Ways to make a 15 hour drive fun for kids?

[momimouse27]

We have an 8 hour drive from metro Atlanta area. Growing up it was 12 hours from MS and then when my kids were young it was 15-16 hours from Arkansas. Plane tickets are not in our budget and we like having our own transportation.

When my kids were little (now they're 21, 18, and 12) we did what we called "goody bags", cause my mom did that for us when we were kids too. It usually entailed some sort of entertainment(puzzles, coloring books, stickers, etc), some candy, and something like a new Barbie outfit or hot wheels car.

We had pretty much discontinued the goody bags-although my wonderfully sentimental 18 year old wants a goody bag for she and her best friend for our upcoming trip -so now it's movies for the DVD player, car games, and we can't ever forget to bring the Nintendo DS and the PSVita. The older girls have their cell phones, which they're on all the time anyway. We use them to play Disney trivia and stream music into our car stereo. We love listening to Live365(its free if you listen to the commercials) and anticipating our visit!

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

nyquil

just joking, as a mom of three and married to a sometimes man-child, our sure fire method is driving through the night

 

[Pumpkingirl7]

I suggest the little gifts too. I did this the first time we drove down with both of my kids (then DS5, DD2.5, DNiece2). We obviously had the DVD in the van but we did not turn it on until they started to get antsy the first time. I had wrapped up things for all 3 of them to open everytime we needed to stop. I had: new coloring books/crayons, a new movie, special snacks that they typically don't get at home, new washcloths for the hotels, car games, new water bottles, mini fans & new pajamas to wear on the first night at Disney. That was a great traveling trip. We stopped about every 1.5 hours b/c it never failed that someone needed to go to the bathroom and everyone was able to stretch their legs. Now that my kids are older (13 & 10). We do movies, I make car games (license plates from every state, ABC game, etc). We take our Disney Trivial Pursuit cards with us to play too.

Also another thing I suggest (if you aren't already using them) is buy the little organizer from the Dollar Tree to put food in. so you can go thru the drive-thru and get back on the road. We use these all the time!!!! I am able to put their whole meal in these baskets and we can eat on the road -- that saves us at least 45 minutes to an hour!!!

These baskets are a great idea! I'll be going to get some soon. I just bought $20 worth of dollar tree activities for my two who are 7 and 3... Also going to put a trash can between them for all their trash

 

[stfam5]

We made this drive- and are making the houston to WDW drive again in this june. We do drive it over night, but it works for us because my hubby is a police officer who works night shift, so those are his hours. Kids love it and sleep well in the car, but not everyone does. our kids bathed and put on their pajamas before we left, which they thought was so fun lol! they ask us all the time when we they can sleep in the car to go on a trip- We are really blessed to have kids who are AMAZING travelers!

we have 3 kids who all ride in the backseat of my husbands crew cab pick- up(close quarters) - We pull a trailer. Anyway lots of entertainment to keep everyone happy is a must! my two youngest are still in carseats- I got them lap trays- so they could draw and color- also worked great for just being able to put there tablets on when they were watching movies and playing games. All three have tablets and headphones!- my youngest ones have android tablets so i was able to burn all of their movies and shows that we had on dvd and put them on sd cards! my oldest had ipad and has a few movies and then also watches with little brother- we have a portable dvd as well if oldest wants to bring any movies that aren't on the other tablets. We also brought a nintendo ds. They read books also and lots of snacks are a must. I did make some fun play lists as well, fun music helps! my younger son even brought a few action figures in the car and would play with them/have battles on his tray lol and they also spent easily on hout telling each other jokes....that was a riot! And we always say once we get on the road, we are not gonna stress- if someone needs to stop then we will stop- (we do make everyone hit the bathroom when we make unscheduled extra stops though...might as well right? There is nothing like pulling in to WDW and seeing the big Welcome to Walt Disney world sign!!!! Enjoy and safe travels!

 

[The Uh-Oa!]

Some great ideas here!

We drove from Kansas City as a kid. We had a VCR (conversion van) and I enjoyed watching Disney videos on the way. I have lots of good memories from driving to and from Disney, and have missed it when we fly. (We have also driven in an RV last year, but that doesn't really compare in the same way. And our LO was very LO. Still, we watched movies!)

