Long car journey. 18 month old bundle of energy!

[Limelight]

Any advice about what I can take to keep her busy? My DS used to sleep for a large part of our car journeys up north but DD is having none of it!

Help!

CDs and loud singing? Can one of you sit in the back and play finger games or with hand puppet?

Check if there is a indoor playarea in the middle of the journey, you can all have a break and maybe you tire DD out. Or a park with a playground for good weather.

A friend always looks out for swimming pools to tire her children out.

With car-hating 14 month DD we have found a plan which works for most of our journey to see family....

We wake DD up EARLY - before her normal wake up time, then run her around the garden for a bit - she will then nap for about an hour in the car (normally 30mins) and will be happy for another hour. Then an hour's stop where we run her around lots and stuff her full of carbs and then we're normally good for another 2 hours.... after that we're in trouble! [grin}

Oh and I sit in the middle next to her with all her most annoying battery operated toys - rotate them with games like "this little piggy" and incey wincey....

ipad with some peppa pig cartoons buys us quite a bit of time!

For our 5hr trip South and back with 21month old DD we always leave late morning. We sing along to elmo for a few hours, stop for a lingering lunch just South of Birmingham, DD then naps for a good 1.5-2 hours then just another hour of singing/we hand over the iPod with Disney films.

Once we left later in the day and she was a PITA, wouldn't nap and all of us were a bit grumpy by the end.

We regularly do 8-10 hours a day in the car with DD (2.5). One of us sits in the back with her. We have books, toys, plain crisps, water, singing and looking out of the window. She's in an extended rear facer so we are facing each other. We have the armrest down so we have a table between us to put everything on.