traveling with a two year old

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Permalink Reply by Kasie on June 10, 2012 at 11:55am

You could take almost anything that he enjoys playing with. Cars, coloring books (maybe the color wonder no mess kind). Those personal DVD players are great I bought one for $80 when I took my oldest son on his first road trip. Good luck

Permalink Reply by Christi, Star Mom on June 10, 2012 at 1:09pm

While we haven't taken a road trip quite that long, we do routinely drive two hours to my in-laws and four hours to my parents' house, so our son has spent a lot of time in the car (he's 2.5 now).

Snacks are key for us - really anything that he likes, but we typically have things like carrots, pretzels, edamame, bunnies (graham and/or cheddar), Thomas fruit snacks, cheese sticks - stuff like that. Also, we only give him water in the car - I've yet to find a truly leak-proof cup. :)

As far as activities, our son loves his books so we always have an assortment. He also like his jungle animals, flash cards, tractors, trains - really anything he's currently into.

I saw an idea once of taking a cookie sheet along to use with magnets - either the ABC and number magnets, or anything like that he may have at home.

We also have a good time exploring on the drive - he's at the age where he'll point out everything so we have him look for things like cows, cellphone towers, windmills, etc. he also likes to point out the different cars and trucks on the road.

When all else fails we have our iPhones and he has a folder of apps he plays (Peekaboo Forest, Barn and Wild; Super Why; Eric Carle's "My Very First App"; Fish School; Toddler Shapes). Or, we also look up his favorite shows on Netflix or YouTube - though often times we're in a rural area and don't get the greatest signal.

And don't forget to take breaks to let him run around a bit and stretch his legs. We're getting to the point now that he can do the four hour stretch straight through, but when he was younger we'd stop for a few minutes after a couple of hours - basically if he wasn't sleeping and started getting antsy. :)

Have a good trip!

Permalink Reply by Mommyof4 on June 10, 2012 at 7:30pm

We are in the process of a trip with a 2 and 4 year old. We traveled from Tennessee to Michigan in 1 day (our van even broke down on the way so it turned from a 12+ hour trip into a 19+ hour trip) and then back down to Ohio a couple of days ago. We packed lots of books, 4 toys a piece including a baby and baby blanket at baby pillow, paper and coloring books with colored pencils and crayons, cups of water, cookies and apples, sunglasses, and then of course, the necessities...diapers, wipes (a few extra for playing with as well), a bib, etc. We grabbed some movies to play on the laptop but never used them.

The biggest thing is to not stress out. Make sure you bring stuff for yourself too so you all can enjoy the trip and not be dreading future trips and not be worn out by the end. Enjoy!

 

Permalink Reply by overthemoon on June 10, 2012 at 10:40pm

thank you ladies for all the ideas :) i will be writing them down before i forget them.