Hellobee

Since Mr. Garland and I are both teachers, we’ve had a lot of time this summer to do fun things as a family. We don’t travel much as a general rule, but this summer now that Jackson is older we have been venturing out more than usual! We took a few different trips this summer to visit friends that live anywhere from 2 to 5 hours away, and our cruise involved a pretty lengthy car ride there and back, so we’ve become well-versed in car trips with a toddler.

Here are 10 quick and easy things we learned this summer that help immensely with making road trips as pleasant as possible!

– A deck of cards! You’ll be amazed at how long a simple deck of cards will keep a toddler busy. Jackson spent forever pulling them out of the box, putting them back in the box, looking at the pictures, tossing them around the car, and (eventually) ripping the box apart. We obviously won’t be able to actually use the cards anymore, but you can buy a pack of cards for next to nothing, so it’s no great loss to us! For our cruise, we actually found a deck of ABC flashcards at the Target Dollar Spot, so that was perfect too!

– Grab an old purse, an old wallet, and some empty gift cards or business cards. Fill the wallet up with the cards, and maybe even a few small snacks or treats, and fill the purse up with random little trinkets that your toddler can play with (old keys, empty mint containers, etc.). Put it all together to make it look like it’s actually your purse and hand it over! This kept Jackson entertained for so long. He loves to play with my purse and is constantly trying to take everything out of my wallet, so I figured he’d be thrilled to get free reign to play with a purse, and I was right! This was probably the most successful thing we brought along. Hellobee has a tutorial for the DIY activity wallet shown above here, which includes a customizable id printable for your little one!

– Plan to go to the park for at least 20 minutes right before you leave. This is especially helpful if you aren’t able to leave close to nap time. Just a few minutes at a park right before you leave town will let your kiddo run off some energy and be extra tired and ready to rest in the car for a bit.

– If you have any old toys that they haven’t seen in a while, bring them! Jackson absolutely adores this little classical music toy and was obsessed with it for months. The batteries died (and we were getting tired of the toy) so we put it in a drawer and forgot about it. I spotted it the morning we were leaving on our trip and grabbed in on a whim, and it was perfect to pull out right as he started to get tired of everything else! We used in one night after a later-than-usual dinner to keep him awake on the car drive back to where we were staying, and we pulled it out again on the way home when we were 10 minutes from the house and he had lost interest in everything else. It was a lifesaver!

– Research your stops beforehand! Look for local parks/playgrounds, fun gas stations (Buc-ee’s for life!), or kid-friendly restaurants so you can stop at regular intervals to stretch your legs and get some energy out. If you don’t want to make specific stretch stops, take advantage of gas station stops to take 10 minutes to run around and let your toddler burn off some pent-up craziness.

– Pom poms + pipe cleaners + a shoe box = hours of toddler fun. I cut a few holes of various sizes in the top and side of an old shoe box and gave it to Jackson along with a handful of pom poms and pipe cleaners. Bring extra and keep them with you so you can hand more back as they lose them! He loves to play with this little set up at home (it gets requested on a daily basis!) and it transfers easily to the car!

– Leave at nap time if at all possible. We always plan our trips to be leaving either at nap time or about an hour beforehand so we can maximize his sleep time in the car. He never sleeps nearly as long in the car as he will at home, but we get at least an hour of sleep out of him if we time it right!

– Don’t forget snacks! We almost never give Jackson food in the car (too paranoid about choking!) but on road trips it’s a must. If we’re going to do a snack we usually pull over and have one of us get in the backseat with him to keep a close eye on him, and then swap back to the front later. Goldfish and fruit pouches are our favorite snacks for the car.

– Small board books are perfect for little hands in the car seat. We love these mini Dr. Seuss books and Jackson will sit and quietly look at one in the car for up to 20 minutes at a time! We just rotate out the ones we have in the car so he doesn’t get too bored with any of them.

– Most important of all, space out your tricks! Don’t put your toddler in the car and immediately hand them a book, a snack, and a deck of cards. We typically keep everything in front with us and let Jackson sleep first (because we always leave at nap time!). Then, once he wakes up we wait until he starts to get fussy before we hand him anything. If he’s sitting happily looking out the window, why mess with it? As soon as he starts to show any signs of crankiness, we hand him the first toy. By spacing it all out as much as possible, we buy ourselves extra precious minutes of happiness in the car and make sure that he doesn’t get bored with everything too quickly. By stretching out our toys and tricks as long as we could, we were able to survive a five-hour car ride without a single whine or cry from Jackson!

What are your tips for long trips with a baby or toddler in tow?