As I mentioned earlier, we just returned from a 12-hour road trip out to visit my parents. Crazy might be our middle name to do this with a 5, 3 and 1 year old, oh and let’s throw in the minor detail that I am 8 months pregnant as well, LOL! Yup, we must be certifiably crazy but getting to hang out with my family is so very worth it…so we do what we gotta do!
Many of you have been emailing me about how I entertained the troops during this long, long, long car ride after I had mentioned it on Facebook and this blog post here. And although I don’t think I have it down or figured out in the least at all I am more than happy to share with you what worked for us. Maybe, just maybe, it’ll help you some!?!
First off, we have a minivan. A total must in my opinion for a family with 3 little ones 5 and under who are all in heavy duty carseats. We had an SUV type vehicle before we bought our minivan which happened to be few months before Eloise was born. I would never go back. I know, I know, I own a swagger wagon. Yup, I’m a full-fledged ‘soccer mom’ now but I love it for all the ease it gives our growing family. Lots of space and seating for everyone as well as cup holders and compartments galore…I love it…love, love, love! Our minivan has the little pull-down DVD player which we don’t make use of all the time but I will say it does come in handy for long car trips! In the past we have brought a portable DVD player that Noah would rest on his lap and that worked well to entertain him for a few hours here and there too. Having my kids watch videos isn’t something I love that they do but it does work wonders to break up long car trips! We rent videos and movies from our local library and when things are looking rough we pop one in.
Before we left I happened to find this really cool Zingo To Go travel game at Toys R Us. What a find! My kids love playing Zingo at home and the travel version was just as fun to them. You just pop the little traffic light pieces together depending on how many big you want your ‘Zingo’ card to be and then you shake the car dice shaker to reveal what pictures they need to look for and flip over. Yes, the dice shaker can be noisy but I was the designated shaker so I just learned to flip it over gently and give it a rolling-type shake for minimal noise as we played quite a few rounds while Ellie was sleeping!
The morning before we left I searched the internet for a whole bunch of preschool activity worksheet printables. I had intentions of doing this earlier in the week but time just got away from me. I really liked this site here. I printed off a while bunch of mazes and connect-the-dots for Noah and then a bunch of matching and alphabet pairs for Penelope.
I bought two cheap binders at Walmart and a pack of sheet protectors and just stuck two pages back to back per sheet protector into the binder for a fun, new activity for them during the car ride. I also bought a big pack of colorful Expo low-odor dry erase markers for them to do their activities which they thought was soooo cool, oh all the color choices! Then they just used a dry piece of paper towel or a baby wipe to wipe of the page, easy fun!
Personally I am not a fan of the Crayola Color Wonder sets because I always think it takes forever for the color to show up on the page but my kids love them. So we brought one for each kid and it was a great time consumer since they are really into coloring these days.
I picked up a few plain pads of paper and then I emptied a box of crayons into a large pencil pouch for them to share. We had a few hours of fun drawing rockets, rainbows, and cars on the highway. Even Eloise got into the coloring action for a little bit!
I also picked up a few cheap clipboards just so they had something lightweight and hard to write/color on. These actually came very handy for collecting all the loose papers they would rip off of the paper pad. I would also clip a piece of paper on to one of the boards for Ellie and give her a crayon and this way her paper wasn’t always flying onto the floor when she attempted coloring.
We also took a few rest stop breaks for the kids to got potty, stretch, and run around. And if they would start to complain about their legs hurting after we were back on the road for a short time we had them stretch their legs on the seat in front of them or just put their legs up to try to get into a new sitting position while strapped into those dang carseats. It helped if I counted to 30 as if we were doing exercises for some reason…who knows!
Noah and Penelope were both in the back of the minivan, one on each side, and I rotated from the passenger seat to one of the middle seat captain’s chairs next to Eloise. I had to enjoy that since in only 2 months the new baby is going to be filling that seat! Since the ‘big’ kids were so far back I made sure they had their own roll of paper towels, hand sanitizers, and a pack of baby wipes. This way I wasn’t having to throw everything to them and have them miss it and fall on the floor…don’t you hate when that happens!
We also brought lots of different snacks for all of us so we didn’t have to spend money on fast food at rest stops. Having a variety of snacks is a MUST! Especially for Eloise’s age since she really isn’t into watching videos, playing car games or coloring for very long. I tried to make our options on the healthier, non-candy side although I did bring a bag of m&ms for just in case (which ended up only being eaten by me!) The foods that worked great for us were:
- Goldfish
- Pop Chips (these are Gluten-Free!)
- Pirate Booty (these are Gluten-Free too!)
