I was a bit nervous for our first long road trip with Tenley. She’s not a huge fan of the car since we weaned her from her pacifier. She’s a busy girl so being stuck in one place is not her idea of fun. We were headed to Destin so it’s about a 6 hour trip. I wanted to be well prepared to avoid any meltdowns! Here’s what helped us survive our first road trip…

DIY “Busy Activities”:

1. Busy Bottle: Empty water bottle filled with plastic straws. She loved putting the straws in and out of the bottle.
2. Busy Can: Pringles can filled with plastic straws. I cleaned out an old Pringles can and covered it with kraft paper. She loved taking the lid on and off and shaking up the straws.
3. Sensory Bottle: Empty water bottle filled with uncooked rice and knick knacks. I used some charms, beads, and buttons I had in my craft supplies (they included letters, numbers, ladybugs, and cats). She liked pointing out the ladybugs and cats in the bottle and shaking it up.
4. Ball & Tunnel: The center of a paper towel roll and plastic golf ball.
5. Letter Tray: Small cookie sheet and magnetic letters. This was definitely her favorite activity and the one that lasted the longest.
6. Building Blocks: Cut up kitchen sponges. She loved stacking these on the cookie tray.
7. Bag of Post-it Notes: We used these to color on but her favorite thing was to remove them and place them on her coloring book.
8. Circle “Stickers”: Color coded labels. She had so much fun with these. They were perfect for her to peel off her self too. She loved putting these on her coloring book and herself!

Also included:

1. Baby brother doll: One of her baby dolls dressed in her baby brother’s clothes. Thought this would be good to get her use to the idea of her baby brother coming this summer. Also, why is it that all baby dolls are girls??
2. A new book: She loves animals so this touch & feel book was perfect.
3. Children’s CD: This was good for times when she was getting a little frustrated from being in the car… the music was a good distraction.
4. Minnie Mouse doll, Bubbles, Stickers, Coloring Book & Crayons, Building Blocks, Play-doh, and a Slinky
5. And when all else fails an IPHONE and lollipops! The last 30 minutes definitely included some YouTube videos of her choice and a sucker lol!

Hope these activities help you on your next road trip! I’ll also add that whenever we stopped for a bathroom break or diaper change we let her run around for a minute and burn some of that energy.

We have another one trip planned this month. What are some of your tips and tricks for traveling with a toddler?

xoxo, Carrie