What to take on a 12 hour road trip with a 9 yr old.

[maltesers]

I havnt travelled on a long car journey since he was 2.5 yrs . We are driving from wiltshire to the French Alps. . .
Any recommendations of what to take to relieve the boredom would be most appreciated. .
Think i know mostly what to take but you guys may have some fab, original ideas. Thankyou !

Whatever you do DO NOT take a joke book. These get very wearing after the first twenty minutes of KNOCK KNOCK, WHO'S THERE?

Bag of new books/puzzles/plastic maze things/rubiz cube

Food that can easily be passed back in the car and eaten without a huge mess

Story CD's

Ipod/Car DVD if you have one (you can even stick a film on the Ipod)

Take a new thing out every hour or so and hope he sleeps

Can you tell we have just done Colchester to the South of France with a 5yr old a 2yr old and a 10 week old

wow sherby . .!! I may well buy a DVD player . .then i can watch it in bed back at home too.

thanks.

Sedatives.

Get an Aux lead for iPhones and laotops then everyone can listen. If they want.

Utter respect to Sherby!

Definitely get a DVD player. We gave in and bought one for long journeys and it is great.

I watch for special offers on Amazon for DVDs that the DC have not seen yet and buy in bulk so that they have a couple of new DVDs for long trips.

Sedatives or tranquilizer darts for DS . .(joke)

he is quite a live wire !

ear plugs

Oh, and get a car charger adapter thingy so that you can run the DVD/charge iPod/use sat nav at the same time.

I took my ipod. You can download story podcasts, tv programs and films from itunes.
I had stuff like wacky races and charlie and lola for mine.

Harry Potter cd set. Should get you there and back.

Snacks (of a non- vomit inducing variety)

Little (and I mean little) presents for every 100miles (too disorganised to do this myself but my mother did it when we were small)

His own map, so that he can track the progress you are making. My DS (also 9) loves this.

Ipod Touch. Worth every penny.

I would always go with the story CDs. For a 9yo you might be able to find some that both you and he will enjoy.

When DD was about that age we passed quite a few agreeable travel hours like this.

Also you might be able to rent them from the library for a small amount.

DVD player definitely. If you do get one, check whether it has a mains adapter, and if not get one (we had to buy ours separately) so you can use in your holiday home if you have a wet day or just want some quiet time.

A neck cushion or pillow so he can sleep comfortably, and would recommend travel sickness pills if he's not used to such long journeys.

I-Spy books, if you can still get them, else make up your own "things to look for" sheet

Making up words from letters on registration plates used to keep ours going. (for about 5 minutes!)

we did a similar drive last month. Driving at night was definitely a help! We did borrow several cds from the library which I put on the ipod.

Don't take felt tips... actually, maybe a 9yo would be ok. It took days to scrub my three year old clean.

Nintendo DS - they're really good for all ages but especially for nine year olds.

Also, although they sound incredibly lame, there are some word games that work on car journeys. 'Just a Minute' - the radio 4 game where you have to speak for a minute without hesitation, repetition or deviation, is actually quite fun. Although obviously you'd have to go easy on your ds if they find it difficult. There are other word games too but I can't think of them off the top of my head.