I recently got back from a road trip to NYC. It took 20 hours round trip and I have 3 small children under the age of 7. Keeping these girls occupied during the long drive could have been a nightmare, but with the help of some activities and fun snacks, it wasn’t as painful as you might think.

Here are some of the items I brought to entertain my girls while on the road:
Travel Kiddy is a bag filled with all kinds of fun activities for kids.  You can choose your bag depending on the age of your child and then it is filled with activities appropriate for your child’s age.  The Travel Kiddy bag we got was for ages 3-6 which was perfect since I have a 4yr old and a 6 yr old.  The kit included:

• 9×12 foam core drawing board
• 16 count Crayola crayons in durable container (to minimize breakage)
• Tissues
• 2 hand sanitizing wipes
• bandages
• Wikki Stix
• 2 jungle animals
• 2 bendable figures
• Melissa & Doug 6×9 doodle pad with 50 pages
• Spring toy
• Die cast car
• Magnetic drawing board
• Animal shaped tape measure
• Eversharp pencil
• Small ruler with fun stencil designs
• 6 sticker sheets
• 2 color your own postcards with stamps
• Small colorful snake
• 2 age appropriate crafts
(examples include color your own lacing cards, color your own hat or color your own finger puppets)
• Sticker activity fun book with over 50 stickers
• Coloring book
• Activity book

My girls were entertained for hours.  The kit mixed in with other activities was key in making the trip bearable for them.  They played with some of the kit on the drive and took the kit with them when we went out to dinner.  The Travel Kiddy is great for dining out, traveling, sick children and birthday gifts.

We packed a cooler of snacks and drinks to keep the girls hydrated and fed.  We like to have nutritional snacks like fruit, cheese, crackers, yogurt and vegetables.  We also like to bring drinks that aren’t high in sugar like water or juice.  Juicy Juice has come out with a new product called Juicy Juice Sparkling.  It is like a soda because of the fizz, but a healthier option because it is fruit juice.  The Juicy Juice Sparkling comes in three flavors Apple, Berry and Orange.  It is made up of 70% real juice and 30% water.

Another fun toy we brought on the trip was called the Wurmm.  It is a brain teaser that my 6 year old mastered way too fast and was over it right off the bat.  My 4 year old was more interested in it and I think it was more challenging for her and more fun.  The object of the game is to maneuver the worm through the apple and out.  It requires a lot of manipulation and patience.

The Leapfrog Camera was by far my girls favorite time occupier on the road trip.  It is a digital camera that talks, so they fought, like sisters do, over who got to use the camera next.  The camera also comes with editing software, a flash and has a 1.5 inch screen.  It was easy for my 4 yr old to hold and use.  My 20 month old tried it a few times and didn’t want to give it back to the older girls.   You can find the Leapfrog camera at your local Toys R Us.

Win it!

One lucky winner will get  a Leapfrog Camera ($50 value).  The winner will be notified via email and will need to respond within 24 hours or a new winner will be chosen.

Entry Requirements

To enter for a chance to win, tell me your favorite thing to bring on a road trip to distract your kids.

For Extra Entries:

1.  Submit a review of Detroit Mommies.  Review (here).  Come back and leave a comment here that you completed review.

2.  Share this contest on Twitter and/or Facebook.  Copy and paste:  Win a Leapfrog camera from @DetroitMommies https://wp.me/pGVE2-1A4

The Fine Print

No purchase necessary to enter. Winner will be selected randomly through https://random.org. Detroit Mommies writers and contributors are ineligible to participate. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered. Detroit Mommies is not responsible products shipped from outside vendors or sponsors.  Open to participants in the US and Canada 18 years and older. Contest ends  at 08/20/2010 11:59:59 p.m. EST.

Disclosure:  I was given the products above for review.  All opinions are my own and are not influenced by anyone or anything.

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Timestamp: 2010-08-21 13:03:09 UTC

Detroit Mommies Expert Contributor
Courtney is the traveling mom! She has 3 girls and is the founder of Detroit Mommies and currently lives in Florida. You can follow her on Twitter @courtneyRVL.
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kathy pease
kathy pease
13 years ago

i bring my ipod for music and movies 🙂

Annette E
Annette E
13 years ago

A DVD player is a wonderful distraction.

R Hicks
R Hicks
13 years ago

tweeted

https://twitter.com/Ardy22/status/21717462235

ardy22 at earthlink dot net

R Hicks
R Hicks
13 years ago

We absolutely make sure we take the DVD player and several of their fav. movies. Great baby sitter!

ardy22 at earthlink dot net

brian e.
brian e.
13 years ago

Following you via Twitter: @brianpiero

Tweeted: https://twitter.com/brianpiero/status/21715519307

senorpiero [at] yahoo [dot] com

brian e.
brian e.
13 years ago

Thanks for the giveaway…we use a combination of music CD’s, their favorite DVD’s, and a word game that we all play in the car that teaches reading / vocabulary.

senorpiero [at] yahoo [dot] com

Jen
Jen
13 years ago

On long trips, we bring a portable DVD player to keep the kids busy.

Jenna @ For The Love of Baby!

We entertain the girls with stuffed animals, books, and snacks!

Penny W
Penny W
13 years ago

crayons and coloring books are a favorite

Lesley
13 years ago

For a long road trip, we let the boys each pack a backpack full of things to keep them entertained, including books, sketchpads coloring books and crayons, and their Leapfrog Didj.

april yedinak
april yedinak
13 years ago

We always bring lots of books to read and paper and pens to doodle.

