Road Trip Suggestions for Keeping Kids Busy

The BEST thing I EVER invested in for long trips, was the travel DVD system! It came with 2 screens that went on the head rests of the seats in front of you. Not a peep from my little ones. :D Also, car bingo is a life saver.

Movies - do you have a DVD player? If not, get one, rent one or borrow one!! Even better, get one for each girl!!!

Snacks - chips, crackers, cheese, grapes, carrots, celery with pb, raisins, etc.

Meals - to eat when you top (sandwiches, pudding, applesauce, etc). Take advantage when you do stop and let the kids run around - maybe at McDonalds (get sodas only if you are trying to save money) or a rest stop with a playground.

Travel games for the 6 and 8 year old (you can find these online or at WalMart)

Books - have each girl bring several of her own.

Coloring Books/Crayons or Markers (enough for each to have their own stash).

Magnets and Cookies Sheets (for the 4 year old).

Do your older ones have a DS? Bring that with games.

Let each one bring a stuffed animal or doll.

Stickers and a book to put them in.

Kid friendly CDs - this can keep them entertained for an hour or two (especially if you are singing along!)

I-SPY - you can create a paper with different objects and have them find it (red car, blue truck, green sign, etc).

Crafts - string and cheerios or fruit loops - have them make necklaces.

I suggest stopping every hour or two for restroom and stretching break. Bring enough blankets and pillows for each girl. Make sure to bring tylenol, bottled water, bandaids, extra brush and hair ties as well as wet wipes!

If all else fails, have a bag of different kids of candy!!!

Have fun!!

DVD player would be my answer! (and 3 pr of headphones!) good luck

I am going on a road trip that takes about the same amount of time, 17.5 hours. I went to a book store and bought activity books, and also some small games that are specifically for car time. Mine are 6 and 7. I also borrowed a portable dvd player from my mom. I'm not worried about it, in fact, I think we'll have fun on the drive. We like to play games like the alphabet game, where the first person comes up with an animal that starts with the letter A, then the second person has to remember the A animal, and come up with a B animal. By the time you get halfway through, it's fun trying to remember all the animals before yours. We also play the sign game where we look for words that begin with letters of the alphabet beginning with A. Also, my kids like playing story games where you say a part of a story, maybe 2 sentences or so, and then "pass it on" to someone else to make up the next couple of sentences. It gets really funny!!

I have 5 children and traveling any distanance can be sometimes crazy. But I have done this every time we travel since they were little. It is funny now because even know they are older 7,7,8,9,14 they still expect it! But I take a backpack for each of they and fill it with things they haven't seen before like a new coloring book, a blank note book for writing or drawing, a new cool pencil or pen, a healthy snack or two. Make it fun and surprise them. It has worked for us every time.

I answered a question similar to this earlier so am copying my answer for you

A portable DVD will be a wonderful plan. Also go to your local library and ask if the do vacation packs. If they do (ours does) they will ask you the age and interests of the child / children. ours packed us age appropriate books for our kids, some coloring pages, cd's and tapes and movies, decks of cards and card game book, puzzles etc. it is a wonderful resource. also pack up some snacks that they helps pick out. but ration how they are handed over. give her a bag with what she can have and don't replenish it to often or she won't eat when you want to stop for meals. when you stop for food make sure you stop at either a rest stop or a place with a playground so she can run and use up some energy. we hate mcdonald play lands but on long trips they are life savers. good luck

We have a portable DVD player, which is very helpful. Our DD loves the Incredibles, Monster's Inc, etc, so we arent tortured with things we dont want to listen to on a car trip also. :-)

I also recommend the color wonder marker sets, since they only mark on the paper you want them on. We only let our DD have them on car trips (we take 4 hour trips every couple of months for family visits) so they're more special and exciting for her then.

McMama...awesome solution for magnets!! A cookie sheet! I will be using this on our trip this week!

If your kids have iPods and/or handheld game systems (like Nintendo DS) those are good things to bring along.