- Beef Jerky (ripped in smaller pieces to prevent choking!)
- Annie’s Organic Fruit Snacks
- Granola Bars
- Raisins
- Fun pack of cereals (my kids thought these were such a treat!)
I also made sure to have a box of ziploc bags ready to fill with individual portions that I could zip up and thow back hand out to the kids.
In a small cooler we also brought:
- Sliced grapes
- Sliced strawberries
- Blackberries (wouldn’t bring again as Eloise was completely a mess after eating them!)
- A few packs of lunch meat
- String cheese
So, that’s it! Aside from a few rounds of Eye Spy and the Alphabet Game this is pretty much how we spent our time on our 12-hour car trip. I think we stopped twice on the way out for bathroom and stretching breaks and then 3 times on the way home…not so bad! I am still surprised that Penny or I didn’t have to go to the bathroom more than that!
I hope this helps you figure out some things to do with your kids if you are planning on a family road trip this summer! Please comment or email with any other questions you may have that I didn’t answer!!
Thanks for stopping by!
XOXO,
Love the binder and dry erase markers, that is pure genius! I will definitely have to file that one away for future use. On another note, you are a much better person than me if you can listen to Caillou in the car… My kids love him, but it drives me crazy 😛
LOL! Penelope loves Caillou! I think he has grown on me some over the past few years although his voice really annoyed me at first! Noah loved him at age 3-4 and then he moved on and now Penelope…I’m sure Eloise will be on the bandwagon soon too, ha!
I love the preschool worksheets and the clip board idea! We’re headed to Yellowstone this summer from Wisconsin… two days of driving, but we’re all so excited! I also have a 5 and 3 year old in the back of the minivan and a baby in the middle. We just upgraded from a small car and I absolutely love it too!!! Glad your trip was great.
Oh have fun! That was one of my fondest memory trips we did as a child…4 of us kids in a Jeep Cherokee, good times!
Wow, that’s great that you were able to make that trip with 3 littles! Well done you! When I was younger, my family used to trek up to visit my grandfather and his wife and it was 8 hours away. I was a TERROR to deal with on long car rides but part of my excuse was that I get car sick and couldn’t read, color, or anything like that. If only they had build in video players in the cars 20 odd years ago!
Oh, my littlest sister was like that when she was younger too. She seemed to throw up everywhere we went, we laugh a lot about that now!
Great ideas, we’re headed to WI Dells this weekend and I have a 3 year old and a 10 month old… 🙂
http://www.savvymamareviews.blogspot.com/
Oh, I love the Dells! We haven’t been in a while, that sounds like a fun trip! Are you doing the hotel/waterparks?
What ages is that game targeted at? We have an 8hr car ride coming up to a family wedding, but my almost-3yr-old and I both have terrible motion sickness and will throw up if we read, draw, watch movies, or basically anything else that involves focusing.
We are thinking our best strategy is to leave in the evening and eat dinner in the car, then hope he sleeps most of the way. And bring plenty of towels and baggies for puke! lol.
I think the game is targeted at ages 4 and up but my 3 and 5 love it, they got it for Christmas from Grandma! It is a picture bingo game so I am sure you could easily make it work for your little one! We have done lots of overnight 12-hour drives, leave at around 8 and get there around 8 in the morning. The hardest for us was our lack of sleep…good luck and have fun!! And bring lots of bags for puke, lol!!
Oh PS audio books from the library are a good option too, especially for people like us who will get sick if they read a story or watch a movie but would be fine listening to one! My library just got the complete Winnie the Pooh on CD-we are definitely requesting that before our trip!
You know, I meant to get some of those from our library, we have never done audio books before. Thanks for the reminder…that might be another one to have in my bag of tricks for our trip this summer!!
I went on a 16 hour car ride by myself with my then 18 month old daughter and a magna doodle was my best friend. That and plenty of snacks and dvd’s!
Magna Doodle!! You know, when Noah was little I found a water magna doodle that he loved! You draw on this special fabric with a pen you fill with water and it disappears over time, I even thought it was pretty cool!
I had some compositon books (stitched binding) and I gave them something to write with. Asked them to ‘write’ about the trip. Draw pictures of what they see. then I would pass back some stickers. asked them to make a landscape picture with them. We had 980 miles from our door to my in-laws. and our kids were born in 1991,1993 and 1995. I got to like those carseats – with a little bit of thought, you can set up the seats so they can’t touch each other.
We are chapaerones for a high school bus trip next week – to Chicago only 12 hours on a bus – our kid says “only 12 hours – that’s not bad”
Oh my goodness, you are saints Sally! Chaperoning high school kids is not high on my list of fun things to do especially for a 12 hour drive! Hopefully they are all good for you!!!
