I am sure it varies by age but we need some fresh ideas for our 10 and 12 year old.

So far, we have some DVD's and Hank the Cowdog books on tape on order at the library (we all like to listen to these on the car CD player), the MP3 players and I-Pods are loaded up, we have the Rubber Neckers travel game (we could use a new road game, ideas?), and we have Game Boys.

We travel 6 hours one way at Thanksgiving to see family... it's coming up!

Thanks for sharing.

What do your kids do on long car trips?

Bicker and Fight.

__________________
I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

Mine do the same as Cj's

__________________
Books just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at:
http://bookcrossing.com

My other favorites
www.paperbackswap.com
www.wheresgeorge.com
www.geocaching.com

I work at the library, so I always bring home book CDs and music CDs because they are free. You should check out some other titles besides Hank the Cowdog (which we do like too). Do you like Christian ones? Your library might have some Adventures in Odyssey series. They have around 50 sets of those out now. Our library has tons of them. I'll bet yours does too, or can do an interlibrary loan for you. Look on Amazon to see what they have, and then see if your library can get it for you.

My son is finishing up the latest Artemis Fowl on CD right now. He listens at bedtime too. We've listened to several Story of the World CDs. I know we've had some comedian CDs, but those you do have to make sure that there isn't any swearing or inappropriate stuff.

I say to hit your library again, and ask what else they have that would be appropriate. Also, Cracker Barrel has Cds you can rent for cheap and then drop off at another Cracker Barrel. We haven't done that though. I've just seen it.

Pack some snacks. Leave early in the morning, so they will sleep part of the way. Have a verbal spelling tournament or verbal math tournament in the car. A sing along -- we bring good music Cds and belt them out sometimes -- like a greatest hits of the 80's or something. My DH is stuck in the 70s and 80s so my poor 12 year old knows them all.

Also, we like some talk radio like financial stuff or news and then discuss how our family feels about it.

__________________
Donna

I also put a hold on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on CD. It is 8 hours long so that is a good one for sure.

Thanks for the tips, Donna!

I found info on the Cracker Barrel deal at:
Audio Books - Audio Books on CD - Audio Book Rental from Cracker Barrel

I had never heard of that! What a neat concept.

Do you have a laptop? My kids like to play computer games on the road.

You mean besides drive me so crazy, I want to drive off the road?

Listen to mp3's and watch DVD's mostly

__________________
Mom to Katie 1/95 and Sara 5/97

My kids read, or we get books on CD from the library. At that age, I would suggest some more difficult books on tape or some that are enjoyable for all ages. Have you tried Richard Peck's A YEAR DOWN YONDER or A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO? We also love Gary Paulsen's books.

Fight/Argue with each other.

__________________
My MySpace Page

To Leave Me FeedBack Click HERE

Mine do a lot of the stuff mentioned above, but we usually try to surprise them a couple hours into the trip with a new DVD that they've been wanting. The new one usually keeps their attention better and they usually watch it a couple times. They pick several ones they want to bring with them, too.

They love their IPods, too.

Lisa

__________________
"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

Slightly off topic, but I'm betting that many of us went for long car trips when we were kids and fo rmany of us, that was before DVDs and MP3s, etc. What did we do?

Well, we played different games that depending on looking out the window and finding things .... maybe we'd work our way through the alphabet finding an object or a street name or city for each letter. We'd do the same thing for license plates. We had these little tic-tac-toe cards that had pics of things that we'd play against each other. We had a box of coloring books and puzzles and supplies and we'd work on those. We take turns telling pieces of a made-up story..... Oh, and we sang silly songs....99 bottles of beer on the wall, etc.

Those were the good old days....

cj/

__________________
I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

Too Funny! I was just thinking along those line.......We would go on trips all the time to visit family in other states, and my parents and I would always do the license plate games (find the alphabet, 50 states, etc.) We would also use all the road signs for alphabets. We would play I spy. I always had coloring books and crayons too! When I travel with my brood, we do all those things too, and it helps pass the time and keep me a little more alert. I also hold onto new DVD's, Books and new DS games when I know big trips are coming. For the two younger ones they always get a new colorwonder book and markers. We are going to make a long drive back to Ohio for the Holidays, and I'm already planning now because if I get 6 unhappy bored kids it will be a hard long drive, especially since they outnumber me 6 to 1

__________________
"You can never really pay back. You can only pay forward."

Wayne Woodrow “Woody” Hayes

O-H-I-O

Feed them! We go to Maine a couple times a year and that's about 5 hours. We leave early and then hit the Dunkin Donuts in Connecticut which is about 1 1/2 hours away for breakfast. Then when they're done we usually watch a new movie (I'll buy a new one just for the trip so it keeps them interested). Then maybe we'll stop somewhere for lunch a little after the movie ends and by then we are almost into Maine.

I also go to the dollat store and stock up on things to do, coloring books, toys, etc. My kids are a little younger than the rest so they can't read and aren't really into music yet. We do sing a lot, I bring all of their favorite cd's.

__________________
"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

Another thing that my kids like is to think of a word for each of them with the same number of letters. Then they have to find a sign with a word that starts with each letter in the word...in order. The 1st one done wins.

IE: word is TRAVEL, they have to find signs with a word like "Truck Stop", then "Right Lane", etc. It keeps my girls occuppied usually for as long as I feel like coming up with words. They especially like it when mom & dad play, too.

Lisa

__________________
"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

Sleep! We bring pillows, blankets and each child gets to bring 1 stuffed animal. The kids get all cozy, and the next thing you know - they are all asleep. Once they wake up, we stop for a snack, and then they watch a DVD, play Gameboys, or play the License Plate Game (find one from each state), or play I Spy out the window.

We bring books and stuff like that, but mostly the kids sleep. :O)