Share the ways you keep your children entertained on long journeys with Vodafone

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Every parent has their own special way of keeping long journeys fun – whether it’s through using devices to watch videos, or involving the whole family through songs and games. As the summer holiday season is in full swing, Vodafone want to know how you keep your children occupied on long trips.

Here’s what Vodafone has to say:
“It’s a glorious summer’s day. You’re stuck in the car and there’s 100 miles still to go. The kids are getting restless. But you know the perfect way to keep them entertained. A sure-fire way to keep them distracted just a little bit longer. That back-pocket ace card that you can play during times like these.

We want to know your secret!”

What’s your trick to keeping your children entertained for most of the journey? Are you a key part of the entertainment (think a family game of ‘I Spy’), or do you let them get on with it and hope for the best? Are there any particularly memorable journeys you’d like to share?

From young children to teens, what are your tips and tricks in keeping them entertained? Share on the thread below and everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where 1 MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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For long car journeys, we love to listen to audio books. Harry Potter is a particularly good one, as it's great for Adults and Kids. It makes the time go much quicker. We've also got a couple of David Walliams ones for the next long journey.

i always pack a rucksack with colouring stuff, a book, travel games snacks and thier own music with headphones they generally entertainthemselves, if they get bored we talk, play i spy or put the radio on

We travel in the evening/night so they just sleep the whole way.

We play the A-Z license plate game.. You start with the letter A and you have to find a car that the last letter of the license plate is an A and then play through the alphabet in order, there’s only 2 or 3 letters that don’t often appear as the last letter so keeps the kids entertained for a while.

ipads! fully charged . snacks

We play a game where you have to pick a colour and you get a point for every car you spot in that colour. My youngest is now wise to which car colours are more common than others!

We have five kids 7,7,8,9 and 12, one of which is autistic. We travel about 3000 miles each summer through France in our motorhome. It's not without its moments. We don't have tablets but portable dvd players and a huge bag of old dvds are a godsend. The novelty of movies they haven't seen in years or not seen before works a treat! Plus we limit our driving time to 3 hours a day, although on French roads in high season it can get pushed to 5 or 6 hours. And bribary works, the first thing they are allowed to do at a new campsite after a long drive is go for a swim.

14 hour car journey next summer. This year was 9. Go early hours in the morning so they sleep some then their tablets have plenty of off line games downloaded before we go. Books etc. Next year will also take portable dvd player as well as down load a couple movies on tablets.

@TheBumShow love it! bribery sounds absolutely fool proof!
Normally we put movie soundtracks on and they have to guess the name of the film, or play I-spy... fortunately we don't take many long trips!!!

Every year we do a car journey that usually takes 9 hours but has taken up to 11.
We've done it for 8 years since youngest was 6 months.
The kids watch dvds on portable DVD players. And we play games; I spy (used to be I spy something coloured... but now it's the traditional I spy something beginning with...), counting cars, first one to see... , guess the name of friend, famous person or guess the animal with yes/no questions. Particularly challenging when they choose an animal they don't know anything about!

We play I spy as well as looking out for specific colour cars. On longer journeys we take a play tray for our 5 year old so he can do some colouring, writing or have a space to put the ipad on where he plays on game app's or watches his favourite movie.

A bit of a sneaky one on a rainy day, We get the Pomegranate's out, Slice them in half, and they can only use wooden Cocktail sticks to pick them out. A Stealth one of thier 5 a day too!

lots of games

We would make up goodie bags for them so it was like surprise treats in the bag too

The made up Alphabet Animal Game where the first player has to name an animal starting with A. You work through the alphabet taking turns. The hours fly by. .....! Snacks come in handy too.

We play the yellow car game.It works a treat and keeps them entertained for hours🤣🤣 the first person to spot a "yellow car" gets 4 points, the most points you get wins.it is quite rare to get a yellow car so thats what makes it sofun.If you call out a "yellow van" its minus 2 points.
Try it, you will be suprised how much fun it is

they have tablets or we put some sing a long songs on the cd player for them

On flights I bring one new toy/ book/ game something of interest for every hour of the flight- recently we flew to Florida and I bought a preloved Nintendo DS and the let’s draw and brain train game which was an absolute winner and I enjoyed helping too. I brought an aeroplane activity book and 4 little polly pocket sets. In the car we use a portable DVD player. Playlist of little ones favourite songs and play I spy, spot the .... colour car, how many sheep/ pigs/ horses can you see etc..

Take drinks and snacks and take frequent breaks. Cards and colouring and watching videos on long journeys.

I would bring colouring pencils and a colouring book. It is very cheap but very effective in keeping them entertained. It keeps me entertained too!

We bought dvd layers that fit to the back of the front seats, great for when we drive to France from Manchester

Eye spy is a family favourite of ours

I-Spy, drawing, colouring, activity books, tablets and phones (obviously). We love those books where the kids (and adults) have a list of things to find and tick off on a journey. Some are easy and some are really hard and keep them looking for ages. We often download from bbc iplayer etc onto a laptop for them too.

my daughter is only 2 but we have an amazon fire to keep her entertained as well as an abundance of snacks

Leave them at home