Thanks for the great ideas! We are planning a 24 hour road trip (one way) with our two boys, 8 and 7. I plan on making little paper bags with an activity or a special treat inside and mark on the outside when they can open them…. like say 500 miles, when we enter a specific state, etc. Thanks again for the great ideas everyone!
Oh my 24 hours!! Good luck to you momma!!!!
Totally pinning this so my husband will have some stuff for the kids when they go to Montana this summer. I would go, but at that point we’ll have a 3 month old and THAT would be insane. I like my inlaws but after a trip like that, I’m not sure we’d be on speaking terms!
LOL Jessica! Sometimes it’s just nice to sit one out, right!
wow!! you rock mama 🙂 When I was 8 months preggers I could barely sit, stand, walk or lay down comfortably for any length of time lol We have 3 munchkins and we would love to make the 14 hour trip to see family… I will definitely be using some of your awesome ideas if we go.
Oh, good luck to you girl! We are making a 15 hour one this summer with the new babe so I feel ya!!
At Dollar tree I purchased a small metal serving tray and a bunch of the number/ letter/ and other magnets. I threw them all in an old metal lunchbox (that I taped a cute family picture on) and we take it all in the car. My 2 year old uses the serving tray as a board for playing with the magnetic letters.
I also have one of those cheap picture carriers and inserted family and close friends pictures inside the sleeves. She loves going through and pointing out her cousins and other family members. It is also great for teaching her names. I chose photos where other things were happening in the background, but faces are clear. Like for one photo her and her cousins are feeding chickens and goats. This way she points out other animals and I can ask her what sounds they make, their colors, or what they look like (horns, beaks, feathers, fur, etc).
I also love boredom/ I spy bags. I try to make a new one every few months and rotate it in. It is important to rotate their toys otherwise they get bored of them.
I loved all the ideas- Thank you so much!!
Oh those are such great ideas! I will definitely add them to our activities for our trip this summer!! Thank you!
I love your blog, but can you please stop with all this ‘Gluten Free!!!’ business. I know that it’s super-trendy right now, but it’s kind of getting annoying.
Hmmm….
I hope you ignore that last comment. What a mean comment. What is it to them if you choose Gluten Free, and while I don’t know the story behind all the Gluten Free options I am assuming that someone in your family is intolerant. Sorry you got a mean comment. The Zingo to go is a great idea. I am going on a 9 hour plane ride to Europe and this might just be perfect. I have 2 card games, workbooks, a new book, crayons, and I really like that crayola modeling clay because it does not make a mess like play doh. A pack of cookies and a healthy snack will be added to the pack because I know he will not like the airplane food, but I can’t blame him since I don’t either.
LOL! What are ya gonna do right? Some people just like to put their two cents in even if it’s not wanted! I’m just going to assume she/he is having a bad day! 🙂 On a lighter note, how fun that you get to go to Europe!! I’m jealous!! I’ve also never tried that Crayola modeling clay but now I’m thinking I gotta give it a whirl since you say it doesn’t make a mess like play dough. There are so many things I like about play dough but dang, does it make a mess!!!
So impressed that you did this trip with 3 kids 5 and under and a baby in the belly! You are amazing! We love our mini van too, couldn’t imagine life with out it! Something we do on long trips (although never 12 hours) is we recline the kids seats to sleep… they’re still buckled into their seats safe but more comfy with their necks not falling over. Not sure if your seats recline or not… but it helps a lot! And I usually pile the kids bags below their feet. It saves space in the back for bulky stuff and allows them something to rest their feet on, or put their feet up on so they’re not just hanging there cutting off blood circulation. I love the binder/dry erase idea! Genius! And the clip boards and games! You’re such a great Mama!
Minivans ROCK! 🙂 That is a great idea about reclining the seats…how have I never thought of that, it probably is way more comfy to sleep that way! And the luggage under their feet? Duh! We did that 2 years ago on an overnight drive and I hadn’t even thought to do it this time probably cause we drive during the day!!!! Cause, yes, they always fuss at some point over their legs hurting! Adding to my list for this summer…thanks Mel!
I could never imagine traveling with three kids and being pregnant on top of that. I definitely say you are my hero and all these tips are really good. I have two kids so traveling isn’t as bad. What I found to be helpful, is packing a big zip lock baggie full of different snacks for each kid. That way if your kids are like mine they don’t fight about sharing. I also let them pack some activities on their own, so they are excited about what they brought to play with. Another thing that is the lifesaver of them all is my iPad. They play games, read, watch movies, and even watch TV through DISH. With the Sling Adapter hooked up my Hopper whole home DVR, the kids can access all our subscription channels and watch them live while we are traveling. They love this option and a co-worker at DISH told me I could watch my Blockbuster@Home service on my iPad now as well. The iPad keeps the kids quiet the whole way.
