Traveling with Little Ones

photo from http://cherylsalvador.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/mothers-err-babys-day-post/

Who doesn't love a 6 hour car trip with screaming whining little people.  I don't that is for sure!   This was our first trip with our 8 month old and well he is not a rider.  He can get cranky just being placed in the car seat.   So as we were planning for our vacation I was not looking forward to the traveling part and knew I needed to plan for it. 

We don't have a DVD player in the car and don't really plan on getting one.  I survived trips without a television and I feel like my kids should be able to also.  And seeing how my biggest guy is only 3 he doesn't have hand held games either. 

I knew the traditional packing a few toys thing but I wanted to avoid the constant are we there mommy questions that I knew would come.  So I set out to find as many tips as I could on some of my favorite blogs.   There are hundreds of great ideas out there but I am only going to share 4 with you and give you some links. 

*ABC match up

This was one of Conner's favorite games.  I printed off capital letters A to Z from here and then taped the paper to a cookie sheet.   He had to match his magnetic letters to the ones on the page.  He loved using the magnets and I think it would have been great to have cut/printed out some pictures of animals/people and different back grounds for him to have played with.

*Hidden puzzle book

I have told you before how much my big guy likes trains so anything involving them keeps him pretty happy.  I brought with him a look and find Thomas the train book.  Now he has had this book for a while and can find all the pictures it has you search for pretty easy but you can also play I spy with it and have them find new things. 

*Maze book/dry erase marker

Conner has just begun really liking mazes so for about 2 bucks I got him a dry erase book from Walmart, filled with different mazes and dot to dot activities.  He loved drawing and then erasing his lines.  And I suggest the markers with the little erasers on the tops so you don't have to worry with paper towels.

*Look and find bottles

You can make these with either water or sand.  Fill them with different little items around your house: shells, letters, noodles, tiny toys.  Then fill with dirt or water and seal the lid on with hot glue.  Your little one will have a blast looking at all the different things in the bottle.  You can play I spy with them too.

Here are some great links that I used and some that I didn't but had wonderful ideas. Check them out be inspired!
Road trip list from kids activities
Shape I Spy
ABC printable
Cherrios and Lattes

There are tons of other ideas out there.  Just make sure you plan in advance so you will have time to get the supplies or make them.  I also packed crayons, coloring books, regular books, puzzles, and some small toys and trains.  He made it fine and watching a Veggie Tales movie on my lap top the last hour worked out great too.  (That was the only time we watched something on the drive though)  My littlest man was a  little harder to please but I made sure to bring plenty of toys to switch out and plenty of pacis.  With any trip make sure you stop for breaks and let them stretch their little legs and pray for long naps during the drive.  ;)  We are on our way back now and have about 2 hours left.  Thankfully both are sleeping especially since little man has been super grumpy.