3 Hour car journey with 3 year old. Any idea's on how to keep him occupied?

[breeze]

Today we are going away and I am looking for ways to keep my DS entertained. We do counting lorries, hands on head under bridge.

I have tried books, cars, but he gets bored easily and would much rather look out the window and play. Any idea's?

[mum2toby]

Hi Breeze - We travel by train to see dp's parents quite often and that journey is about 3 hours long. When ds gets ratty we find that interesting things to eat keep him occupied for ages! I know your ds is older than mine, but that might keep him amused for an extra half hour or so.
What about stickers (the kind that stick to glass, but you can take them off and put them back on as much as you like IYKWIM)?? He can stick them on the car windows. Or would he listen to a personal stereo with a story tape being played? HTH and enjoy your holiday!

[GillW]

My DS is younger than yours, but he loves it when we take glove puppets with us, and put on a puppet show over my shoulders (when DH is driving). Perhaps at 3 he could join in with something like that interactively?

[Ems]

Our favourite for our 3 yr olds 3 hr journey to in-laws is headphones with a new story tape, he particularly likes 'Stories for 4 yr olds' makes him feel very grown up, and he loves Tumble Tots, all the songs.

Lots of snacks that keep getting passed through to him one at a time. A little lolly keeps them quiet when things get really desparate!

[Janeway]

we always try to travel at night so ds sleeps

[Hilary]

One of those drawing boards where you can rub out the picture again and again?

Pot of raisins or similar to produce at a good moment?

Packed lunch in car - this keeps my two quiet for ages but it does help if it's lunch time!

[jemw]

I have some cards where I have stuck on pictures of cars/fire engines/trains/cows/postbox etc anything you might see out of the window - put them in a bag and pull a card out to look for what is on it

Or looking for things by colour?

Failing that, any small food items ie minipacks of biscuits/raisins/breadsticks go down well.

[helenmc]

what about things like fuzzy felt, and even a little bit of duplo. i used to end up sitting in the back and being the 'entertainment'

[breeze]

Thanks for all your help. As it turns out DS was quite happy to talk about what he saw out the window.

[Enid]

Glad it went ok breeze, just like to add a vote for My First LeapPad, keeps dd occupied for ages in the car.