, and those little magnet boards with scenes they can create and re-create. Oh, and lots and lots of healthy snacks. I bought travel pillows for all my kids so they can sleep in the car without getting kinks in their necks. Take breaks along the way where he can get out and run around. He’s old enough that if you point out things along your way, he’ll be able to appreciate his surroundings, and that is such a pretty drive. Have fun and good luck!
Tanner has a very small, inexpensive laptop that he plays with for hours at a time. It has games, letter recognition, etc. We have a portable DVD player but try not to pull that out unless absolutely necessary. We play games where we’ll have him look for things out the window like blue cars, cows, etc. He loves that! And luckily he’s a talker, so we spend much of our time gabbing and solving world problems.
I did a lot of praying the night before, more like begging really, but it was all for naught. As long as I had something for them to play with when they got bored, snacks to eat and water to drink I had a couple happy little road trippers. I like the painter’s tape idea, I’ll have to try that next time.
Well, how did it go? Any unexpected “roadblocks”? We are doing the same trip plus adding a week in North Idaho. I will take all the advice I can get! I think I will leave Jossys car seat rear-facing, even though she’s old enough to turn it, since she usually sleeps alot in the car still. Afraid if I turn it around shell see us and want more entertainin’!