Train entertainment?

[Queenchewchew]

Any ideas for keeping an 18mo entertained for a long train journey.

We’ve 1/1.5 hour trips recently and bringing a wee board book, cars/dinos and a snack has worked for those along with spotting sheep/tractors and whatnot out the window but I don’t think they’ll cut it for a longer journey.

Colouring and board/ card games have been my go to when I’ve done similar journeys with older children but crayons don’t keep him entertained for long yet and I can’t think of any games that would be age appropriate. I’m very open to suggestions of any though.

Any ideas?

Stickers

Fuzzy felt

Farm animal playset with some fences (for some reason, fencing the animals in is endlessly entertaining)

This wind up train book or any of the others from the same range, depending on his interests

Snacks that take ages and some concentration to eat - peas in their pods were a big favourite for us!

I used to travel regularly between Leeds and Exeter with my then baby/toddler DD. It was loooooong but I don't remember it ever being particularly difficult to entertain her. She would often sleep in her buggy for a good part of the journey though which helped.

I did time my train journeys generally so they coincided with a buggy nap for at least part of it but outside of that, we’d have lots of little snacks in a bento box, we’d do a walk from one end of the train to the other, I’d have a little bag with random items he’d never seen before, I bought a cheap plastic train tunnel he shunted a few cars in and out of, we did a lot of looking out the window, he liked standing up on the seat to do this (with my arm behind so he couldn’t topple anywhere) , and then we’d get out a couple of books. A felt board, not an official fuzzy felt but a cheaper version. We did regular train journeys cross country just me and him from when he was 7 weeks old.

He’s 4 now and still good as gold on a train, though of course his entertainment has adapted we still don’t use an iPad. If he’s particularly tired he still will go for a little snooze curled up on a seat!

We’ve done similar journeys before but up until he was about one he happy to just watch out the window and sleep. We’re still on public transport loads and he’s generally great but any journeys this length or longer recently have been split into multiple legs which feels less intimidating to me.

He generally only naps mid afternoon now and our journey will have to be earlier in the day so I’m not holding out much hope of a nap.

Fuzzy felts are a brilliant idea, I forgot they existed. That book looks great too, he’s train mad atm so he’ll love that.

He’s a grubber so snacks and plenty of them are a given. Peas in a pod are a fun idea - I’m planning on growing some in the garden with him this year so it’ll be good to try him with them.

I’m planning to have a trawl round the charity shops between now and then for little bits and bobs to put aside too.

Sticker book and those magic water colouring books where you draw with a water pen are good. I used to tell my dcs stories a lot, like the sort of fairytales everyone knows, and sing nursery rhymes.