Also, there are great printable things on momsminivan.com. We like to print a map of the route we're taking,and have the kids follow along. This gives them a sense of 'are we there yet?' without asking 25 times/minute.

We also like to print a list of the states, and keep track of all the different license plates we see.

We also play Banana. You shout-out 'banana' whenever you see a yellow car. The first person to say it gets a point. No points for work-related vehicles. You can make-up other rules that make it more challenging.

Slug-bug is another good road trip game. (Keep points for the first person to spot a VW bug.)

Have fun!!

get a road map off the interntet and highlight your trip on it, then they can follow along, go to a dollar store and buy little things you wouldn't normally, that can be played with in the car and dole them out every 2 hours or so, buy an inexpensive metal tray and smaller magnets for them, stock up on travel versions of games, print off games from the computer, encourage naps... good luck.

We do lots of age appropriate BRAIN QUESTS, word search puzzles, sing tons of songs, books- both activity and reading, etc. One of our favorites is THERE'S A HOLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. There are tapes/CDs of songs for kids you can buy, too.

Honestly, I love that part of a vacation because I enjoy doing all of this. You can also do traveling games as long as you are not in the middle of Kansas somewhere and there is nothing to see.

In other words, find a sign or something that begins with "A", then "B", etc. In the city....it's EASY and it can turn into a competition. Definitely keeps them occupied. At these ages, they all know ABC'S and letter sounds.

Small dry erase board and play handman. Again, this is something everyone can play, including mom & dad and you don't have to be in the back seat with them. Of course, the 8 year old has to make sure what she picks is appropriate for even the 4 year old to be able to guess.

Sounds like fun to me! Enjoy!

We always purchased books on CD for car trips. I guess now people purchase tv's for the car. You can play DVDs.

I tried to keep a bag of "new: items for trips. Books, Magna doodle, magnet paper dolls, cars, trucks, some people buy stuff from the dollar store. I really tried to purchase Items that they would continue to play with at home once we got back.

I also tried to plot out some stops along the way at parks with playgrounds so our child could run around. Local elementary schools are great in the summer when school is out. This helped a lot..

We would play I spy.. We would sing silly songs. I would read out loud.

Lots of good ideas here. Here's another...
Make a bingo game of common things you'll pass (a bridge, a bus, a semi etc.) or more complicated things (a toll booth, a particular attraction, etc) and give the sheets and stickers to the girls (if you know they won't go crazy with the stickers) to play bingo while you drive. You could make a few and save some up front for later, or have the girls make them before you go. You could also use magnets on a cookie sheet to cover the items if stickers are a little too sticky... :)

Mad Libs are fun if you do them with them since they may be a little young for them on their own. They can get pretty silly too.

I'd also start slow. Don't give them anything right away and gradually dole out the distractions. You might be surprised by how long your daughters are distracted just by talking, looking out the window, talking about what you'll do at your destinations when you get there, etc. There may be some good memories made during that time too with all the talking.

Have a great trip!

There are lots of good suggestions for keeping kids busy and I have nothing to add on that end. What I do want to add is that we have gone on many long driving trips with our three kids, from the time they were babies (now they are 6, 10 and 12) and we have tried it all. The best thing has been traveling at night while they sleep. This, by far, has been the BEST. It's a little hard the first day on mom and dad, especially if you are not visiting someone who can watch the kids while you take a nap, but it truly does make the drive MUCH easier.

We leave about 6:00 PM. Drive for a couple of hours, stop for dinner, put the kids in PJs and get them their blankets. By about 11:00 they are usually asleep and pretty much sleep through the night except for the occasional wake up to ask "where are we?" My husband and I take turns sleeping and driving. We stop for breakfast, get them dressed and then we are at our destination by lunch time.

Books on CD are WONDERFUL, and usally so awesomely narrated.

And I wouldn't leave home on a 2 hour trip, let alone an 18 hour trip with my four year old without our portable DVD player. I know that's not a popular solution for some people, but for a trip of that length, it could be a Godsend. You have gotten many good suggestions for good travel games and activities for the older girls, but the DVD could work for all ages.

Have fun!!