Road Trip Entertainment for Almost-2-Year-Old (Toy Recommendations? Ideas?)

We recently did a trip half as long with my 2 year old. A few things that worked well were music (she loves to "sing"), DVD's, and books. I will have to say though, the most successful "toy" we brought was a cookie sheet with magnets. A friend had given me this idea and it occupied her for quite a while. She would sit there and hold that cookie sheet and just play with magnets.....looked completely boring to me, but she had the best time taking them off, putting them on, taking them off, etc, etc! Easy and cheap entertainment. LOL!

We just flew six hours each way. Window clings and other assorted finds at the dollar store went a LONG way. Just don't bother with their chalkboard/chalk/eraser combo... my four year old couldn't even press hard enough to make the chalk write on the board.

Also, don't discount the view, the radio and just talking with her.

Leave in the afternoon, around 4. Drive for a while, eat, drive another hour, get her ready for bed. Tell her a story, and she will fall asleep by 9 or so. And she should sleep. Hubby and I travel this way, and it has always worked out for us.........

I swear by DVD players in the car for long drives. Regular toys only entertain for a few minutes, while a movie keeps them happy for at least an hour.

If you are going to do night driving, make sure the driver has taken some sort of aid to keep him/her up. My hubby takes the cold medicine that truck drivers use. It's like having 3 cups of coffee and lasts for a bunch of hours. No need to stop to go pee!

I stopped in small town playgrounds just a few minutes off the highway to let my 2 year old run around and tire out so she was ready to eat and rest when we got back in the car. Also I bought some inexpensive surprise toys(stickers, bubbles, dollar store etc, that I kept handy to pull out in times of desperate need. Good luck. No one toy will work, as they get tired easy . The best is an iPad w Netflix subscription and lots of toddler apps, they learn and get unlimited movie choices w the 3G. So you don't have to carry a DVD. But really ten hours will fly by. I drove 30 alone with my daughter and she did just fine!

A Doodle Pro Travel Doodler by Fisher- Price is nice because she can scribble and draw without crayons to lose or make a mess with, and erase the page and start all over.
http://www.fisher-price.com/en_US/brands/doodlepro/produc...

Also a small doll or lovey to hold, snuggle with and talk to, some board books she can look at on her own, and some CD's with music she likes to listen to. You can tell her stories, use the time to point out and talk to her about what you're seeing along the way, about where you're going and what you'll do once you get there.

As far as stops, the roadside rest stops are fantastic for toddlers! And, since you will have the dog, both of you can take short walks.... some of them have playgrounds, also. The paths (depending on the kind of rest stop) would be great for your little one to stretch her legs, and work off some of her stored energy....

I prefer leaving early in the morning, but I'm a morning person... I do just fine early morning, but once night hits, I start dozing... hubby is the opposite, though.. and would rather drive late at night, and gets frustrated that I fall asleep on him, when he wants me to help keep him awake!

I don't know what kind of car you have, but can you put her car seat in the middle of the back seat? that way she might be able to see you easier.. I realize this won't work if you have a van, though.

Talking to her, singing to and with her... all of those are good ideas.... if you have CD's of kid type songs, those might help keep her attention, especially if you usually sing those kind of songs with her. When we did road trips, we had several cassettes (yep, long ago!) of kid songs, and we all sang the songs... that is what we listened to then.

Good luck.... it isn't easy, I know.... we were 12 hours away from our family, so I know what those road trips are like! (btw.. when we moved... we moved with a big dog, 2 cats, and 4 kids, age 9- 6 months... but we turned it into a 2 day drive instead of 1 long 12 hour + drive... but my M. and brother helped us move, so we had 3 vehicles driving down, and plenty of distractions. I had the baby, 2 cats, and my M., hubby had the dog in his truck, and my brother had the 3 older kids in his van... still quite a trick, especially meal stops with the pets.)

We've got a 22-24 hour flight with a 21 month old. I asked a similar question, and the mamas recommended a magna doodle, a DVD player, snacks, playdough, new toys from the dollar store, and crayons.

When we were little on car trips, my parents would have us run relay races at the rest stops. That way we would get our wriggles out in a short amount of time.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

I just PM'd you but here are some thoughts...

Buy new toys and other new things and don't let her play with them until the trip. Introduce them one at a time throughout the day.

Chalk and crayons are great but just be prepared to see their markings on the car, her carseat, her clothes...and her! It might be worth the investment of colorless markers and colorless coloring books for this trip.

I don't recommend the any sort of tablet like the iPad, Kindle or Nook for that age for mere safety issues. Chances are she'll press something that will take her out of the app, and then she'll get upset about not getting it back and then you'll feel like you have to pull the app up again, and there is no way you should be dealing with that while you are driving.

