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Tips for surviving road trips with toddlers

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When you are planning road trips with toddlers, there are a few tips that will your child enjoy the trip and you maintain your sanity level.Road Trips with Toddlers. Quick ideas to keep younger children busy in long car rides.

Road Trips with Toddlers

With the holidays coming up, there are probably a lot of people planning road trips to grandma’s house. In our family, the closest grandma is three hours away. So, as you can imagine, we do a lot of road trips with toddlers.

My kids have gotten to that age where I can no longer guarantee they will stay asleep for an entire car ride.  This means I either have to deal with loud babies…or get creative.  I’m choosing the latter.

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These are a couple of the things that I do to stay sane during our long drive.

Books.  Books.  And More Books!

Books are my biggest ally during car rides. I load up the car with as many that can fit. I start with a chunk in between the kids and have backups for later.  And I pick longer books or books with a lot of pictures.  These seem to hold their attention longer than a quick board book.Road Trips with Toddlers. Quick ideas to keep younger children busy in long car rides.

 

Magnet Puzzles

For this last trip, I tried something new. I glued magnets to the backs of some puzzle pieces.Road Trips with Toddlers. Quick ideas to keep younger children busy in long car rides.
 
It only took a dot of super glue and a small piece of scrap magnet. I have a stash of advertising magnets that worked perfectly.
 
I was going to buy some inexpensive cookie sheets, but I didn’t get around to it. So I threw these cake pans in the bag instead.Road Trips with Toddlers. Quick ideas to keep younger children busy in long car rides.
 
They were a hit!Road Trips with Toddlers. Quick ideas to keep younger children busy in long car rides.
 

Toys

Especially for Mr. Monster. A bucket filled with small toys keeps him entertained for a chunk of time. At this stage, he loves to take things from the bucket and put them back in.

Food

Nothing is worse than a hungry toddler. Load up on snacks and water. Nothing too messy of course. We always pack crackers, veggie straws, and O’s.

What are some of the ways that you keep your sanity on road trips with toddlers?

Looking for more road trip ideas?

 

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Alana

Thursday 2nd of July 2015

Magnets to the back of puzzle pieces?!? I could hug you right now!!!! Brilliant! Cannot wait to try this!

Kate

Tuesday 7th of July 2015

Excellent! Enjoy the tip...and hopefully some extra sanity. ;-)

Melissa Matters

Monday 10th of November 2014

I really like the magnet/cookie sheet or pan idea. We do books on tape sometimes and how many ___colored cars can you find. My daughter gets car sick pretty easily so we can't do much drawing/reading.

Brittany Wright

Monday 10th of November 2014

I have been avoiding anything more than 2 hrs in the car with my littles but you give me hope lol I think we could give it a shot with this idea! I hate having to try and reach behind me to pick up the stuff they drop, even on the short trips!