LOL! That is awesome about your iPad, do you have 3G on it? We have one but only with wifi so it won’t stream in the car. We really wanted to use our Netflix on the drive but had no wifi connection for it!
Great ideas! We used to take a plastic stepstool and put it on the floor in front of the car seat so the kids’ legs weren’t just dangling – that helps on a long ride. I also packed a backpack for each kid with toys/coloring books, etc. that could only be used on long car rides. ~Cindy H
Love these ideas…thank you!!
These are great ideas. When we are travelling long distances with a three and one year old (see there are other people as crazy as you), each child has a personal MP3 player with a speaker system or headphones. I have loaded a heap of songs onto these and audio books borrowed from the library.
The other thing we love is the travel magna doodles and the aquadoodle – http://www.amazon.com/Aquadoodle-Go-Doodle-Travel-Doodler/dp/B0007WWZYU.
Once again, thanks for the great ideas, I will certainly be using these in the coming months when we are travelling.
YES! The aqua doodle! That is the neatest toy! I was just telling someone about that above in the comments!!!!
These are great tips. We have done big drives with our eldest, including one big drive with me in the back of our small car and another leaning over the seat to read to him (wasn;t into tv). Can I add he also hated the car!!!
We are setting off on another trip in a couple of months with our baby. This will be his first big trip.
It may be obvious but include a map. You cant rely on GPS when a major highway is cut with flooding and you have no idea where the not-even-a-blip-on-the-radar town is that it is cut at. Luckily we took the next exit when we heard the news, were able to grab a room for the night, and get through in the very small window when the highway reopened. The hghway was closed for a week, and that little bit of flooding was the start of a flooding bigger than the size of Texas.
And take a million times more snacks than you would think you would need. For some reason, our son is always more hungry in the car, and having extra food comes in handy, you know, incase you get flooded somewhere.
Yes, yes, and yes!! A map seems obvious but not everyone brings them…especially my in-laws when they travel, aiyayayay!!! And lots and lots of snacks is key!!!!
Hi Maggie! I haven’t been in to see you hubby in so long that I had no idea you were expecting baby #4! Congrats.
We’re “old pros” at the 12 hour road trip, if such a thing is possible! Now that the girls are older we give them each their own lunch box with a lunch and snacks that have to last the whole day. They like having the freedom of making their own choices and making sure they conserve for the whole day.
Thanks for the tips on the dry erase pages. Great idea!
Hi Ronda!!!
Thanks for the tip! We have a 15 hour road trip coming up this summer with the older 3 plus our newest bundle so any extra tips I can tuck away are greatly appreciated!! Hope you and your family are well!!!
We are taking our first 12 hour road trip with our 17 month old, we are leaving in 3 days! I am so nervous! You are definitely awesome with 3 children and 8 months pregnant! You rock!!
Oh good luck Trisha! It will be awesome and so will the kids…positive thinking!!! Let me know how it goes!! Sending good vibes your way!!!
This is a wonderfully timed post! We are heading to Myrtle Beach from NY over the summer, and while I (really!) want to fly with the two little ones, Hubby wants to save the airfare and drive. Sigh. Thinking about being in the car with the kids for around the same amount of time as you guys were makes me a little kookie. If you can do it with three in tow and one on the way, I could certainly do it with just two! (BUT we don’t have a minivan! We have a Prius so it’s a lot less space, but maybe we can suck it up!) Thanks for sharing!!!
Oh I hope this helps you some! A Prius might be challenging but then again you are able to reach them really easily if they need a snack or drop something…that is the hard part about being in the minivan…the distance!
This was very incouraging. I am taking my own 14 hour trip with my four munchkins. My two 11 year olds, my three year old son and my 3 month old daughter. I am a little nervous to do this long haul by myself but to know you did it pregnant has gave me confidents. Thanks!
Great tips! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
These are all fantastic ideas! We are heading out in a week and a half from AZ to Wisc. This is the LONGEST trip we have ever driven with our 3 boys(16,7,3). I am looking forward to adding some of your tips to our travel bags. This should be interesting for sure, lol. Thanks for all of the helpful ideas!
Wonderful ideas! I will be headed back to Toledo, Ohio from Arkansas alone with my 3 year old girl, Savannah in a couple weeks. Maybe this car trip will better than the first. I will definately be trying some of your tips on the ride home. Thank you for sharing these!