When my son was the same age we spent about 20 hours over 2 days on a road trip. We had bought a portable VCR before trip (yes back in the VCR days) and got a bunch of cartoon videos, kids music videos, etc. I can't tell you how many times my husband and I looked at each other & commented that it was the best $300 we had spent (portable entertainment units we very expensive then). Yes, cartoons videos are like junk food - but it will be soooooo helpful during the inpatient moments - and let's face it, a constant diet of junk food is bad, but a bag or potato chips or bowl of ice cream is just the right thing sometimes. This is one of those times.
Get a leash for your daughter too so when you stop you can harness your child and your dog and give them both a little time to stretch their legs. We used a harness on my son at this age and it was literally a lifesaver. He needed to run, we needed to keep him safe. One step ahead sells them. And if people around you make snotty comments just ignore them - it's not their job to keep your child safe, it's your job.
Go online and look for parks/playgrounds along your route so you can stop, let your little one climb a little, etc. You can always leash your dog to a tree while you let your child on the playground for a short time. There will be lots of sympathetic moms at playgrounds too.
My niece who frequently drives the VA/NY route with little ones has learned to leave her house in the wee hours of the morning. Pack up the car in the late afternoon the day before your departure and go to bed shortly after your child. Wake up at 3:00AM and get her into her carseat while she's still sleeping. That can give you a 3 or 4 hour jump on your drive while she's asleep. As for clothing, what's more comfy than PJ's?
I think the dog may actually help keep your little one entertained - so I don't think it's a bad thing.
I also agree with the library books on ipod/CD too. It can be calming for little ones to hear someone voice talking & reading to them.
Good luck mama. Be careful and pray for a peaceful and speedy trip.

Well we just drove 16 hours(left at 5 30 am) through from upstate NY to NC ,3 short stops at the gas stations . Our youngest one is 22 months. Lets see...we did snacks and lolliepops (not something we do at home, but hey they were organic:)) , she played ball with her brothers(she is rear facing and boys are in the 3rd row), she looked at books, she took a nap, she played with a pen and notebook(unfortunately she enjoyed coloring on herself more than the paper so I would get the color wonder markers ), DVD player lasted for 5 min maybe so that did not work for us. There was a share of screaming fits but we have a music CD that she likes so it seamed to help. Wish you the best on your trip!!!!!!!!!!

Yes a DVD player is a GEM when you need to concentrate on the road and they're in the back seat whining.

Any new toy seems to pique my son's interest. So maybe a trip to Walmart is in order!

Magna-Doodle

I love the idea of magnets. If it were me, I'd give the kiddo maybe ten magnets with a cookie sheet (or round stove-cover if you want a smaller circle). And then put 20 MORE magnets in the front seat. So that when you are driving and she cries that she dropped one, you can easily hand her another one w/o taking your eyes off the road.

When I do the 20 hour drive to and from CA and TX, we make sure the kiddo gets a nap (we drive during naptime and of course bedtime). Make sure to change the diaper before falling asleep so that you don't have a mess in the car that you can't really clean! In a ten hour drive, I would expect to stop maybe only 2 or 3 times. But maybe my son is more cooperative. The dog doesn't need out more than that. Unless your child is a fusser, it should be enough for her too.

And you mention letting your daughter climb IN the car? Uh, while you're driving? Never would I suggest that to anybody. If it were me, I'd stop at a gas station once or twice (you potty, you walk, walk the dog, give dog water) and once maybe at a McDonalds or ChicFilA or other restaurant to have extra wiggle time and/or an indoor playplace. Even parked, I've never had a reason to let my son play IN the car. I'd find a rest-stop or a fast food joint to hang out at to get the wiggles out.

We just did a six hour flight with our 21 month old. Our best distractions were:
- a small set of Duplo blocks- we got the set that makes 4 simple farm animals and comes with a book, he learned how to make the animals quickly and could both play with the blocks and play with the animals
- a book-sized magnet set that had blank faces and magnets that are eyes, noses, ears, etc, so he could make all different faces. He thought this was hilarious. We have a similar set that is Curious George scenes, used that one last trip.
- a giant bag of Dum Dum lollipops and a couple of ring pops. He had fun picking the color and playing with them, probably only ate about 1.5 whole ones over the course of 6 hours.
- Leapster Explorer- this belongs to my older son, but the little one enjoyed the basic games and could press all the buttons without downloading any new apps!
- "Toobe" of small zoo animals

Before we got on the plane we took the kids to the zoo for about 3 hours and ran them around. They both slept for the first 2 hours or so.
Best of luck! Being able to stop every once in a while will really help.

We have done five or six 7+ hour drives with our kids, and we have always gotten several books on CD from the library for the journey. You probably can find some which are stories for young children being read aloud, and while they might only work for 1/2 hour at a time, 1/2 hour is better than nothing. They help keep the driver alert too, more so than music!

Good luck with everything!