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

[AbbiCMumsnet]

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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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Tablet, snacks, kids music and drawing pads

The ipad and ipod are a great help and the most effective way for keeping our dc amused. Playing i-spy only works for 10 minutes or so before boredom sets in

On motorways we play Eddie Stobart game, first one to spot an Eddie stobart truck and say "Eddie stobart" wins a point, it's amazing how many of these trucks there are! On quieter roads we play guess the colour of the next car to come towards us.

Olivia loves to soak up knowledge & make it fun at the same time. Both Aldi & Lidl have some great activity books for Maths, English & Science which help kids to learn while having lots of fun too. They're great for long journeys. They do the books in various age groups

I make a travel pack, this includes:

• snacks and drink
• book, usually including stickers and colouring
• A game, this includes a sheet with pictures of things to look out for on the journey, e.g a sheep. When they see it they can cross it off, this keeps them busy for hours! The winner gets to choose where to eat for lunch :)

iPad for short journeys :/ long journeys loads of toys in a bag and snacks

Like most people we have tablets for backup but the kids LOVE the old fashioned car games. I spy, car bingo, making words out of car numberplates...

We pack a picnic and stop off somewhere as part of the adventure. Keeps them guessing as to what we will be doing and makes the journey to the final destination broken up. We give them clues to try to work it out such as themed treats and riddles!

With travel sick children reading and screens are no good. We stick to the good old favourites like I Spy, spotting certain things who can get the most cars of a certain colour, make, reg number. Have done a bingo theme with pre made boards and they mark off items to complete a line, full board. You can also put on their favourite album and have a sing along. Getting everyone involved is great fun.

We download films onto the ipads, and play silly games. We also take lots colouring pads & pens and sweets for bribery! We make sure we have plenty of breaks at the services so we can all stretch our legs and have a wee. The best thing we find though is to time the journeys to be either evening time, or we get them up at 4am so they sleep in the car. Works most of the time!

We make sure we have plenty of stops and snacks on the way. We play lots of word games and have story and singalong cd’s to play.
We used to dread long journeys as our son was always car sick...and then to make matters worse our dog was as well!

they listen to some mushic or now they play a Nintendo Switch

On car journeys we always play eye-spy, she also has hand held devices to play games on, but mostly she likes to read which we encourage a lot!

Lots of activities including drawing, colouring and playing games.

Audio CDs

A full charged phone, tablet, Nintendo DS, some books, magazines, and a mid way stop off leg stretch does the trick

Portable dvd player and a tablet seems to do the job well .

We play I spy and we bring books with us

We listen to music we can sing along to, something we all enjoy. DS usually has his tablet to play games on but is quite happy sitting in the back playing with lego figures or chatting to us.

We play eye spy and spot your favorite colour or object to win x

We play I-Spy, Also write down all the breeds of animals we see. We also look at maps the night before and guess the next town and County we will travel through.

Good old fashioned in-car games like I-spy . Pub Cricket and Car Snooker for the older ones.

A i pad, singing songs, learning times tables and spotting different makes of car.

For long journeys we invested in a couple of cheap portable DVD players which have been life changing! We also listen to audio books, play car games and for our youngest who is 3 I pack a small rucksack with different toys which she can play with during the journey. On car journeys we try and stop somewhere the kids cam run around/play like a National Trust place.

When DC was much younger, it involved singing songs, playing eye-spy and listening to audio books. Now, he is older it's all about the iPad and Switch!