Car journey tips to entertain

[Bella1905]

I will be doing my first 2 hour car journey next week during half term with my 3 year old and 4 year old (normally my husband comes along but he has to work). I wondered if anyone has any good recommendations for ways to entertain them as normally I would be in charge of passing snacks and keeping them entertained etc but this time I will obviously be doing the driving. Thanks in advance.

My 4 year old just looks out of the window and chats constantly! Sorry probably not much help. I do offer him a book but he always says no.

I get snacks and drinks ready on the passenger seat when I'm driving on a longer journey so I can pass them back. Open packets first if its a biscuit etc so im not fiddling around. Apples are good as they take a while to eat and require no prep!

The longest we do is 3.5 hours with 1 stop for a loo break though so he doesn't need a huge amount of food in that time luckily.

Audiobooks! I use the Libby app and download a bunch of audiobooks from the library for free. 3 and 4 is a little young but if you pick carefully it could work well. Dick King Smith would be a good option.

Snacks wise I reckon if you pass them back at any red lights/other stops they will find a way through any packaging.

We don't do snacks in the car and wouldn't occur to me to need any for a two hour journey. If you have to, take snacks they can open independently and that are as mess-free as possible. I don't think it's necessary for two hours though.

My 3 year old has a slim plastic container next to his car seat with books and magazines in it and for any journey longer than half an hour he brings his yoto player. We also love the Lite Brite touch game for the car. Can't recommend it enough!

I appreciate it very much depends on the children and everyone does what's best for them. We never entertained the kids in the car. They are now 6 and 8 and happy to look out the window and chat non-stop. We do have water and snacks though.

I usually make up a snack box and put it in the middle seat between the car seats, so they can both reach. I'm sure others will disapprove but also relax screen limits if we need to do a long journey. You can download something for them to watch onto the BBC iplayer app so it plays without Internet. My kids also use headphones in the car so I'm not listening to two different devices while trying to concentrate on driving.

Definitely headphones! 3 year old wears headphones for the yoto so that I can enjoy my own podcasts or music in peace!