Traveling In a Car With Kids?

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"Mom are we there yet?" ... "I know you are, but what am I?" ... "Mom! Sandy hit me!" Traveling with kids can be quite a challenge.

Here are some tips to help keep them occupied and prevent you from going nuts. Post your ideas.

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Susan Sanders-Kinzel
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January 20, 20050 found this helpful

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Books on tape are great for long car trips with kids or even by yourself! You can often check them out from the public library, so it's free!

By Becki in IN

Susan Sanders-Kinzel
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January 20, 20050 found this helpful

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When traveling on a long car trip with kids, a 9x13 inch cake pan with a tight-fitting lid is great to keep the kids busy. You can store coloring books, crayons, small toys, etc. inside the pan and then when they need a surface to color/play on, put the lid back on and use the lid as the surface! If the lid is uneven, flip the closed pan over and use the bottom.

By Becki in Indiana

Shirley

September 4, 20080 found this helpful

Best Answer

Wow I thought there would be alot of suggestions, but I do have some that were not mentioned. 1st - food and drinks are a must. Books to read, music, and games. Homemade bingo using things that you would see on a car trip.
(bird, green car, semi, horse, barn, cow, flowers, church, dog, etc. ).
Play the ABC game, every one tries to get every letter of the alphabet starting with "A", you can see it on a billboard or license plate or other sign, but can not be anywhere except the first letter of the word. OK I admit that it is hard. You can make exceptions for little ones, like the letter "X" and " Q" can be eliminated and then you can say yes to the letter being anywhere in a word.

Another game is to play "guess who I am" (a famous person). Someone thinks of a person dead or alive. The players ask "yes or no " questions till they give up or get it. Another version of that game is " I spot". Someone announces that they see a certain something and then the guessing starts. Coloring books and puzzle books are great. My dad who was always the driver would ask us kids how far a certain distance was. He would pick a land mark up ahead and we would guess. Then he would tell us what it really was. The guessing was fun.
Also, I always bring each passenger a pillow and lap blanket. Sleeping is a great pastime too. haha

Tabitha

March 6, 20050 found this helpful

An important note about car dvd players. I hadn't thought of this before, but last week my son's babysitter took him on errans in her new van with a dvd player. It wasn't long before he got car sick. Just in case someone is thinking of buying one- you may be wasting your money if your kids get car sick easily.

This is only the 3rd time my son has ever been car sick so it made me wonder. Also- if you have a regular little tv or tv vcr combo- you can buy an adapter for your cigarette lighter so you can plug in a regular set for about 10 bucks at any electronics department. This works great for occational long trips.

Michael Ruger

March 8, 20050 found this helpful

Playing made up games has always worked when I took children on long trips.

Mostly sight and spot games.
LIKE- I saw it first that is my Horse or my House.

Licenses plate Collect all the states.

OR each child picks a color of car and they play to a hundred spotted (Then pick new colors)

I use to make up stories and tell them as I drove.

So many things you can do to keep children busy.

I Wish You Luck
Mr. Thrifty

Susan Sanders-Kinzel
Diamond Feedback Medal for All Time! 1,023 Feedbacks

April 16, 20050 found this helpful

Carry a cooler with water, drinks and snacks to keep you and kids hydrated on trips.