Occupying children on a train.

[delilabell]

Ds 6 who had adhd, me and dd(2and a half) are goingto visit relatives. Its a 3 and half hour direct train and we're at a table.
Id really appreciate any ideas for how to keep them occupied. (or anything to drug ds with. Joking.. Kind of)

Don't get all the toys /exciting stuff out at once, ration it out so that once they get bored of something, you can be magic mummy and conjure up something different

Get something together with them, magazine you never buy, expensive sticker book. That works as a bit of enticement for the first part.

A friend takes a silicone baking sheet and play doh with her, easy to roll together and pack away and if necessary she bins the play doh. Just take lots of wet wipes to clean sticky hands.

Could you download some audiobooks on your phone so one can listen while the other one gets the tablet and then they swap? We also re-conditioned an old phone to an ipod for this purpose when DD was around 6.

We found that giving food in stages helps. So if we start in the morning lunch is just the savoury bits, fruit is a snack in the morning and a bit after lunch we get the sweet stuff out. In total it is the same amount of food but a bit more exiting. If I have the time I try to bake with DD the day before.

Oh, and put some new things into your luggage for the trip back!

All wonderful ideas thank you. I've bought some books and the I spy train book. I've bought a headphone splitter and I'm going to laminate some card at work and get some pots of playdough. And yes I need to remember things for the way back too!

Look out of the window? You could make your own lotto board of things to spot - brown cows, a trampoline, another train, a horse wearing a rug, people on a boat, a factory... the list is endless. You could make a whole tonne of laminated cards with pictures of what to spot on, a couple of little strips of velco on each card and corresponding velcro in each square of the board. 9 squares per board. 9yo gets to choose 3 pictures to look for, you choose 3 and toddler chooses 3. Attach them all to the board and as you find them pull them off until the board is empty. Make it a team game you're all doing. There's plenty to talk about looking out of the window even if they aren't things on the board. Alternate the lotto game with other activities, and make enough cards so there's heaps of variety.

One day of train snacking won’t set them up for a lifetime of obesity. Don’t we all snack more on journeys?

Of course one day of train snacking won't set them up for a lifetime of obesity, what a ridiculous idea.

What I actually said was it's best not to get them into the habit of snacking to keep them quiet or occupied. That's what a lot of parents end up doing and a lot of kids come to expect it.

No, I can't say I really snack at all on journeys tbh. I do remember when my kids were little though, OMG the constant games of I Spy/21 Questions/insert other annoying games here, drove me insane.

Watching with interest as I’ve got a 4 hr flight with a 2.5 year old in a couple of weeks. We’ve bought a melissa and Doug water wow colouring book, orchard mini games and sticker books. Also planning get a few bits from the pound shop to wrap up.

Admittedly it’s years ago, but I took 2 of mine on lots of train journeys, and I used to pack a tiny tea set and make a big thing of their teddy/doll joining our picnic

Top Trumps (what ever the child's special interest is, happy families - I bloody love this card game. I once spent an entire week playing it with a 5 yo who enjoyed it as much as me. His parents payed me well. Win win.

I'm also a big believer in the art of being able to sit and do nothing. Time your child to see how long they can sit quietly. Make it a game.

We all had a "travel bag" each which was given to us about half an hour in when we started to be bored.
It always contained colouring book, pencils, tissues, sweets, and a selection of random things to do like sticker books, play doh, maze puzzles, even a map of where we were going.
Having the bag a was a looked forward to event

Oh yes and top trumps / pack of cards/
And we used to play the "first one to see " game

Thanks so much everyone. Going tomorrow. Have got sticker book, Colouring book, little notebook for dd and notebook maze book and spot the difference for ds. Games in ipad, I spy book. Little lego set for ds. Playmobil doll for ds. Little pot of playdoh and snacks. Going to split them for there and back and hope for the best. Thanks so much everyone x

Probably a bit late for this journey.
I used to go to the charity shop and spend a couple of pounds making up a bag of junk - old Macdonald toys etc. Kept them busy for ages for negligible cost.