I'm also a big fan of having planned fun spots to stop so everyone has some places to look forward to on the way. Also, maps for the older ones to see where we are and how much farther it is to the next stop is nice.

 

[leahlefler]

We break long drives up over 2 days (we are over 20 hours from Disney). The Dollar Tree is definitely your friend! They have lots of activities like sticker scenes and sticker mosaics that my kids love. We use the $1 cookie trays as lap desks - they have a rim to keep crayons from rolling off and were easy to slide under the seats when they weren't in use.

On our last road trip, I made themed bags. It was really fun to make them, as I enjoyed finding items to fit the theme. I had a theme for "secret agent," for example, and was so happy when I found a profiling kit, rear-view glasses, and fake mustaches at the dollar store to go with the theme. I also had invisible ink pens and an invisible ink activity book for that bag. The other bags I made were "space," "earth," "dinosaurs," and "race cars."

We alternated between activities to keep a loose schedule. The drive started off with a movie on the DVD player, then we switched to an activity bag (the bag had to last an hour), then to playing on tablets, then another movie, etc. This kept the kids from getting too bored with any one activity.

We always took time to run around a bit at rest stops - and if one person had to go to the bathroom, we made sure EVERYONE went, even if they loudly proclaimed they didn't have to go. We also stopped for lunch and ate at the restaurant (even if it was just a McDonald's) - this took more time, but we found it nice to have a break from the car. To save time, it would be faster to eat in the car, of course, but DH does most of the driving and he really likes his break!

 

[Easto]

I drove 25 hours from my house to Southwest Florida a few weeks ago. We did this with a 2 year old and 4 year old. The best thing IMO is to drive in the night when people are sleeping.

We did the drive door to door without stopping overnight. My wife and I swapped driving.

It wasn't bad, the kids slept for about 12 hours of the drive. So, for them the drive was 12 hours (awake time).

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

My kids are 10, 8 and 7. We play a lot of word games in the car. We make sentences by going around the car and everybody adds one word - the end result can get kind of weird. One of my favorites ended up being something like "The sun is the giver of life and it helps plants grow and it makes my butt crack sweat." The joys of boys!

Mad libs are a lot of fun. Someone has the book to write the words and then goes around the car to ask each person to pick the next word (Daddy, I need a noun... Mommy, an adverb...)

Joke books for kids. They love telling jokes at this age. Especially the same joke over and over and over.

I also found that it increases their comfort if they have something to rest their feet on - esp. if they're in a booster and their legs are dangling. I put a crate or cooler or something to act as a footrest for them.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I would be very careful with crayons in car in summer heat. we had to replace a carseat on a trip one summer because a piece of crayon got left in seat during lunch break and melted into seat. lost a couple of outfits besides the seat before we figured out what happened. we use colored pencils and markers only in car since then

 

[mjkacmom]

For the teens, download an addictive series they haven't watched yet. When my teens are binge-watching something, I hardly know they are there. That will eliminate 3 kids!

 

[Thing 1]

We travel by car a lot and for us, we would rather do one really long day and then be there. For 15 hours we would leave about 5, and just keep pushing till we got there. We really stop only for gas/bathroon and for quick food to go. We used to sometimes go through a drive food for food, then stop at a rest stop to eat and let the kids run around a bit. Switch drivers as needed.
For the drive, seat your kids in the best possible arrangement. Kids that play well together beside of each other, and someone able to comfort the baby beside him. Our best thing is lifting all limits on electronics and use ipads, iphones, DS etc. We also spend a ton of time talking and playing games like guess the person, car tag game, i spy etc. I also take the cards out of a Jr Trivia game and we play with those. We take books for everyone and sometimes I do a reading reward system to allow DS 8 to earn spending money. I will give a dollar for reading a certain amount to pages or a book. I have bought the color wonder sets and the crayola model clay. We really have fun there. We take turns making things and the others must guess what it is. I disagree about all the $ store junk. To us it just makes clutter and has little play value. If I buy something, it will be a new book or itune card . When they were little, they did enjoy a magna doodle, an etch a sketch, sticker books, etc. My guys could spend forever driving a match box car around the car seat too. Reading out loud to everyone is fun for us, but a auto- book works too. I would suggest hunting a book everyone might enjoy to create unity.