Please help with ideas on keeping 2yr old occupied for 4 hr. trip?

Question

This little boy is very active and doesn't like to sit for very long. He watches movies for a short period time. Please help.

Answer 1

If the trip is by car, plan to travel during naptime if possible, or put him in the car fairly tired. Otherwise, hit the dollar store and get some new crayons, coloring books, a chalkboard and some chalk, and a handful of new toys. Then stash them and pull them out one at a time. Each new item should get you at least 20 minutes of entertainment before he tires of it. Plan your trip to take about six hours and stop 1/3 of the way through to stretch, change pants and move around a little (maybe have a picnic) and then do it again about 2/3 of the way through. It seems silly to adults to extend something we don't like, but in this case, it helps a lot. We took our older son to Oklahoma from Minnesota when he was 9 months old, taking plenty of time to stop along the way was a big help.

Answer 2

Take him for a treat about and hour before you go. Something like ice cream. Then let him be active for a while(let's face it, feed someone sugar you cannot expect them to sit still, it's pure energy). After an hour he should go into a sugar crash and be lethargic and peaceful the rest of the trip. It's sort of underhanded but it works.

However, the best thing you can do is to give him a long attention span, which means not enabling his short attention span at all, especially on trips. This will only increase his restlessness, not help him become more calm.

Oh and the other option is just to always feed him healthy whole grains and no pops, this keeps him balanced, he'll have some energy but not as much as if he goes for ice cream, this will keep him more alert on the trip without making him bounce off the walls.

Answer 3

If you take crayons, cars, or other small rolly things a cookie sheet works great as a play surface and has enough of an edge to keep things from falling constantly. You might also find one that magnets will stick to which can hold papers or be used for play. Little people, cars and animals cut outs with a magnets stuck on the back can be very entertaining. Another simple but effective item is a fuzzy pipe cleaner. Good luck

If you run a search for toddler travel tips on yahoo you can find a lot of ideas people have tried.

Answer 4

Target sells an activity desk that you attatched to back of the front seat. It holds a ton of stuff. When I bring my 5 year old, 3 year old and 1 year old on a long trip I bring colors and blank paper, snacks, books, portable DVD player and several movies, a pillow, blanket, favorite stuffed animal, and a toy of their choice. Also kids love calculators. Anything with alot of buttons. Good luck on the trip. If all else fails then play some eye spy out the window or pick up a kids songs CD.

Answer 5

At two, crayons may not be the best idea, they will eventually all end up on the floor and then your having to pick them up every 2 minutes. I have a very active 2 y/o son and we travel often. My best bit of advice is a portable DVD player and a DVD of a series. My son favors the Little Einsteins or Spongebob. The themes and shows change more frequently than a regular full-length movie. Helps to keep his attention. Elmo's World has some great DVD's. Outside of the DVD thing, car games are great.. simpler versions of I spy are great.

Answer 6

We took our 2 kids, 2 and 6, to Detroit from Boston. 12 hr drive on a good day. We stopped overnight in Niagara Falls which made it a 7 hour drive. Anyway! The first thing was to leave at 3 am. That got them about 3 hours in before they woke up in the car. Then we rented a DVD player and they watched movies. Another thing that was helpful was having snacks, coloring books, etc. Also plan on stopping MANY times. Just for sanities sake.

Answer 7

You didn't mention whether this was a car or a plane trip, but I'll try to tackle this from both perspectives. If your son still naps, try to travel during his regular naptime and that may take care of 1+ hours. Make sure you bring plenty of snacks. Bring the following other items: books, magnetic drawing board, CDs that he likes, videos that he likes, simple, small musical instruments, and 2 things that are new. That should get you through most of the trip. Good luck!

Answer 8

my daughter was also a very active 2 yr old but when we went on a long car trip she always went to sleep for most of the trip but we also had a portable dvd player with blues clues dvds since that was her favorite, we took some of her kids music cds and sang the songs with her while she was awake and also would point out animals along the road like cows and deer i sat in the backseat with her when she was awake and would play with her toys with her she did very well on all trips we live in va and we took a few trips to sc and 1 to fl as well as many semi long ones within va

Answer 9

Coloring books and Crayons, maybe some racing cars. Anything that will make some noise. Or unless you have money, you can always buy one of those portable DVD players and put it in the car. Not really much to offer, sorry. Mom of Seven

Answer 10

it depends on what he is into...obvilously a movie is not an options, but what does he play with? my little sisters really like these little magnetic play sets, but it all depends really on what he likes to do or play with...coloring?? playing with cars or sumthin...lookin at books??? just wat he's into and you know he can do for that period of time. if you don't know...you'll have to find out and try some of the things people have already suggested on here and more if he wont do any of those. good luck! =D