Give me your ingenius ideas for what to put in an activity bag for the kids for a looooong drive.

[nevergoogle]

Next week we're off for a UK holiday visiting family and will need serious in car entertainment.

We don't have DVD players, ipads, and the car just has a radio which won't have reception for parts of the journey so forget all the electronic ideas etc

In my case, we've three boys age 9, 7 and a 3 month old baby. But as this thread might be useful for others, don't restrict ideas to just suiting them.

I plan to present them with these packs of goodies on the first morning of the holiday. So far, i have beano/dandy comic each, a puzzle book, a clipboard, paper and pens etc, loom bands, a mini dry wipe board thing, and tomorrow i'll take them to choose a book.

I need your most creative and clever ideas for small things that will entertain them in between leg stretch breaks.

Thanks in advance.

Magnetic travel games for the 9 and 7 year olds.
Top trumps.
Pack of cards & knowledge of games for 2 to play.
Teach them to knit, crochet or sew!

We used to play "bingo", looking out for an assortment of likely objects during the journey. We also played "pub cricket" where you add up the legs on any pub signs.

Make sure they are able to read in the car without throwing up. I used to be able to but can't any more.

I've done bingo games for my DCs when they were smaller - pictures of traffic signs etc to spot.
There are I-spy books that do things to spot on motorways etc too.
Stickers are always popular.
Not really for a goody bag but memory games are fun for short bursts - you will need to join in too though - eg when I went shopping I bought.... My two also enjoy the alphabet game where someone picks a subject and then you go through the alphabet trying to think of something for each letter.

You can print this ready made (although slightly American) travel bingo/spotting things sheet from the iheartorganising blog.

Did you make up a bingo list or pictures before you left?

The are fairly entertained with counting yellow cars (and firing imaginary rocket launchers at them) on normal drives.

thanks happyhippy, cross post

number plate alphabet - take the 3 letters from a passing plate and think of a phrase using them as initials of the words. Great for small boys with childish sense of humour. :-)

I believe there may be a time limit for the baby in the car seat - I know you said leg-stretching but don't forget the one that can't walk.

Finger puppets - not always the quietest option, but the sounds of them making up off the wall stories and plays with the different characters is way better than the sound of bickering from the back seat.

great ideas, keep them coming.

yes, lots of feed/change/play stops for baby expected.

fingers crossed for no traffic queues in heatwave temperatures!

My boys are the same ages.

Definitely top trumps. That will keep them occupied for ages.

Klutz star wars thumb doodles
Klutz how to draw star wars figures/quentin blake how to draw
Uno

This

Doing Devon to Highlands btw. So not just being a lightweight. One way, will be just me and kids.

Plasticine- packs in pound land type places for £1 each.
Wiki Sticks (both these things can't really spill/ make a mess etc)
Scratch pads- those black pads that have multi coloured paper underneath- come with a stick.
Travel journal
Clear pencil case (Wilkos) with new pens/ wind up pencils,A glue stick and a small pair of scissors.
Activity books (from The works type places)
Usborne do really good puzzle cards- they are wipe clean, come with a dry marker and there's a variety of topics- art/ doodle/ number games etc.
I always take drinks bottles with screw tops- like ones they would have for school- in case we buy drinks from McDonald's etc where they could be easily knocked over and spilt.
Hope that helps- have a wonderful time!

really great ideas, apart for the scratch pad. is that the foil art things?

could you imagine that noise? scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch.......

Ha! Well it's a stick, rather than a metal scraper so no 'fingernails on a blackboard' type noises! Keeps mine entertained for quite a while!

I was going to suggest piriton but I see I've been trumped

If they don't get car sick looking down how about a short book? We used to get a new Mr Man book for holidays.

As I have a car sicky 5 yo we do a lot of 'i spy' and she's pretty good at it. Got us 3 times in a row with perfectly valid pics. Only rule is it has to be something that can still be seen 10 miles and 28 guesses later which is a skill in itself.

*picks. sorry toddler and cone-on-head cat both on my lap.

If you can make use of a laminator, then get a couple of magazines each, cut out and laminate any pages that have a drawing/puzzle activity. They can do the activity with a drywipe pen, rub out and do it again a couple hours later.

i've just thought of one. we've got trivial pursuits family edition that went down well at christmas. i could take the cards.

Brainbox games are very good and very portable

i've downloaded a car bingo with makes of cars/logos, they'll love it.

Loom bands! My six year old ds loves them.