What are some ideas for activities to keep kids busy in a car on vacation?

Question

We are going on a long car trip this spring. What can keep a 9 year old, 6 year old, and a 3 year old happy?

Answer 1

Take a look at this site. 101 car games! :-)

Answer 2

This worked perfect for me and my sisters when i was growing up--- if you have a small tv ( if not go buy a cheap 20$ one, just an ancient one with a little VHS player) and place it on the consol between the two front seats ( obviously facing the back ) Go to a best buy and get an adapter so that you can plug the tv into the cigarette lighter-- it works so nicely! All you have to do is pop in lion king and your GOLD. It will cost about 50$ but it will be WELL worth it. TRUST ME =) If you want to fold the back seats down and put blankets and pillow, making a bed for them all they will love it and chances are they will fall asleep.

If you are short on money you can always play the "quiet game." My mom used to tell us to play it all the time and we had so much fun... little did we know it was her scheme to make us be quiet... basically the game is, whoever can be quiet for the longest gets a treat at the next gas station we stop at! Last one in wins!

You could always do the "I-spy" too, it keeps them busy and not all rowdy. Basically a kid will pick an object in the car and say "I spy something _____" ( round, white, blue, big, hairy etc...) and the kids will try and guess-- Kept me busy for hours!

If i think of more ill let you know-- but these were the ones that my mom thought of and that seemed to work on our countless drives from michigan to california!

Answer 3

The 9 and 6-yr olds won't be too hard. If they know the alphabet, you could play the alphabet game... or a variation...

1) "I'm going to (your destination) and I'm going to take (something that starts with A)... Then the next person says "I'm going to (destination) and I'm going to take (something that starts with B, and repeat the A item)... Good for memory!

2) Each person looks for the letters of the alphabet, in order. They can look at signs, labels on vehicles, license plates, etc. Everyone keeps track of their own progress... calling out when they find the next letter...

The 3-yr old will be a little tougher... not sure how to help you with that one..

Although I would suggest stopping every 2 or 3 hrs- potty break, stretch legs, etc.
(Edit-- just saw the other suggestions- I spy and 20 Questions-- both good ideas...)

Answer 4

http://www.momsminivan.com/ and also ui can but a dvd or vhs player that hooks on the back of the seat thats not to much what i do when im goin on a vacation to make time fly is play the abc game you gotta look at signs and find stuff the starts with the letter yur on u go from A to Z for example of yur on a you gotta find a letter that starts with A like apple and u cant u stuff in the car it has to be outside of it and if everyone in the car plays it is funner that game could last for a hour at least thats what my family does sing songs for example theres a hole in the bottom of the seat there a hole in the bottomof the seat there a hooole theres a hoole theres a hole in the bottom of the seat theres a log in the hole in the bottom of the seat there a log in the hole in the bottom of the seat theres a hole theres a hole in the bottom of a seat theres a knot on the log in the hole in the bottom of the seat and so forth it goes until u cant say it any more just add stuff to it like theres a frog on the knot on tghe log in the hole on the bottom of the seat there a wart on the frog and so forth also get some little games for them to play with well cya

Answer 5

There are many games. You can look for state license plates, guess which gas station brand will be the next to appear, look for the next green car, count the license plates you see from your state, etc.

There are travel play kits you can buy as well.

In-car DVD players and personal headsets rob you of this time you could be spending together and leads to anti-social kids with ADD.

Answer 6

Portable dvd player with the kids' favorite cartoons or movies. Get a carrying case for it, most can strap on the back of the front passenger head rest. Remember to bring headphones, for your sake.

Answer 7

A portable DVD player, coloring books, play games like count how many semis there are on the road, A Gameboy, a book or two,

Answer 8

In car DVD player, it keeps our kids entertained the whole trip. They are well worth the cost!

Answer 9

Many of today's parents would suggest personal DVD players. I think it's more fun, though, to keep things somewhat interactive....like having the kids look for specific kinds of cars and seeing who can be the first to spot one, or looking at license plates and making up words that they represent (like BHB-234 might mean "big hairy buffallo") It's a lot better for THEM to keep their brains active than just having them watch a movie. (But the movie might be easier for you....:)

Answer 10

Get a lot of their toys and maybe get a portable DVD player and put their favorite movies on! that should help and most kids fall asleep while watchin a movie and when your driving!! Have a good vaca.!!

Answer 11

Have them do apple printing. decrease an apple in 0.5. in case you decrease in 0.5 for the time of the middle(real 0.5,backside 0.5) you will get a circle with a movie star interior the middle. Have them dip them in paint and stamp on paper. Make glue ghosts. merely take extremely wax paper and placed glue on the paper interior the form of a ghost. reliable shape,not in basic terms a depiction. beautify your ghost applying felt,yarn,wiggly eyes, buttons or besides the fact which you have around the homestead. do not use heavy products as which will overwhelm your ghost. be certain you placed a loop of string interior the real to charm to close it from. permit dry in a single day. After dry,merely peel off and you have a lovable ghost. Have the babies make a macaroni skeleton. provide them each and each a black piece of shape paper and diverse uncooked macaroni and spaghetti noodles. Have them glue the macaroni to the paper interior the form of a finished status skeleton. those are so lovable to make! it might succeed in case you're making one first or a minimum of have a photograph of a skeleton for them to examine. in case you have any tootsie pop suckers,they are able to make ghosts. Use a Kleenex and center it over the sucker. Tie extremely yarn around the backside to hold the Kleenex on the "head". Use a black marker to function a face. extremely undemanding and lovable. you additionally could make hand and ft turkeys. you have the babies hint around their ft(with footwear on) on brown shape paper. then you certainly hint around their arms on different fall colorings of paper. you will want 7 arms.decrease them out. placed the ft heels jointly(overlapping) with the toe curve pointing out. Glue. this is the physique. set up the 7 arms at the back of the ft interior the form of a turkeys tail with arms pointing up. Glue. upload eyes,waddle,and beak made up of shape paper. those are so uncomplicated,yet so exciting to be sure how very distinctive each and each turkey will look.