I have a 12 -hour family drive coming up and am trying to come up with ways to entertain my 18 month old and 3 year old. Both of our kids have been on driving trips before and they were both exceptionally well behaved. With that being said, they were younger (by 6 months), my 3 year old was not potty trained yet, and the drive was *only* 8 hours. We do have a van with a dvd player, but our 18 month old is still rear facing. She is barely 20 pounds and we have considered flipping her around for the trip, but then I don't really think it's worthwhile to risk safety for convenience.

So, my questions include:

1. Would you switch an 18 month old, barely at 20 lbs to forward facing for the trip?
2. Any advice on toys or activities for these age groups? I am willing to spend a little bit of money (~$20-$25 total) on 1 toy each. I would love toys that they can share.
3. Any other tips?

Thanks

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NO do NOT turn that baby around! She's too little! Keep her rear-facing; you could save her life!!

Do you have a Magna Doodle? Those are amazing.

You could get each of them a new doll and some doll clothes and feeding stuff (or bring yours) (Target has great dolls) and they could play in the car with them.

My DD enjoys bringing just a couple of matchbox cars and playing with them in the car.

Markers and a notebook/coloring book for your older one. Or the Crayola Color Wonder stuff, but I like basics.

Plan a good long stop every 3-4 hours where you get out and let the kids play somewhere--even just a rest area. Bring a couple balls.

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Thanks for the advice. My dh brought up the idea of turning our dd around and I was against it (not totally, I just told him I didn't like the idea and I was going to do some research). After reading a bunch, watching a scary video, and talking to people, I don't think it's a good idea at all. I'm just trying to build up some good reasons why.

I think I might supply each child with:
* A roasting pan (they work great for car trip "trays" since they work with magnets, contain the mess, and provide a flat surface).
* Coloring books and crayons
* Stacking rings for my younger dd (we already have it and she is obsessed with it)
* Their loveys

I might purchase:
* A fun pocket for my older dd (I guess it's a sticker book with reusable stickers...never heard of it before but got good reviews on Amazon and it's cheap)
* Melissa & Doug Latches board

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When dd was 17months, we traveled 12 hours to TX. We used a dvd player that time, but she had an 8 year old cousin who was also there to entertain her. Mostly, she slept a lot. She did great for the whole ride home until we were about 45 mins from our house. That's when she started freaking bc we hadn't made many stops on the way home.

We travel a few times a year to our lake house on Table Rock in Branson. It's a 6 hour drive. My newly potty-trained 3 yo daughter actually did great the whole time this past Memorial weekend. We had her in a pullup just in case though. She didn't watch any movies this last trip to the lake. Instead, she colored the whole time with Color Wonder markers.

I would say just to find something your kids are obsessed with at the moment and you should be fine.

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Beware of crayons in the car during summer!! If they get misplaced they'll melt and make a royal mess.

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Thanks, good thinking. We'll probably do markers instead.

My younger dd is absolutely obsessed with the ring stacker. She literally plays with it from the time she wakes up until bedtime, so we are definitely taking it. She also loves markers, so those ought to be good.

My older dd loves stickers, which is why I thought that reusable sticker book should help.

Thanks everyone! Good tips all around. I'm really dreading the drive because 12 hours MINIMUM is a looonnnnggg time with 2 little ones.

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Put a mirror on the back seat so your little one can watch the DVD player in the reflection. I'm not a big fan of TV, until I get in the car for a long trip with 3 kids, then it becomes a necessity. We drove from MN to FL when my kids were 4 mos, 3.5 yrs, 7 yrs - 28 hours straight. My husband amazingly drove all but 2 hours!

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Thanks, my dh and I decided earlier today on doing the mirror trick instead of turning the seat around.

You are a brave family to go 28 hours with 3 little kids!

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I have not read all the posts, so if this is repetitive, I apologize.

What I used to do when my kids and gs were little for long trips was take the money and buy lots of little toys and treats. Every 1/2 hour on the trip they would get a treat. If we stopped for a soda or lunch, that was that 1/2 hour's treat. It worked really well for me! It gave the kids something to look forward to rather than the usual "are we there yet????" Instead it was - is the 1/2 hour up yet?

The we would play games and listen and sing kids songs with a CD.

So, if it were me, I'd look up travel games for toddlers on the net, buy a couple of kidsong CD's if I didn't have any, and purchase boxes of graham crax, fruit bars, etc for treats! Oh! I forgot to mention I had a bag for each child for each 1/2 hour and I had the bags numbered, so the treats were varied and spread out. #1 might be a juice, #2 some graham crax, #3 a small toy , #4 a game, #5a small candy, etc. Again, if we stopped, we skipped a bag and instead maybe played a game of ring-a-round the rosie at the rest stop.

Wishing you a fun trip!!!

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Would it be possible for you to travel at night? Do your little ones sleep in the car ok? You could leave at their normal bed time or a bit before, and you and DH could take turns driving and sleeping. Just a thought.

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On our trip to Disney last year (12ish hours) we did the treats every 1/2 hour too. I had a 2 year old, a 4 year old, and a 7 year old at the time. To be honest? They slept for a good chunk of the ride.
I think you've got pretty much everything they will need covered for the ride, I'm an over planner, and I packed way too much stuff for them to play with and it ended up just being messy in the back and driving me nuts the whole drive.

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