Long drive ideas

[Username123343]

I have 3 kids (2 teens, 1 child) that I’m taking with my partner on a looooong drive (10/12 hour round trip in one day).

Can anyone help me brainstorm things to make the journey easier for us all?

I’m thinking:

Duvets/pillows
iPad/laptop with stuff downloaded for the one to young for a phone
Activities for younger one eg colouring, puzzles
Games for us all to play

Anything else…?

Snacks, drinks, playlists, more snacks.

You've got it! That's pretty much all you need.

I was just going to add snacks but OneMoreTime23 beat me to it!

Possibly also, is there any music you all like (and I'm including the adults in this, not stuff that'll drive you mad!).

When ours were little, the Rastamouse album was our favourite for the car as it has genuinely decent reggae tracks on it.

Maybe also an audio book or two?

Also, do you have charging banks for when the devices run out? (In car charging can be very slow).

And I assume you have headphones for the devices.

If you have space, a bucket in a bin bag to make into an emergency toilet. Learned this whilst stuck on a coach with 70+ five year olds!

You can buy iPad holders that go over the front seat headrests, so the kids don't have to strain their necks. Download films to shows on Netflix other iPads before you leave so you don't have to worry about internet coverage on the drive. Also wireless headphones/airpods are good so you don't have to listen to what they are watching.

Those organiser things that hang over the passenger and driver seat so they can put drinks and snacks in them.

Pre plan breaks so you know where you are stopping, hopefully somewhere with a play area.

LCD drawing tablets are cheap and good for preschoolers/early primary schoolers.

Cabin Pressure on Audible. Trust me on this.

Duvets might be too hot if you have the temperature at a comfortable level. Blankets are better.

We download a book from the library app so they can listen to it on their headphones when they feel a bit tired of screens.

Dcs had an I spy book for road trips which was fun and broke up the screen time.

I love audio books. Usually a John Grisham or harry Potter.

We play the word game with our grandchildren. It's something I made up. A word is chosen, then each person in turn has to choose another word from the letters of the first word. For instance, if the word is 'biscuit' person 1 says boomerang, person 2 says indigo, person 3 says skipper etc. When all the letters have been used up everyone in turn uses their words to make part of a story, for instance There once was an old man who owned a boomerang (person 1) it was a lovely boomerang painted in a gorgeous shade of indigo (person 2). He used it to go out hunting with his dog skipper (person 3) etc. It worked for us because it took a little bit of concentration, so reduced incidences of travel sickness, and it's not competitive. My grandsons are horribly competitive and everything becomes a contest or a fight. It was nice for everyone to be involved as well, and the first word can be made really easy if you don't have good spellers, or quite tricky if you do.

These are all fabulous ideas - thank you!

Seconded.