Leap Pads: Lulu the Letter Spinning Spider My First Leap Pad Soft Touch (We bought this for Lulu when she was 3 months old. We were suckers for anything that said Lulu! We got it at Costco as part of a package. It came with Lulu the letter Spinning Spider. She is spider with a tap screen belly. She sings the alphabet and plays alphabet games. Luckily both girls love playing with these toys. They are both staples on long car rides. I like that the Leap Pad unit adjusts for ability and is a touch pad system which is easier for little ones.) We also received a My First Leap Frog School Bus which uses a pen as a hand me down gift. Now that Lu is older she likes the big girl books it comes with like Cinderella.
Magnetic Doodle Boards: The girls have received numerous Doodle Boards in all shapes and sizes throughout their short lives. I have to say they love them. I always pack two for the car.
Books: a permanent item in our car kit. Lift the flap books and Eye Spy books are best.
Stickers: A folder with pockets (the kind you used in school) filled with various stickers and paper. I have one in the back seat pocket in my diaper bag. The girls love stickers. They are great to have on hand for car rides, restaurants, waiting rooms. We use a pocket folder with a shiny exterior...perfect for putting stickers on and pealing them off.
Activity Books: see this post.
Crayons: self explanatory
Audio Books, Pinky Dinky Doo Podcasts, Music...
Water Doodle Books: We love these water doodle books. We have them in Dora, Sesame Street, Princesses and My Pretty Pony. They are very entertaining in there simplicity. It is kind of Zen coloring in a page. We carry these in the car and the diaper bag. My Little Pony Water WOW! Doodle BookLot's of Snacks & Drinks
Mommy: In the end, I am the girls greatest entertainment. I am the resident story teller and game master. Here are some of my goto stories and games:
- The girls love when I tell a story with them as the star and incorporate her favorite characters into the story.
- Guess The Animal: give clues and let them guess
- Guess what I am describing (desperate times call for an extension of the previous game.)
- Silly Riddles & Jokes
- Eye Spy
- If you were A...fill in the blank...where would you live?
- Make the stuff animal dance and sing (I lost my voice talking and singing like Elmo for thirty minutes but it was worth it!)
- Hide the small toy: Basically hide and go seek -- I tell them if hey are warm or cool.
Never thought about the audio books for the car, and I've never even seen "aqua books". Now, I will be on the lookout for them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Sounds like you have it all covered:).
ReplyDeleteI need to look for those water doodle books, they sound like something my kids would enjoy.
ReplyDeleteSorry I have not been able to leave a comment in awhile - my computer has totally been acting up. I really have enjoyed your posts though! We go on vacation next week and I look forward to catching up when we return and I hope that my computer is going to be working better.
ReplyDeleteAwesome ideas! I just love all the fun little things that will keep girls happy and occupied!
Oh good ideas and some of which I totally forgot to add to my post. We have a magna doodle that ER uses in the car but I've never seen those water doodle books. I'll have to be on the search for those. That sounds like fun! Like the tip about how to use and reuse stickers. I'd love to give ER some but she goes through them so fast that I have to supervise or our entire budget would go toward stickers! We don't have anything by Leap Frog yet except for a word whammer. Maybe ER's ready for them now.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun trip in your car!
ReplyDeleteI love all you ideas at the end
ReplyDeletesounds like you've got it covered! thanks for the great ideas!
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas. I have never seen the water doodle books. They look like fun. I like the idea of hiding a toy and playing hot and cold. Thanks for sharing your creativity!
ReplyDeleteAll great ideas!
ReplyDeleteI positively feel like a Grinch now by not providing my daughter with more options. It's all about live entertainment (aka Mama) on our car rides :)
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! We use audio books too, and it works so well. We also are huge fans of the water doodle books for the car. They work so well and no mess - yay! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for some great new ideas.
ReplyDeleteHello
ReplyDeleteI have just popped over from Chasing Cheerios blog where your wonderful silhouette idea was featured.
I have enjoyed reading your blog which is chock full of fun and creative ideas.
I spotted your post about sending/receiving mail from other parts of the world. We are from Australia and my little girl (who is nearly 3) and loves to check our letterbox would be delighted to participate in this. I will send you an email.
Elise