Need ideas for toddler in car for 1.5 hours

[MunchMonster]

Hello, so I'm dreading a car trip that I have to take at the weekend. I'll be with my 6 year old who will be fine and my almost 3 year old who has very loud tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants.

How can I survive a 1.5 hour journey with him? I don't have anything he can watch something on and I really don't want to stop off anywhere. The only thing I can think of is lots of snacks.

There must be other things? Any ideas?

Loads of toys, books, sticker books, activity books...
Can't he watch something your phone?

Laptrays - you can get ones which are designed to loop around the back of the car seat and use the ridges of the seat for support, rather than weighing down on their legs. Then you can bring colouring, Lego, small puzzles, anything he'd normally need a hard surface to do. Kept my 4 year old occupied on a 4 hour drive this summer, both directions.

Otherwise, lots of audiobooks. Does he have a to/toniebox that he can control himself?

*yoto

Anything they can play with. I took a 3000 mile road trip when dd2 was that age before they invented smartphones and tablets.

Not snacks in the back of a car
How will you get them out of the carseat quickly?

I second the lap tray (that you can colour on) and give one toy every 10 min or so. Something like magnatiles works well unless he's a thrower. But surely you've got some form of tablet somewhere?

It's not that long. A tablet with a show he likes? Portable DVD player? Snacks? Songs likes to sing on the radio?

My in-laws swear by CDs of stories (you can get ones of Julia Donaldson etc).

What sort of journey is it - rural or motorway? You can sometimes spend a bit of time looking for things, e.g. how many blue lorries can we spot? My two year old likes to look out for the "national limit" signs!

My own mum used to get us each to pick a colour, then look out for and count cars of that colour, highest number at the end of the time won. But that depends if you think the competition element might get out of hand!

Audiobooks and songs. Or can you go at a time they will fall asleep?

-Books
-Magnetic drawing board. They have the "pen" attached on a cord so he can't lose it
-Audiobooks/songs on the car stereo
-Borrow a tablet from someone. Or let him watch something on your phone. You can buy cheap holders that go on the back seat headrest

Download the yoto app, you can create an account and access free content of podcasts for children.

Could you turn up the heating and hope for a nap?
We always went for a combo of snacks plus kids CDs (Disney soundtracks, kids' party songs etc) then trying to make conditions perfect for a good long nap (heat, full tummy and boredom for the win!).

Now DCs are 6 and 8, we've added audiobooks into the mix.

Audiobooks - either on a Yoto or tony box (my daughter has a Yoto and we use it daily in the car, absolute lifesaver) or if you don’t want to spend the money you can get the Yoto app for free and there is a small amount of free content on there, and some you can buy. You can play this via your car stereo assuming you can connect your phone to it. Or go if school with kids CDs.

I regularly drive 4 hour stretches with my 2 year old and have her toy box in the middle with strategically stacked books she can reach and toys. Then on the front seat I have loads of individual snacks that are easy to pass back, several drinks for when she inevitably chucks one on the floor, toys that need switching on to pass back, then I have several audio CDs to whack out if needed. Sometimes a new magazine keeps her happy for a while. She's never been any bother on our trips but that's probably because she's used to it!

I second Julia Donaldson CDs. My 3 year old is particularly in love with the Pocketful of Songs. (They're far less offensive than most kids songs, but you will be singing them forever). The Zog one is also really nice as it has games after the story.

Poppit boards work great for us on car journeys, as do magnetic drawing boards. Those magic water drawing books would be good but she sucks the water out of the pens so they don't last long... 🙇

I once had to do a very long solo drive with DD and read a suggestion to wrap their toys and hand them back one at a time to unwrap and play with. She did enjoy it, but it was a bitch to clean up all the tiny, tiny pieces of paper that she'd ripped up. 😂

I tend to ignore mine and hope he will nap from boredom.

Mine always falls asleep on long journeys.

Snacks, toys etc, we hav a kindleas well. But my DD learnt from a young age that sometimes we have long car journeys and she has to put up with it. Tantrums at the start i just ignore as i'm driving

Movie/tv show/audiobook on your phone. Or ideally I’d try to time it so he’ll go to sleep.

Nothing. The motion will probably make them sleep.

Sorry I don't know why I assumed they were 1 1/2.

Mines younger but we don’t have food in the car, he can eat before and after if necessary, it’s too short a journey to justify a stop (not potty trained yet). We regularly do this length journey to see family but he’s still happy giving me a running commentary of what he can see and often naps if only for 10 minutes. He usually has one toy but tbh I avoid them too because he gets upset when he drops them. He likes having his winter hat to put on and off at the moment. Would this work for you? I know all toddlers are different, my brother can’t take his on any journey without a pile of snacks and dummy.

This sounds highly dangerous. Your attention should be on the road, not switching toys on and passing drinks back and forth.

Audiobooks! And 1.5 hrs is nothing really. He needs to get used to it surely, without being constantly entertained

Audio books and songs, looking for things out of the window, a favourite teddy or blanket. I wouldn't plan more than that though, in my experience, the more toys, activities and snacks you have available, the lower their concentration levels are - they just want to move on to the next thing rather than actually occupying themselves with what they've got.

Just a few toys. It's not that long a journey