Gazing out the window won’t keep children occupied. An adult or older child may need to sit alongside babies and toddlers, entertaining them with books and finger puppets. School-age kids love games such as car bingo or doodling on a magnetic sketch pad, and teens enjoy having their own stereo headset. Another option is to rent an entertainment system for the car — check your local video-rental or electronics store.

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5 Member Comments

1. Posted 06/18/2008 at 10:46 AM by outoftime

   I like to surprise my kids with small presents at various times during our trips — sometimes I give them snacks, sometimes books.

2. Posted 06/19/2008 at 09:06 AM by blanch

   whatever their ages, keep a "car trip entertainment" bag in the trunk of your car so you're never without things to do. Ours currently includes etch-a-sketch, pads and pencils for hangman, sudoku books, and disposable cameras.

3. Posted 07/21/2009 at 11:44 AM by MCrystal

   I read a book aloud. We usually stop and talk about what it happening and what we think is going to happen at each stop. It's better than a movie.

4. Posted 07/22/2009 at 11:26 AM by mary2

   I plug my laptop into the lighter using an adapter and my grandkids can watch a movie. Using a splitter, each can listen with individual earphones. It reminds me of the "drive-in theaters" when I was young.

5. Posted 07/24/2009 at 20:13 PM by crafty

   We play word games, the minister's cat...or the alliteration game...try making a sentence using all words starting with the letter a.(Aunt Annie ate an alligator), then go through the rest of the letters using as many words as you can, the sillier the better

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