Share your top tips for keeping kids entertained on long journeys to win Where’s Wally? activity book bundle PLUS bumper colouring kit!

[SorchaMumsnet]

As the summer holiday countdown (kind of) begins, we’ve teamed up with Where’s Wally? to find out your top tips for keeping the kids entertained on long journeys and wet days…

To celebrate the publication of Where’s Wally? In Outer Space and Across Lands activity books, with tonnes of Where’s Wally? activities and 100 stickers in each book, we’ve put together this ultimate keep-the-kids-busy prize.

Mumsnetters loved Where’s Wally? The Colouring Book:

“Quiet, concentration, sharing, agreeing... and all four of those things at the same time! Big hit in this household” FeelingSmurfy

“Fantastic detail on every page - these are the real deal compared to trendy 'mindfulness' colouring books” debjani

Share your top tips for keeping the kids entertained on long journeys to be in with a chance of winning a Where’s Wally? activity book set including Where's Wally? The Colouring Book, In Outer Space and Across Lands, plus a bumper colouring kit!

If you haven’t already seen Where’s Wally? The Colouring Book, check out this created on a wet Sunday afternoon – 4 ½ hours of colouring fun with a very quiet 7 and 5-year-old…

This discussion is sponsored by Walker Books and will end 21 July

We have a bag of wrapped presents next to each child and they get to open
one every 30 mins to an hour depending journey . In the presents are just the normal activity books crayons etc but the kids LOVE the whole idea and look forward to it as a holiday treat.

We sing a lot. I put titles of songs; nursery rhymes, songs I sang at school , songs from my guide camps and pop songs, into a box and we take it in turn to take a slip from the box ( we don't know what we are choosing, so it is a surprise) and sing that song. We say poems , nursery rhymes and action rhymes.We choose a word (from a slip in another box) and say something about that word. We have great fun. We play CDs. We play I-Spy. We choose a colour and see how many cars we spy in that colour within the next 3 minutes. We tell stories.We take drink snack breaks.

An in-car dvd player for playing their favourite cartoons, books for colouring and reading. Make sure you have regular stops for a drink and the toilet - a breath of fresh air and a stretch of the legs always prevents tiredness, irritability and grumpiness in our household!

Have colouring in pads and playing cards

We love playing eye spy, or spot certain animals or the current favourite is counting bikes/motorbikes.
We also have quiet time where the children play a game on the iPad or have a little snooze.
Also plenty of snacks to keep them going and the journey soon passes.

The Hudl!

We take dvd's and activity books. We also have snacks int he car too!

We have lots and lots of usbourne travel cards which are fab and only £5 each

Plenty of snacks and drinks.

Travel Lotto - paper and pencils and an in car dvd player for really long journeys. blankets and cushions to keep them both comfortable. Silly songs.

(I am hoping our 6 hour journey to Devon isn't too dreadful)

My best tip and it works so well is to make little 'fun packs' in non see-through individual bags. Each one contains a small toy (although i've never again hit the highs of vintage mini polly pocket sets that i put in the first ones i made!!), a CD, a book, notepad and pencils for car games, maybe a pack of cards type game, some sweets, a snack and a drink etc. Every now and then, they can reach in and pull out a new exciting item to make the journey more fun. In fact my kids love their funpacks so much they look forward to longer journeys as they don't get them on short ones!

Good old fashioned eye spy

Number plate games are good for parents plus children old enough to be able to spell. We used "shortest word or phrase to use all the letters in the number plate of the car in front, in the right order". For younger children, just look for numbers - eg look for an ascending sequence of number plates on passing cars. And when you're stuck in a jam and there's nothing to see, fall back on old fashioned memory games like my grandmother's cat - children like these as a novelty, because they don't get played regularly nowadays.

Get a sixties music CD and sing along. The tunes are memorable, most of the words are pretty silly and each song is really short

With their handheld games/movie consoles (PSP Vita) and MP3 players/App-filled Smartphones, the kids are able to easily make their own entertainment.
And, of course, there's always 'I-Spy', 'Spot the Car' (i.e. the first person to spot a BMW, etc.) and my own version of the 'Alphabet Game' (a letter is chosen, each player takes it in turn to state a word beginning with that letter --> keep going without repeating any word until one of the player cannot think of a word, and as a result, loses the game).

:)

Audio books, playing eye spy and naming girls and boys names through letters of alphabet usually do the trick

We normally try to break the journey up with a few comfort break, make sure they have some snacks and a drink to keep them going then try to point out interesting sights on route or have a sing a long or tell a story where everyone contributes with a sentence in turn.

Pack lots of activities and snacks

I always pack a two bas and inside is little wrapped surprises for on a long journey and every 20 mins my two DDs get to pick something out - little surprises can be a wrapped biscuit, a pencil, small notepad, a fruit bag, etc and we also play eye spy and sing along to some CDs

Lots of activity books, car games and an iPad

A large plastic jar for both of them, filled with uncooked rice (or lentils/pasta - whatever you want to use) and lots of little 'treasures' chucked in.
These can be anything - little plastic figures, buttons, paper clips, shells etc).
Glue the lids on (firmly), and let them find the treasurer in their jars by shaking them around. You wouldn't believe how much fun they have doing this, comparing treasures, colours, quantities - this passes a lot of time!

Special magazines, books and activity books even some little travel games like guess who. Then lots of music to sing along to for all the family

lots bribes is always put in my bag first then the games and books and toys pop lots stops to keep the children happy a good old sing song keeps them all happy

DVD player and 'new' dvd's sourced from FB selling sites/eBay.

Books/ colouring/Lego also work

Buy some cheap pocket money toys and wrap them up then give them as a reward for good behaviour not bloody moaning

Sea bands for when your child decides it is travel sick

We regularly drive 17hrs to the south of France and touch wood, we've never had a bad journey behaviour wise.

Stopping lots and using the service station exercise machines is brilliant for getting rid of excess energy

I wrap up little pressies to give him through the journey (we travel to Scotland from Kent once a year so know about long journeys) like the Lego sets they giveaway in the dailymail or bits from pound land (countdown timer on iPhone adds excitement) Borrow Audio books from Library to play in the car.

Pens and paper are a must! Snacks rationed throughout journey. A Disney sing-along CD and a few books normally keep us going for a while. My DD is too young for alphabet but we do I-spy with colours.