Jessie
13 years ago

Reviewed
Thanks!

Jessie
13 years ago

I bring crayons and coloring books. Ours girls will color for hours. When they are bored with that I also bring movies. Whoever invented portable dvd’s needs a big hug of thanks!

sarah t
sarah t
13 years ago

i like to bring some new small toys with me to suprise my son with when he starts to get bored.

Debra F
Debra F
13 years ago

It has to be the Nintendo DS’s….they are a godsend on road trips when you just need them to settle down and not fight with one another.

susan smoaks
susan smoaks
13 years ago

we bring the dvd player and the psp

Erica C.
Erica C.
13 years ago

They like a handheld game and just to play games together like finding license plates.

Nicole Greene
Nicole Greene
13 years ago

Actually our iPhone works great on long trips—we download games, tv shows, and movies for our 3 yr old daughter.

Julie L
Julie L
13 years ago

Books and snacks 🙂

Tracey Byram
Tracey Byram
13 years ago

Handheld electronic games were just made for roadtrips.

Happi Shopr
13 years ago

Dvds and snacks

Megan Hernandez
Megan Hernandez
13 years ago

Our DVD player is a life saver. Otherwise we would have very whiny kids.

Stephanie Adkins
Stephanie Adkins
13 years ago

I bring books, snacks, crozzword puzzles, and DVDs.

cass
cass
13 years ago

Puzzles & snacks

Donna Timmerman
Donna Timmerman
13 years ago

Favorite thing on a road trip to distract the kids is a dvd player with movies and headphones so dad and I can talk.

April
April
13 years ago

My family is a family of big readers so a ton of different books always does the trick!

Marilyn L
13 years ago

his play laptop

Paula Hafner
Paula Hafner
13 years ago

I like to bring some little toys that they’ve never seen before. A notepad and pencils are great, too. They can draw things they see out the windows.

melinda smith
melinda smith
13 years ago

Dvds to watch on the portable dvd player.

Ed Nemmers
Ed Nemmers
13 years ago

Puzzle books!

Amanda
Amanda
13 years ago

i-spy books! they can distract kids for quite a while!

Jill Myrick
Jill Myrick
13 years ago

I pack a small backpack for each of my children that my include their favorite toy, a new dvd, a small blanket and pillow, coloring books and crayons and a couple of small inexpensive surprises that I might have picked up for each as well as snacks.
This always makes our trips so much more pleasant.

jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com

Melissa B.
Melissa B.
13 years ago

We bring the portable dvd player and all their favorite movies.

Courtney
Courtney
13 years ago

Tweeted on twitter

https://twitter.com/cmh627

Courtney
Courtney
13 years ago

My favorite thing to bring along on road trips is music, its fun to sing together and it keeps the kids occupied for hours!

Daniel M
Daniel M
13 years ago

usually books and dvds

Jenn S.
Jenn S.
13 years ago

We bring audio books from the library….the kids love them.

Julie M.
Julie M.
13 years ago

We just went on a car trip to NY as well. The magna-doodle was a big hit to keep my 2 and 4 year olds busy. I also bought toys from the “in my pocket” line (dogs, horses, cats, babies) they were super small and easy for them to play with in the car.

Erica Mueller
13 years ago

https://twitter.com/EricaMueller/status/21510754983

I tweeted it!! My kid is obsessed with cameras and he would LOVE this!

Erica Mueller
13 years ago

We always take books, but on this last trip I bought a little color wonder kit from Crayola. I loved that unlike crayons, the markers can’t melt. Another huge plus is that the markers only write on the special paper. The kit had a coloring book, 4 markers, and a clipboard that everything stored inside of. My kid LOVES it!

Danielle
Danielle
13 years ago

We travel to Maine from Pennsylvania once or twice a year to visit my family so I pack a tote bag filled with all sorts of toys, books, handheld games, leapfrog tag and tag jr, doodle boards, and of course snacks and juice to keep my boys (ages 4 years and 1 & 1/2 years old) entertained.

Jill Kathan
Jill Kathan
13 years ago

Used my Twitter account and posted.
Win a Leapfrog camera from @DetroitMommies https://wp.me/pGVE2-1A4

https://twitter.com/jillkathan

GARY KATHAN
GARY KATHAN
13 years ago

We have plenty of music playing – like Shrek cds! Plus, my wife entertains our 3 yr old by sitting in the back with her!

nikki
nikki
13 years ago

Crayons and paper. My son loves to draw, even over bumpy roads.

Renski
Renski
13 years ago
Renski
Renski
13 years ago

I bring snacks and books and we listen to music and chat.

Kathleen
Kathleen
13 years ago

We always bring the portable DVD player.

kport207 at gmail dot com

Reginald S
Reginald S
13 years ago

I never leave home without the portable DVD player. When that fails we pop in a sing-a-long cd or play punch dub.

Amber D.
Amber D.
13 years ago

I bring books, snacks, movies, little figurines, etc. One unique thing I like to bring is those bathtub stick on things that help so you can’t fall (what are these called??? (mommy brain!) anyways, they like to press them on the windows and rip them off again, lots of free entertainment and they come in cute shapes ours are frogs. We also take them on the plane with us if we are flying.